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JohnStaton — T-Bird
Published: 2008-12-05 21:58:43 +0000 UTC; Views: 2145; Favourites: 39; Downloads: 78
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Description
Last picture for this week is of the character Yeager from 801TTS Airbats.Yeager was pilot for the USAF Thunderbirds, the Air Force's aerial demonstration team.
Actually while I'm on the topic, and while I've got more or less a world venue in which to vent my curiosity, I have a question to pose to knowlegeable fighter fans.
Years ago, I saw a documentary comparing the T-Birds with the Blue Angels. During said documentary, one of thr T-Bird drivers betrayed some envy that the Angel drivers were pushing two engine aircraft around.
That got me thinking. If twin engined aircraft are superior to their single engine counterparts, and the T-Birds are supposed to demonstrate the best the USAF has to offer, why are the birds driving F-16's instead of F-15 Eagles?
Does anyone have an answer for this?
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Comments: 15
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Love your work!!! I just submitted a colorization of your wonderful drawing ==> [link]
Please let me know what you think!
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Talk of Thunderbirds and Angels makes me think of the "Supermarionation" series of the 60s, Thunderbirds: [link] ) and Captain Scarlet: [link]
Oh, and the Beach boys. "She'll have fun, fun, fun, 'til her daddy takes the t-bird away".
/geek
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Nah for me whenever I hear "Thunderbirds", I'm a kid again sitting atop my father's shoulders in the memorial weekend heat on the crowded flight line at Andrew's AFB, straining to get a better view of the pilots as they climb into their T-38 Talons.
Yea, I'm dating myself. It's been a while since they flew those.
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Hehe. Well, it's been a while since those TV series aired too - but I watched the re-runs.
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I've actually never seen those, now that I think about it.
But I have seen "Team America: World Police". Does that count?
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I think the biggest reason that they use the F-16 is because it's a lot cheaper than an F-15. There may be some maneuverability advantage, but I can't say for sure about that.
Nice work on that pic- Yeager looks great, and the F-16 is well-drawn, and in a tricky perspective, no less.
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Wait 'til my military aficionado buddy sees this!
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Man, I thought I must have been damn near the only person to have seen that show.
Sweet pic.
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Yea, I lament the fact that we see less and less hardware heavy anime these days.
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I only saw the first three eps of the 801st TTS, and that was because I somehow found a VCD of it in Malaysia for fifteen ringgit.
Still got the disc too but no VCD player now.
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The reason the Thunderbirds fly F-16s is because the F-15 is more expensive, more complex and more maintenance intensive. The F-16 is relatively cheaper, simpler and easier to maintain. Plus the F-16's design makes it much more maneuverable in the low altitude, low speed regime (which is where most of the Manuvers they demonstrate take place); the F-15 handles better at high altitude around the +400-ish knot regime.
Plus, since tubofans perform much better at sea level, the thrust is enough to give the lightly-loaded F-16s a Thrust to weight ratio of parity or beter.
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Wow, that was prompt.
Thanks for the info, friend.
BTW, looking at your avatar, you might want to check out this picture. [link]
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Yeah, I fav'd that a week or two ago...
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