Friday, March 28, 2008
Friday's Fantastic Flying Footage
Is it Friday already?! This week's footage was chosen for several reasons. First, this is the Turkish Air Force's version of the Blue Angels or the Thunderbirds. I thought it would be interesting to see another country's take on these things. Second, although most of the maneuvers are quickly recognized, there is one a little over halfway through that I really like. One a/c flies straight through from right to left trailing smoke while a second a/c does barrel rolls around the smoke of the first. Third, this a/c is the F-5 Freedom Fighter, which has always been a favorite airframe of mine ever since we lived in San Antonio, Texas. It's the same airframe used by the T-38 which is flown at Randolph AFB for flight training (is it instructor training? Not sure...). It's the closest thing to a flying dart I think the USAF has ever had. Great looking plane.
A bit of trivia, this is also the airframe (in black paint scheme with red stars) that was used in Top Gun as a Mig in several scenes. There was also an attempt in the 80's to sell this a/c to the USAF in an upgraded version designated the F-20 Tigershark.
Enjoy!
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2 comments:
That is awesome. Reminds me of watching the Thunderbirds and Blue Angels at Robins Air Force Base back home as a kid. The barrel role around the smoke trail was great. I haven't seen that one before.
Nice vid Matt- the T-38 is what students fly in preparation for getting to their squadron... there is a syllabus called IFF or Introduction to Fighter Fundamentals that freshly winged officers go through before 'fleeting up' to their F-15 or F-16's... by the way- I spent the last week working with an F-22 pilot... check out this video: http://www.airshowbuzz.com/videos/view.php?v=a090713b
The Raptor is truly an incredible aircraft...
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