- 10 hours ago
For educational purposes
The U.S. and Russia channeled massive funding into the development of fighters with fantastic speeds and high tech weapons, in which computers became crucial flying aids.
Fighters were developed without guns, since they would be firing guided missiles beyond visual range. But before long a new generation of highly maneuverable dog-fighting jets was needed.
Featured Aircraft:
- McDonnell F-101 Voodoo
- General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon
- McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle
The U.S. and Russia channeled massive funding into the development of fighters with fantastic speeds and high tech weapons, in which computers became crucial flying aids.
Fighters were developed without guns, since they would be firing guided missiles beyond visual range. But before long a new generation of highly maneuverable dog-fighting jets was needed.
Featured Aircraft:
- McDonnell F-101 Voodoo
- General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon
- McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:01Hi, I'm Neil Armstrong. Join me for an adventure through time.
00:59Subsonic fighters like this F-102 had engines with afterburners, delivering much more thrust
01:06than the subsonic jet fighters. High speed put new strains on the pilot and the airframe.
01:13The problems were many and difficult, particularly for the inexperienced pilot, but a flyer who
01:19mastered the aircraft quirks could make it shine.
01:26It was the Korean War that saw the last use of propeller-driven fighter aircraft and the
01:32debut of the first U.S. jet fighters in actual combat.
01:39In aircraft like the F-86 Sabre jet, pilots dueled their way to air superiority in dogfights
01:46with the first Russian MiGs.
01:53The U.S. and Russia both poured huge funding into faster and more sophisticated military
01:59aircraft. It became a 40-year race for aerial superiority. In 1953, the Soviets introduced
02:07the MiG-19, the world's first supersonic jet fighter. Two years later, America's first supersonic
02:14fighter entered service, growing out of the subsonic F-86. Highly advanced for its time, the North
02:22American F-100 Super Sabre was selected to inaugurate America's Century Series of fighters.
02:34The F-100 had swept wings and improved engine design. It began the push to build fighters from new, lightweight
02:41materials.
02:42It was the first to use titanium to make it lighter and stronger than previous aircraft.
02:49Swept wings were a major development that made supersonic flight possible. Simply put, they
02:55result in less drag on the aircraft. The wings of the Super Sabre were swept 10 degrees farther
03:00back than its predecessor, the F-86. That and a more powerful engine allowed the large fighter
03:07to reach Mach 1.3, or 850 miles per hour. The early generation of supersonic fighters were
03:14not easy to fly. They flew on the ragged edges of their performance envelopes. The F-100 had serious
03:21problems with yaw, the tendency to fly sideways. And the ailerons would cause the airplane to roll
03:28in the opposite direction of that intended by the pilot. A disorienting maneuver which could
03:35force the pilot to eject. The first Delta Wing fighter was the Convair F-102 Delta Dagger that flew in
03:481953.
03:49It consistently did not break the speed of sound. Up to this time, aircraft relied on brute force
03:57to go supersonic. Engineer Richard Whitcomb proposed a simple solution, which was to revolutionize
04:04transonic design. Called the Area Rule, it reduced drag by increasing the length of the fuselage
04:11and pinching the middle with a shapelier design. So, one engineer suggested the F-102's fuselage
04:18should resemble actress Marilyn Monroe's figure. Convair engineers lengthened the dagger, thinned
04:24down the midsection, and added two large bulges to the rear. It also got a new engine.
04:32It also had a new radar that could guide the F-102 to the enemy from long distance. It would
04:56also be the first fighter without conventional weapons. Close-in aerial combat was replaced
05:02by faster speeds and reliance on missiles and computers.
05:12With the new fighters' fantastic speeds and high-tech weapons, some thought the days of the
05:18low-speed dogfight were at an end. Many fighters, like this twin-engine F-101 Voodoo, were designed
05:24without guns, since they'd be firing guided missiles beyond visual range. The radar system
05:31became the pilot's eyes and critical to the mission's success.
