Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire most "flyable" cold War transonic jets?

The Travolta thread made me think about what jet I would purchase, if I had the funds and the skill set.

A local collector, now deceased, had many jets including several migs, A7, F4, a Vampire, and a Sea Venom, a Douglas F4 D skyray, F 86, P 80. Hell he even had a demilled F 111 sitting in the yard.

I always considered the F 100 to be a sexy bitch. But I understand she was a bit difficult to land.

One local resident used to keep a Hawker Hunter at a nearby airport. Occasionally you would see him out putting it through its paces. One day he was flying inverted at near tree top level, and possibly pulled back on the stick to climb. He is not commenting.

The first gentleman mentioned lost a friend and pilot when a Vampire augered in. The ejection seat was not maintained.

That Skyray is also a very impressive airframe. I understand that delta wings are difficult to rotate.

Is there a cold war era jet you would be interested in owning?

That’s a good question.
If I had those kind of funds and skill set as you pointed out, I would have a hard time making that choice.
F-4’s in my opinion, are one of the sexiest jets ever built. I loved seeing them fly over when I was a kid. Loud and smoky and cold war cool.
Vampires are neat. They kind’ve resemble a P-38 in a jet configuration. They just look nimble.
F-86’s are sleek and beautiful. They look fun to fly.
Out of the ones you mentioned, I believe I would pick the A-7.
They always appealed to me as did it’s older brother the Crusader.
When I was a boy, my uncle lived at the head of a big valley that was probably four miles long. A-7’s from the Indiana ANG would come smoking up that valley right at the tops of the trees. Sometimes the pilot would kind’ve turn to port and we could see him for an instant. They were not moving at quite the speed of the F-16’s that later replaced them but they had more of a cool factor.
Last summer, we painted for an older gentleman that was retired from USAF.
The first four years he flew F-100’s and then transferred to C-130’s the rest of his career. I asked about the handling problems and he said he never had a problem with them. He just said it was a “hotrod” and you had to treat it with respect or it could get you into trouble. He was an interesting guy.
They are a awesome jet though. IIRC, the problems were mainly on take-offs and landings. I think Indiana ANG flew them up until 1978 or something like that.
I know they flew a ton of close air support in Vietnam and may even hold the record for sorties in that conflict. That may not be correct. I would have to research that cause’ it’s been a while.
Anyway, it would be the A-7 for me Idaho.

Can’t speak to flyability but the F104 is a sexy airplane.

F4 Phantom is bad ass but utilitarian not so sleek. I had several models of these planes and have always been impressed by their versatility in Nam.

Obviously if I could have any military jet it’d be an SR71... I say obviously cuz I assume that’d be the top of the list for most guys between the ages of 45-80.

In Ground Attack School, I flew F-80s - actually the two-seat version called the AT-33. It had a lot of quirks but was a solid plane. That school originally wanted to use F-86s but there weren't any two-seat versions available.

As a FAC, I controlled airstrikes using F-100s, F-4s, A-37s, and A-1Es. And at least one set of Navy A-7s IIRC. Of those, the F-4 took last place for bombing accuracy. Whether that was because F-4 drivers got more air-air than air-ground training or if it was just a hard airplane to be accurate in I don't know. If ground forces were in close contact (by which I mean smelling distance) I would fervently hope for Vietnamese A-1Es. Those guys were SUPER accurate. If F-4s showed up, I would be extremely nervous about using them at all, depending on the weapons load.

Back to the OP. I always thought the Navy F-9F was a cool little jet that might even be affordable to fly. They made so many T-33s that parts ought to still be reasonably available, and it is fast for a straight-wing plane.

TR-3M or an old TR-3B.

I think if I was using it to pick up women I'd go F-106.

F-86 Sabre Jet for me. There's one that's kept up on a stick up the road from me. Along highway by EAA museum. I built a plastic model of an F-86 when I was a kid.

They got a C-47 out in front too. Always liked that aircraft too.

I always thought the F5 & F20 looked cool as hell. I have no idea whether they were mannerly at the controls, or a bitch.







I, too, thought the F100's looked great, but...





Dad was a B58 jock, and when I learned that nearly 1/4 of them were lost in crashes, I asked him if it was hard to fly. He replied, "Nope. It was beautiful." I suppose it helps to have a crack DSO to keep the fuel shuttled between the tanks to maintain a constant center of gravity.

FC

I always thought the F-4 Phantom was a intimidating aircraft in the camo paint scheme. Looked tough and mean.
But if I could own any of the group mentioned it would be the F-86 Sabre jet. Of course would have to be younger and richer, but I can dream with the best of them.

The only thing I know about airplanes is how to sit in my seat with my seatbelt fastened.

The F-100 in the video that crashes, did the pilot try to pull up/lift off @ too low of a speed?

I would go for the B58 Hustler. Looks great. I think that is the plane that dropped the H-bomb that Slim Pickins rode down like Rodeo bull rider! (Failsafe movie?)

I think the reason they had so many B58 crashes is that the B58 was designed for very fast high altitude attack missions, but the USSR developed SAMs that could knock them out. So the USAF tried using the B58s as fast low altitude bombers, but they were very difficult to control as such. Hence the crashes.

Having no experience with any plane as well as being scared tschidtless of flying, I have always thought that the F-86 was the coolest.

That was a B52.

That’s the mythical “Sabre Dance”.

If someone gave me one of those jets, I'd immediately sell it. I could not afford the fuel cost, let alone the mechanics who knew how to keep it running, spare parts, etc. and who would i get to teach me how to fly it?

Gotta be an F-86 for me, they just ooze cool. We used to drive by Richards-Gebauer AFB outside Kansas City when I was a kid, going to visit family, and they had, IIRC, F-100s based there, but for some reason, they just didn't flip my switches like the older jets. At my grandparent's house out in Kansas, there was a lot of A-4 and A-6 flying going on, they were on the flight path for Olathe NAS.

In all honesty, though, I like the old piston-engined stuff from WWII better than a jet. Those old A-1Es Rocky mentioned really get me going, though they are more Korean War vintage than WWII.

Couldn't say what the most flyable was or is but I would know not to get an F-104 Lockheed Lawn Dart aka Starfighter, although they get my vote as one of the sexiest looking fighters without propellers.

Speaking of aircraft with visible means of support, was watching "The Cold Blue" documentary about B17's again on HBO the other night and one of the pilots mentioned how easy it was to fly, like a big Piper Cub.

I would take an F-14, toss in a CV while you're at it.

The F-100 had an adverse yaw problem - worse on takeoff. With a swept wing, if you use aileron at low speeds, the wing with the down aileron creates more lift but also more drag, and as that wing gets pulled back, its swept angle causes it to lose lift while the other wing is advancing and getting more direct airflow, so it has more lift. The result is that if you try to roll left, the plane actually rolls right, and the more you push the stick over to "correct" that, the problem gets worse. You can actually snap roll just a few feet above the runway. And that's fatal. F-100 guys had it drummed into them to never use aileron on takeoff, only rudder.

The "Saber Dance" video happened when the pilot got too slow, pulled the nose up and immediately got "behind the power curve" where there simply isn't enough thrust to overcome the near-stalled drag. In that realm, the adverse yaw threat also appears, and you are essentially doomed from the instant you haul back on the stick. As that guy was.

Thanks for sharing!