What happened to all the F-4s, continued
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Rick Gushman
Jon, McNamara's multi-service fighter dream was really the F-111. The F4 predated McNamara and while McNamara pressured the Air Force to utilize the F4 which was already in use by the USN and USMC, his real goal was to develop a new airframe capable of being used by all seervices. The Navy wisely decided not to play the F-111 game but it was a costly move for Vice Admiral Thomas Connolly the DCNO for Air Warfare who testified before Congress that the F-111 was not a suitable naval fighter aircraft. The nickname for the F14 (Tomcat) was a tribute to Connolly. Rick
Rick,
I stand corrected. Your msg cut through the fog, even I can remember now how McNamara was pushing the F-111. Thru the fog. Funny, the F-4 was siting there under his nose, and he went for the F-One-Murphy's Law-11. And in the end it was the F-4 that became the multi-service fighter. One big, ugly plane that could do it all.
I may have let the defense contractors and their journalist friends do a sales job on me WRT the F-22. That plane sounds so good, and it's less than a billion dollars a pop. Maybe what we need is something the size of an F-16 with the avionics and weapons systems of the F-22. According to Janes, the Chinese are working on something along those lines the Shenyang J-XX.
jn