USAF Fighters.pdf

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More than
200
unique and expertly drawn colour proiles
★★★
USAF
FIGHTERS
AMERICAN AIRCRAFT DESIGNS BY JP VIEIRA
★
DETAILED AIRCRAFT
DEVELOPMENT
HISTORIES
VICE S
SER ING
ARK 1947
★
M
FROMTHE
★
TO NT
RESE
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P
★
★
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IGHTERS
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Introduction
he F-15 Eagle was the most famous modern jet
fighter in the world during the early 1980s – bar
none. Numerous toys were made of it, allowing eager
youngsters such as myself to see its huge intakes,
twin fins, short angular wings and shapely nose at close quarters
long before we ever had the opportunity to see them in person.
As such it no doubt participated in far more playground and
bedroom dogfights than it ever did in real life.
That iconic aircraft with its unmistakable shape remains
in service today – an incredible tribute to the engineers and
designers at McDonnell Douglas who conceived it more than
50 years ago in the late 1960s. Next to the big muscular
warrior that was the F-15, the F-16 seemed like a sinuous
and aggressive knife-fighter and more like its unofficial ‘Viper’
nickname than the ‘Fighting Falcon’ of its official title.
These two aircraft were my introduction to the long line of
exceptional aircraft that have served as fighters with the United
States Air Force. When I became aware that the US had other
aircraft in its inventory – thanks to books by the likes of Bill
Gunston and William Green – I hit upon the idea of making
my own list of USAF fighters from F-1 to F-111. This naturally
proved impossible due to various gaps and the intricacies of
type designation, but it also showcased the fascinating variety
of aircraft that have served the USAF over the years.
When the Air Force was formed as an independent branch
of the US military in 1947, the few jets that it had were all
P-80/F-80 Shooting Stars. This aircraft itself was a remarkable
step forward from the high-performance piston engine machines
that had fought Hitler’s Luftwaffe up to the end of the Second
World War. Other designs soon followed, though none were
quite so successful as the North American F-86 Sabre which
carved out a name for itself battling MiGs over Korea.
Yet the Sabre was a dogfighter – armed with cannon and
designed to get up close to
my before puttin as many
pounds of me
o as pos
e
T
early 1950s it was clear that guided missiles were the future
of fighter combat and the USAF, at the cutting edge of missile
technology, went all-out to commission fighters that could take
full advantage of this new development.
The result was a succession of fighters that moved further
and further away from dogfighting – becoming faster, heavier
and more reliant on their electronic systems than ever before.
When the US became embroiled in the Vietnam War, these
missile fighters struggled to match an enemy still bent on using
cannon at close range. They were also found to be horribly
vulnerable to advanced Soviet-made surface-to-air missile
systems deployed by the North Vietnamese.
The F-4 came out of the war as the best all-round US
fighter and a sales success across the free world. But lessons
learned over the jungles of South-East Asia were already
being fed into the design and development of America’s next
generation Air Force combat aircraft – the F-15 and F-16.
And while dramatically upgraded versions of those aircraft
remain in service today, the latest generation of fighters are yet
more advanced.
When concept designs for the F-22 first became available
during the early 1990s the ‘stealth fighter’ looked like something
straight out of a science fiction film – all angles, zig-zag patterns
and murky grey paint which somehow always looks ‘wet’. Today
the F-22 is the world’s best fighter, unsurpassed by the lookalike
machines coming out of China and Russia. It’s new multirole
sibling, the F-35, has proven controversial and it remains to
be seen whether this little aircraft will fulfil its potential as a
‘universal’ fighter.
This publication chronicles the USAF’s jet fighters through
the beautiful artworks of renowned aviation illustrator JP Vieira.
I hope you enjoy marvelling at the incredible variety of designs
as much as I have.
Dan Sharp
us
or
r
ar
ABOUT THE
ARTIST
at on-
t
e -a
t
LOCKHEED-MARTIN F-22 RAPTOR
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c
o
m commander,
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f the world’s
tion fighter
nd
.
USAF FIGHTERS
CONTENTS
E
020
REPUBLIC F-84F
THUNDERSTREAK
032
034
NORTHROP F-89
SCORPION
040
All illustrations:
JP VIEIRA
Design:
SEAN PHILLIPS
ATG-MEDIA.COM
Publisher:
STEVE O’HARA
Publishing editor:
DAN SHARP
Marketing manager:
CHARLOTTE PARK
Commercial director:
NIGEL HOLE
004
USAF FIGHTERS
Published by:
MORTONS MEDIA
GROUP LTD,
MEDIA CENTRE,
MORTON WAY,
HORNCASTLE,
LINCOLNSHIRE
LN9 6JR
Tel.
01507 529529
ISBN: 978-1-911639-09-1
Printed by:
WILLIAM GIBBONS
AND SONS,
WOLVERHAMPTON
© 2019 MORTONS MEDIA GROUP LTD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. NO PART OF THIS
PUBLICATION MAY BE REPRODUCED OR TRANSMITTED IN ANY FORM OR BY ANY
MEANS, ELECTRONIC OR MECHANICAL, INCLUDING PHOTOCOPYING, RECORDING,
OR ANY INFORMATION STORAGE RETRIEVAL SYSTEM WITHOUT PRIOR PERMISSION
IN WRITING FROM THE PUBLISHER.
006
LOCKHEED F-80
SHOOTING STAR
O
A
012
REPUBLIC F-84
THUNDERJET
026
NORTH AMERICAN
F-86A, E, F AND H
SABRE
NORTH AMERICAN
F-86D SABRE DOG
LOCKHEED F-94
STARFIRE
044
060
070
086
098
NORTH AMERICAN
F-100 SUPER SABRE
054
066
MCDONNELL
F-101 VOODOO
124
LOCKHEED MARTIN
F-35 LIGHTNING II
108
GENERAL DYNAMICS
F-16 FIGHTING FALCON
096
GENERAL DYNAMICS
F-111 AARDVARK
078
CONVAIR F-106
DELTA DART
LOCKHEED F-104
STARFIGHTER
CONVAIR F-102
DELTA DAGGER
REPUBLIC F-105
THUNDERCHIEF
MCDONNELL DOUGLAS
F-4 PHANTOM II
MCDONNELL DOUGLAS
F-15 EAGLE
118
LOCKHEED MARTIN
F-22 RAPTOR
USAF FIGHTERS
005

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