F-16 Wraith scheme at Nellis

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by basher54321 » 30 Oct 2019, 18:53

F-16C_B42_Wraith_Oct-19.jpg
F-16C Block 42 (89-2048) 57th FW new "WRAITH" F-16 aggressor of the 64th Aggressor Squadron on Oct 29th 2019 (Photo: via Facebook/Nellis Air Force Base Official page)
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https://theaviationist.com/2019/10/30/5 ... ssor-f-16/


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by basher54321 » 17 Nov 2019, 16:38

https://theaviationist.com/2019/11/17/f ... ls-crowds/

Aviation enthusiasts from around the world got their first chance to see the new “Wraith” color scheme aggressor F-16 of the 64th Aggressor Squadron this past weekend at Nellis AFB outside Las Vegas, Nevada during the Aviation Nation air show.


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by ghettobird » 18 Nov 2019, 16:01

That's a very sexy bird ... just gotta finish the scheme and paint the pylons/tanks for them
If it aint broke dont fix it, and yes Sir its supposed to leak like that ;)


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by jaws » 26 Nov 2019, 16:42

ghettobird wrote:That's a very sexy bird ... just gotta finish the scheme and paint the pylons/tanks for them


I agree: black or dark gray AME, re-coat the radome gloss black like the A-models, convert it to -229 so it has the carbon turkey feathers; perfect mono-tone scheme.
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by madrat » 26 Nov 2019, 17:11

White nose,tank, and intake may make it harder to see nose-on.


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by botsing » 26 Nov 2019, 17:21

Woah, a MiG-28!

Oh wait...
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by outlaw162 » 26 Nov 2019, 18:41

That paint job worked pretty well in WWII. P-61s scored over 50 kills on manned aircraft and 5 on V-1s :shock: . And that was all in the last year of the war.

(They used the white drop tank technique also.)

edit: further research shows they got at least 9 V-1 'buzz bombs'.
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by Boman » 26 Nov 2019, 22:04

The P-61 was a night fighter, so black is sort of natural. I believe this scheme (wrath) is more inspired by Top Gun to be honest.

Looks good though 8)
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by outlaw162 » 26 Nov 2019, 22:56

You're correct of course, the classy 'Wraith' paint job may be just for show, but judging from the last few major skirmishes, everybody these days is a night fighter. :D

And the P-61 dudes didn't have NVGs....but they did have the latest high tech gizmo, an intercept radar with a 5 NM max range. :shock: Probably took 'em only 5+ minutes to close on a He-177 or Ju-88 or Betty from 5 NM astern.


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by roccio » 27 Nov 2019, 23:44

outlaw162 wrote:That paint job worked pretty well in WWII. P-61s scored over 50 kills on manned aircraft and 5 on V-1s :shock: . And that was all in the last year of the war.

(They used the white drop tank technique also.)

edit: further research shows they got at least 9 V-1 'buzz bombs'.

Could you (or someone else of course) elaborate a bit why white tanks should make it even difficult to see?

Thanks


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by outlaw162 » 28 Nov 2019, 00:43

Apologies, I was just being somewhat sarcastic, not trying to start a new camo trend. :D

You know in that vein, for years red cockpit lighting was pushed for night flying and having minimal effect on external night vision compared to white lighting. They had red covers for Grimes lights and separate rheostats for red peanut lights to illuminate instrumentation at night, probably causing more instrument interpretation problems than they prevented. Turns out dimmable white back lighting was just fine for instrumentation and the rods and cones didn't care.

These days I imagine a white drop tank looks green thru NVGs anyway....and I have no idea what they look like on an electronically scanned array, but I do think if your going to employ non-LO night aggressors for training, you might as well paint 'em black like the 'Wraith', depending on the cost of paint.



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