Forum: F-22A Raptor

discofishing wrote:

Screw putting F-35s and F-22s in the Thunderbirds or Blueangels. Hornets and Vipers are good enough. I want the Raptors and Lightnings protecting my freedom instead of doing the dog and pony bit. It would be cool to see them at airshows, but not practical.

You have nothing to worry about. As the USAF and USN have no short term plans to replace either the Vipers nor Hornets anytime soon. In my opinion it will be a good 10-15 years before it would even be considered.

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Just my 2 cents but if they did, which they won't, they would take twelve, not 6 to 8 F-22's. The T-birds run with twelve F-16's... 10 CM and 2 DM models. Just my 2 cents.....

They'll use the Block 52s until they reach the airframe's life limits. Two Cents

IMO this is why they choose the 52s in the first place. The 'newest' "legacy" fighters they could get.

I guess if the Viper's shelf-life expires before the Mud Hen's there could be a chance to see F-15 T-Birds before we see F-35s in that role? Shrug

I would think they'd use 'old' F-15s before they used new F-22s or F-35s?

Keep 'em flyin' Thumb

TEG

They might grab some "flight sciences" F-35 airframes in block 2 sometime around 2017-2018. Well after IOC.

Yes. I think you're right. Why I was hoping they'd get some F-22s to fly in the meantime. If they haven't gotten the F-22 reliable enough for them yet, they probably did the right thing axing the program.

Nah. The F-15s got too much mass out towards the wings to do a fast snap roll. F-14 was even worse. Need all the mass towards the center. F-16 best stunt fighter we've ever built. I'm sure the F-35 will be better. I'd think the F-22 would be pretty good with it's lightweight wings and TV. Would be more impressive than a F-16 even if it wasn't quite as snappy just because of it's size and fact that it's a twin engine.

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Just wondering if anyone knew if the Thunderbirds ever plan on using the
F-22 in their air shows.

No.

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I would think that the F-22 would make a fine aerobatics plane.

The USAF thinks so too which is why the single ship F-22 Demo Team exists.

discofishing wrote:

Screw putting F-35s and F-22s in the Thunderbirds or Blueangels. Hornets and Vipers are good enough. I want the Raptors and Lightnings protecting my freedom instead of doing the dog and pony bit. It would be cool to see them at airshows, but not practical.

"...Raptors...protecting my freedom..." nice take. A bit of a stretch, just as with the Eagle. Protecting ones freedom is a relative term; the Viper and Hornet have been doing the dirty work for years now. The Raptor might as well be a demo jet, it's been more active as an airshow asset than as an operational fighter for years now.

cheers,

Horhay

machi wrote:

Nah. The F-15s got too much mass out towards the wings to do a fast snap roll. F-14 was even worse. Need all the mass towards the center. F-16 best stunt fighter we've ever built. I'm sure the F-35 will be better. I'd think the F-22 would be pretty good with it's lightweight wings and TV. Would be more impressive than a F-16 even if it wasn't quite as snappy just because of it's size and fact that it's a twin engine.

Funny, that the F-4 flew with the Thunder Birds and Blue Angels for many years. Yet, its performance was far inferior to either the F-14 or F-15. Wink

They flew F-4s before either the F-14 or F-15 went into production. Started flying T-38s in 1973 after a fatal accident. First F-15s not delivered till 1974. Reason they didn't switch from T-38s earlier is cited as fuel costs, but there is probably more to it than that. Alot of post Vietnam anti-military sentiment probably had as much to do with it as fuel costs.

The point is large aircraft could be used and have advantages in power and size. That smaller aircraft lack. Yet, they are hardly the preferred choice due to cost and logistics.

Has anyone got an F-22 Version of these Pics?

Here ya go.

machi wrote:

Nah. The F-15s got too much mass out towards the wings to do a fast snap roll.

One more underestimating roll rate of F-15. Never see a full lateral stick roll of an F-15 in 1 g level flight (~240°/s) in subsonic regime ?

F-15 was never a good Thunderbirds candidate due to several reasons:

Very high costs, too much flight restrictions for very close formation flight below 12000ft (due to very high gust response). F-16 far better for such a role.