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2006-12-16 Home Front: WoT

New Plane Makes Maiden Voyage: More F-35 Pics

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Posted by .com 2006-12-16 01:09|| || Front Page|| [7 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 And here is the Reuters photo, taken by Adnan Hajj.

Bwahahahaha! Good un.

Quite the sexy bird. Put some lingerie on it and I might hunt about for the cockpit.

Posted by Zenster">Zenster 2006-12-16 01:45|| 2006-12-16 01:45|| Front Page Top

#2 from Jawa's comment section: "That Reuters photo is the best of the group. It really illustrates the F-35's ability to attack ambulances and garbage dumps".

LOL!

Posted by RD 2006-12-16 02:50|| 2006-12-16 02:50|| Front Page Top

#3 Cool. I wish they'd give it another name tho. Lightining is taken twice, by very serious fighters.

and one the best ever....

Posted by Shipman 2006-12-16 05:23|| 2006-12-16 05:23|| Front Page Top

#4 The P-38L. Oh, man. What a glorious bird.

Posted by mrp 2006-12-16 05:53|| 2006-12-16 05:53|| Front Page Top

#5 Oooohhh! Pretty shiny thing!

Posted by Mike 2006-12-16 06:45|| 2006-12-16 06:45|| Front Page Top

#6 Ship,
Ya got 'em reversed - the -38 was the best. :)

The 20FW here at Shaw AFB is supposed to be the first to get that beast when they start turning them loose, and I plan to be there for the ceremony. Also, a little bit of trivia - there was a movement at LM to name the -22 the Lightning, but the USAF leadership shot it down. However a few coffee mugs managed to escape and I was able to latch onto one. Drove some pilots I knew crazy.

Mike

Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2006-12-16 07:17|| 2006-12-16 07:17|| Front Page Top

#7 Who knows Mike. I've heard some RAF pilots were still pining for their old Lightnings years after changing over to the Typhoon. Power-to-weight ratio difference I guess.

Posted by Shipman 2006-12-16 09:59|| 2006-12-16 09:59|| Front Page Top

#8 The P-38L. Oh, man. What a glorious bird.

Agreed. My wife's great-uncle flew one (I don't know the model) in the 82nd FG in WWII. He had three confirmed kills and two probables and some more possibles in two months of combat with that bird. He made the ultimate sacrifice on Christmas Day of 1943 in the skies over Italy.

Posted by xbalanke 2006-12-16 11:44|| 2006-12-16 11:44|| Front Page Top

#9 Xbalanke,

My father-in-law flew P-8's in Italy during the war also. He was an instructor in the states for a while before he got shipped over. It's possible he instructed your Wife's GrUncle.

I was always a big fan of the P-38 from when I was a kid. Long before I ever met my wife. Range, Firepower, Stability and Survivability. It was the unsung workhorse of WWII.

I have a picture of one in a book somewhere that flew through a telephone pole during a low level strafing mission. The out-board wing was bent nearly vertical and that beast still managed to fly all the way home.

Posted by DanNY 2006-12-16 13:12|| 2006-12-16 13:12|| Front Page Top

#10 I've got a copy of "Forked-Tail Devil", the most authoritative book about the P-38 in print. It's a great read - covering not only the wartime prowess of the P-38, but its teething problems and developmental woes as well. I hope the F-35 doesn't have such problems.

Posted by Old Patriot">Old Patriot 2006-12-16 14:59|| http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/]">[http://oldpatriot.blogspot.com/] 2006-12-16 14:59|| Front Page Top

#11
I have a picture of one in a book somewhere that flew through a telephone pole during a low level strafing mission. The out-board wing was bent nearly vertical and that beast still managed to fly all the way home.

I remember reading that story. God, what a plane. God, what pilots.

Posted by Rob Crawford">Rob Crawford 2006-12-16 15:01|| http://www.kloognome.com/]">[http://www.kloognome.com/] 2006-12-16 15:01|| Front Page Top

#12 The P-38 remains one of my all time favorite propeller driven aircraft, with Northrup's P-61 Black Widow rating a close second. According to legend, the Japanese were terrified of "one pilot flying two planes".

Posted by Zenster">Zenster 2006-12-16 17:26|| 2006-12-16 17:26|| Front Page Top

#13 Need to test it somewhere. How 'bout Iran.

Posted by DMFD 2006-12-16 17:30|| 2006-12-16 17:30|| Front Page Top

#14 F4U Corsair - Baa Baa Black Sheep!

Posted by gorb 2006-12-16 22:08|| 2006-12-16 22:08|| Front Page Top

15:14 Old Patriot
23:37 Frank G
23:30 Frank G
23:27 RD
23:25 Frank G
23:16 Frank G
23:04 Skidmark
22:57 Frank G
22:22 gorb
22:19 Elmeremp Spise5329
22:17 Elmeremp Spise5329
22:16 PBMcL
22:11 gorb
22:10 RD
22:10 Dunno
22:09 gorb
22:08 gorb
21:46 BA
21:44 Redneck Jim
21:42 Redneck Jim
21:31 Redneck Jim
21:26 Nimble Spemble
21:15 BA
21:02 BA