05:46Two new developments stand out in the period after the Korean War, the F-101 Voodoo and the
05:53Phantom F-42. The McDonnell F-101 Voodoo was built for the United States Air Force. It was produced
06:00before the F-4, and like the F-4, the F-101 served in and after Vietnam. It was a
06:07long-range
06:08so-called penetration fighter, designed to protect the strategic air command's bombers on long
06:14missions, and also kill enemy bombers. It was hoped future models of the F-101 Voodoo would
06:20drop bombs. Flying a Voodoo took great skill. To the inexperienced pilot, it was not a forgiving
06:27aircraft. The McDonnell F-4 Phantom II, a legend in its own time, broke 15 world flight records
06:39even before it was delivered to the U.S. Navy. The Phantom II was a remarkable blend of power,
06:49maneuverability, and payload. It could operate effectively at high altitude or low level. The
06:55Phantom capably passed Mach 2, setting a new world speed record of 1,606.3 miles per hour
07:02in November of 1961. More than 5,000 were produced. Never before could a fighter identify, intercept,
07:11and destroy any target without help from ground control. Like its other counterparts of the day,
07:19the F-4 carried only missiles, no guns. The same was true, of course, of the earlier F-101 Voodoo.
07:29Former Voodoo pilot John Stanislaw flew with the 87th Fighter Squadron out of Columbus, Ohio.
07:35Neil and John had the chance to talk about the F-101's peculiarities.
07:40John, you flew this 101 Voodoo. What was the role of the airplane at the time you were flying it?
07:47I flew the Voodoo with the 87th Fighter Squadron over in Columbus, Ohio. And we flew the B model there,
07:53which was a long-range high-altitude interceptor. And we flew against the, supposedly against incoming bombers.
08:01What was it about the 101 that made it a good interceptor?
08:06Well, the thing that made it a good interceptor was, one, it had a good long-range.
08:10We could go quite a ways out and loiter for several minutes out there and still have enough fuel to
08:16get back.
08:17In addition to that, it had good armament on board. We carried two air-to-air rockets that were nuclear
08:22-tipped,
08:23and then we had four guided-air rockets that we could also use against targets coming inbound.
08:29How was the 101 to fly as a flying machine?
08:33I found it very good. It was big and comfortable in the cockpit where you could wear all your survival
08:39gear and not feel crowded.
08:42And as long as you kept your speed up while you were flying, it was a very stable airplane.
08:47What were the characteristics that concerned you about flying the F-101?
08:52Well, when this airplane first came out, it had an unusual characteristic.
08:56And that is, if you got into a deep stall with this airplane, it had a tendency to swap ends
09:02or want to fly backwards, as we would call it.
09:05But after they incorporated changes to the flight control system, that almost negated this particular characteristic of the airplane.
09:12Now, of course, guns had given way to missiles at the time of this airplane, is that right?
09:21That's right. We had no guns on, just the missiles.
09:24So you really hoped to fire at a substantial distance away from your target.
09:30Yes, hopefully we could launch from several miles out from the target, and after we would launch our missile, we
09:36could move off against another target.
09:48In Vietnam, American pilots relearned the lessons of World War II in Korea.
09:55It was still an advantage to get on someone's tail to shoot him down.
10:00The next generation of fighters was once again built for maneuverability.
10:06A new marriage of computer technology and flying skill was created, giving birth to the modern multipurpose fighter.
10:18The U.S. learned many lessons in Vietnam. One was especially bitter.
10:24Its principal fighter was the F-4 Phantom II.
10:30The F-4 had only missiles, no guns.
10:37Gone with the bubble canopies, which gave pilots all-round visibility.
10:41Instead, they were buried deep inside the aircraft, with all their new technology.
10:46What was worse, U.S. pilots had not been trained to dogfight.
10:53The early U.S. kill ratio in Vietnam was a dismal one-to-one.
10:59F-4 Phantoms were vulnerable to the lighter, more agile Soviet MiG-17s and 21s.
