F-16.net

Here is a picture of the last day both F-16XL's flew together as part of the F-16 CTF at Edwards AFB. They both did a fly over that day, and were then given to NASA for Laminar flow testing among other things. I am standing to the left of XL #1 by the radome.

This was taken I think in late 1984, and I was the Avionics/Weapons guy on both those aircraft then. This is also the final paint scheme the XL's had before going to NASA Flight Test. Hope you enjoy the picture.

Cheers,

ViperDude

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my goodness they were pretty, I bet they suffered from lower climb though due to weight. Payload range was great though.

I was with the GD team from from the beginning at Eddy for about a year (Structural Team Leader). Do you have a high res version of that photo? Would love to see old friends from P&W, GE, AF (mil and civ).

johnwill,

Go here and scroll to F-16XL. There are 3 galleries. Also, check out the AFTI, there is pic of it along with the two XLs and a bunch of people. At the bottom, you will also find a link that says "people"

Newbie Joined: Jun 05, 2007 Posts: 3 Status: Offline

Imagine a f-16XL with ;
APG 80 radar
PW f100 132 engine
2 seater with dorsal spine
air to air
6-8 Aim 120c5 /d with 2-4 aim 9x
CFT

wouldn't that be a blast - super f-16 extra large and in-charge

it would probably have an endurance similar to an f-15e

probably able to super-cruise as well

would be cheaper to operate than f-15e yet retain similar load carrying abilities and range

Shocked

th eXl as it was had superior endurance to most a/c, maybe even the strike eagle, adding cft would just increase weight to a silly amount. The XL did not benefit from conventional fuel tanks unless it could drop them when empty, so conformal would be a little better. as for load carriage, the xl can carry a great number of bombs, but the strike eagle is designed to carry HEAVY bombs. I believe the xl is only setup with 3 pylons for large ordanace, but these block conformal bomb points. XL was already capable of mach 1.1 flight w/o burners at altitude, using a F100-PW132 would not help as it has nearly the same military thrust.

Great looking planes. What is on the aft/center of the wings?

Lurch
I have no experience on them, but my guess is that its the housing for the actuator that drives the aileron. F-18's have a similar bulge on the TE of the wing in the same position and that is what is in it. Anyone with experience

Pete

Right you are, Pete, aileron actuator housing. Leading forward from the housing is a small strake for some aerodynamic purpose I don't know about (vortex generator, spanwise flow preventer, ??)

XL had five hardpoints capable of handling heavy stores, two under each wing and one on the centerline. It had twelve semi-conformal points for lighter stores (up to 1000 lb). Obviously it could not use all seventeen points simultaneously, as the heavy and light points occupied the same territory. That is in addition to carrying four AMRAAMs and two AIM-9s.

Actually the F-16XL could carry up to 12 Mk-82's and up to 4 Mk-84's, I never saw the centerline carry anything.
I actually wired it up for an AGM-65 shot one week that used the wiring from another station because the wires on that station were burnt, it looked very kewl with 6 AGM-65's mounted on it, and we just flew over the EAFB range and point the aircraft to the ground and fired the maverick into the dirt, somewhere I have a picture of that.. I also remember that the AIM-120's underneath were actually made of wood painted white and just looked like real AIM-120's.

Dude, you are right in all cases. But there is no physical reason why a heavy store could not be carried on CL . The AIM-120s were wooden dummies. They were just the lower half of a missile, since there were no troughs to mount them in. There are 2 photos of XL with 6 AGM in the gallery of F-16.net, one in a banked turn and the other is the launch you mentioned.

I just looked at that picture and that was the shot, brought back some memories. Thanks for letting me know that picture was in here. I can't remember what station wiring was used but all I remember is that it was not from the station that missile came off of it was one of the other two AGM-65 on that wing.

Cheers,

ViperDude

wow guys, thanks for all the 1st hand info. wish they were still flying

Newbie Joined: Jun 05, 2007 Posts: 3 Status: Offline

for the pw 132 - max trust is 32500lbs right verses the 27000lbs for f110 and 23800 for the pw f100-220

the non afterburner for the 132 would be around 19-20,000lbs - probably add about 10-20% more for supercruise say around mach 1.3 or so.

beside the new range of weapong like brimstone , small diameter bomd and colleteral damage, 1/2 or more of the time smaller weapons would be carried, as seen in irag and afganistan. heavier weapons would definately be no problems.

wonder if anyone at lockheed is reading this, maybe they will piece up something for the india competition or offer as a block 70+ type or the f-16ng.

would be great if i could fix up a model kid , anyone know where i can order a 1/48 scale f-16xl + f-16i conversion kit.

http://www.habu2.net/vipers/xl/

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