11:04The U.S. eventually lost air superiority to new Soviet Su-15s and the deadly MiG-25 Foxbat.
11:17In a desperate move, the U.S. Navy and Air Force opened new dogfighting schools for pilots, called Top Gun
11:24and Red Flag.
11:41The first graduating classes mounted their F-4s modified with cannons and guns, and changed the kill ratio to 13
11:49to 1.
11:50It was dramatic evidence of the need to know the old skills.
11:57The next generation of fighters would also be multi-purpose.
12:01After Vietnam came the Navy's new F-14 Tomcat, the first carrier-based variable geometry wing fighter.
12:09Its role was to protect the carrier and dogfight with the best the Soviets had.
12:28The F-14 offered the U.S. air superiority over the Soviets' best jet fighter.
12:35In 1974, two more U.S. jet fighters were about to go into production with technology so advanced, they became
12:42the best in the world.
12:43They are the General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon and the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle.
12:50The F-16 is the first fly-by-wire jet fighter, meaning it is not controlled mechanically.
12:57The pilot operates all the movable flying surfaces and the targeting systems with electronics.
13:03It is an extremely maneuverable aircraft and can out-turn an F-4 Phantom by the proverbial country mile.
13:10Lieutenant Colonel Steve Teske of the 86th Fighter Wing based in Landstein, Germany, tells us about his F-16.
13:17The question to Colonel Teske is, do these newer fighters put unmanageable strains on the pilots?
13:23Any aircraft is capable to kill a pilot if you're not paying attention to what you're doing and if you're
13:27careless.
13:28Just like any car can kill a driver.
13:31However, we go through a lot of training to include centrifuge training on how to prepare yourself, your body to
13:39withstand the G-forces.
13:40As far as the aircraft being able to outperform the pilot, that's in a very, very small specific area and
13:50most of the time we don't fly there.
13:52And when we do, we're ready for it and we can more than handle that type of G-force.
13:57It's very responsive.
14:00The stick moves roughly a quarter of an inch and it's a force-sensing mechanism in there.
14:08And basically, the harder you pull on the stick, it sends a series of signals through the computer and flight
14:13control surfaces
14:14that deflect it to the amount that you would normally expect from a more conventionally equipped aircraft.
14:21And the response is immediate.
14:24And the nice thing about this aircraft is you can take it right to the edge of the envelope and
14:30slam the stick
14:31and it'll go right to the edge of the envelope and max perform the aircraft.
14:36While finesse is still important, it is not as critical as it is in, say, an F-4.
14:42Some of the older generation aircraft where you could more easily put it out of control.
14:47This aircraft is very difficult to put out of control, although it can be done.
14:52It's built with the pilot in mind. The cockpit is incredible.
14:57You don't get in this aircraft, you put it on. It's like putting on a pair of pants.
15:01You put one leg down one tunnel, the other leg down the other tunnel.
15:05The throttle is here, the stick is here. You sit back in your seat. The visibility is incredible.
15:09And the maneuverability and acceleration of this aircraft is something to behold.
15:14When I was a little kid, I dreamed about doing this kind of stuff and it's still as much fun
15:18as I ever thought it would be.
15:20I love it. It's a pilot's airplane.
15:27As these fighters involved more and more technology, they became atrociously expensive to design and manufacture.
15:34The F-16 was the exception. It gave the U.S. great firepower for the dollar.
15:401974 saw the advent of another American fighter, the F-15 Eagle.
15:46Development began in the 60s, when the U.S. belatedly learned the Soviets had more advanced fighters than thought previously.
15:53In 1974, it was considered the world's most formidable interceptor and demonstrated in the 1991 Gulf War that it still
16:02packed a lot.
16:05Captain Ken Garrison pilots an F-15 for the U.S. Air Force.
16:10Ken, take me up and show me this beauty.
16:22Ken, this is the F-15E. That's a pretty high-tech looking cockpit.
16:26But I'm sure you can put an enormous amount of different kinds of information there.
16:31Yes, sir, you can. And one of the first things that you're impressed with when you learn to fly it
16:35is there's so much information coming into you,
16:39you've got to prioritize, figure out what you'd like to get at that time to make it easier for you
16:46to employ the aircraft.
16:48Not only flying, simple flying the aircraft, but also in combat, dropping bombs and firing missiles.
16:55So you've really got to prioritize information that's coming into you and you've got to know where to look for
17:01it also.
17:02Now this appears to me to be a big fighter compared to what I used to be used to.
17:08Does it have the feel of a big airplane or is it pretty maneuverable?
17:11Sir, it's very maneuverable. Very maneuverable slow speed. It's very responsive to the touch, both throttle and stick.
17:20It goes where you want it to go and it does not take a lot of force.
17:24It's got not only fly-by-wire flight controls, but digital fuel control for the engines.
17:33And it's just a very responsive aircraft.
17:36Now, does it have pretty good handling qualities all the way from low speed up through supersonic?
17:41Yes, sir, it does. It's very responsive to low speed.
17:44However, this aircraft likes to go fast. Like most fighters, the faster it goes, the faster it wants to go
17:51faster.
17:51So it's very responsive when you get fast.
17:55But slow airspeed, it responds and moves when you want it to and where you want it to.
18:01So it's easy to employ air-to-air-wise, I'll say.
18:03Ken, how do you like flying this airplane?
18:05Oh, sir, I love it. It's a very responsive airplane.
18:08Two crew members, got four eyeballs looking whenever you need to see threats in a target area.
18:14It's fun to fly, easy to fly, and I love it.
18:17While Ken flies, Captain Rich Catano runs the weapon systems.
18:21They can carry both air-to-air and air-to-ground.
18:23I definitely enjoy flying the F-15E.
18:26I had a little bit of time, I had some time in the F-4 prior to the F-15E.
18:33The F-4 was a legendary machine.
18:35And the F-15E basically does exactly the same as the F-4, only better.
18:40And I think it's every weapon system officer's dream to get in this airplane.
18:44At least it was mine.
18:56If Air Force pilots like to fly the F-15 Strike Eagle, Navy pilots adore the McDonnell Douglas F-18
19:04Hornet.
19:05It was first produced in 1978.
19:17With as much punch as other fighters, and even more sophistication,
19:22it is one of the most important American combat aircraft, and will continue to be so.
19:29Computers have become essential parts of modern jet fighter design.
19:32Acting as invisible crew members to help keep these high-tech jets under control.
19:38Developments in fighter design are now driven primarily by what computers can do.
19:43The experimental X-29 proved that an aircraft which would otherwise be totally unstable
19:49could be controlled by a complex computer, which uses thousands of control inputs to keep it on an even keel.
19:57Digital fly-by-wire and targeting systems have become the heart of the modern fighter.
20:10Lockheed with Boeing, General Dynamics and engine maker Pratt & Whitney won the contract to build the next generation of
20:18fighter called the ATF or Advanced Tactical Fighter.
20:26The YF-22 has an incredible performance envelope.
20:31Computer controlled and with very critical wings, its agility and stealth in flight may
20:36be superior to any other existing fighter aircraft.
20:39Its pilot wears a pressure suit to withstand the 9 G's the aircraft can generate.
20:45With all its high-tech armament, the YF-22 still has a conventional gun.
20:51So it can, guess what, dogfight.
21:01Achieving a balance between visual dogfighting and the high-tech computer arena where opponents
21:07never see each other remains a difficult dilemma.
21:10With the alien-looking F-117, stealth technology has entered the picture, enabling the fighter
21:17to escape enemy radar.
21:19But experience has shown that no matter how sophisticated jet fighters have become, it
21:25is still the pilots who make them victorious.
21:39That's great.
21:41Join me again next time for first flights.
21:58On the DQX, counsel for what you want.
22:07Find your hand .
22:10Small pertains.
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