What is Digg?137 Comments
- emptyo, on 05/14/2008, -1/+34Amerrrrrrica....***** yea!
- Poltron, on 05/14/2008, -0/+21if we were pilots, we would get all the bitches.
- tgarza17, on 05/14/2008, -1/+22I feel the need...
- noahhoward, on 05/14/2008, -2/+22Nothing else comes close. Really wish they would have built a modernised version instead of sticking the F-18 in.
- vroom101, on 05/14/2008, -6/+22#1. Via "GlobalSecurity.org: F-14 Tomcat Combat" at http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/air ... (www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/aircraft/f-14-combat.htm)
In 1985, F-14s were called upon in response to the hijacking of the Achille Lauro, an Italian cruise liner. Arab terrorists had found and struck an Italian luxury liner, Achille Lauro. The ship had just departed Alexandria, Egypt, on a pleasure cruise of the Mediterranean. A few hours later, terrorists from the Palestinian Liberation Front hijacked the ship. After tense negotiations and the killing of an American tourist, the hijackers traveled in a battered tugboat to the city of Port Said, Egypt, after Achille Lauro anchored just off the coast. Egyptian authorities made hasty arrangements for the terrorists to depart the country. They boarded an Egypt Air 737 jumbojet at the Al Maza Air Base, northeast of Cairo.
On orders from President Ronald Reagan, on 10 October 1985 seven F-14 Tomcats from the VF-74 "Bedevilers" and VF-103 "Sluggers" were launched from Saratoga. Supporting the Tomcats continuously were VA-85 KA-6D air tankers and VAW-125 E-2C Hawkeye aircraft. Off the coast of Crete, the F-14s, without the use of running lights, eased up beside and behind the airliner. On command, the Tomcats turned on their lights and dipped their wings -- an international signal for a forced landing. The E-2C Hawkeye radioed the airliner to follow the F-14s. Realizing they were in a "no-win" situation, the hijackers allowed the pilot to follow the Tomcats to Naval Air Station, Sigonella, Italy. One hour and 15 minutes later, the jumbo jet landed and the hijackers were taken into custody. Seven hours after the fighter jets were scrambled, all Saratoga aircraft returned home without a shot fired.
#2. How did the U.S. Navy find the Egypt Air 737 airliner? Read the chapter "You Can Run But You Can't Hide" in the book "The Achille Lauro Hijacking: Lessons in the Politics and Prejudice of Terrorism" by Michael K. Bohn -- start at page 23: http://books.google.com/books?id=vbX2tuKIkYcC (books.google.com/books?id=vbX2tuKIkYcC). - vroom101, on 05/14/2008, -3/+14Big: http://chamorrobible.org/images/photos/gpw-2004081 ...
Biggger: http://chamorrobible.org/images/photos/gpw-2004081 ...
via photo 10 at http://chamorrobible.org/gpw/gpw-20040818.htm - KillaVanilla, on 05/14/2008, -0/+10You make it sound so dirty
- inactive, on 05/14/2008, -3/+15SR-71 blackbird was a beast of an aircraft but thanks to satellites spy planes kind of came irrelevant.
- RealmDown, on 05/14/2008, -0/+9That's not a hijack, that's a self-jack.
- magiclava, on 05/14/2008, -1/+9As a British person, be mindful of our own history before you start attacking another country. If its from the perspective of "we went through the same thing and regret our actions. Please don't make the same mistakes we did", then ok, but if you are trying to be morally superior, then please read a history book.
- Alreadyinuse99, on 05/14/2008, -0/+8That's called the F-22
- OriginalLucid1, on 05/14/2008, -0/+7Tomcats baby!
- serif69, on 05/14/2008, -0/+9You never close your eyes anymore when I kiss your lips...
- asusavp3, on 05/14/2008, -3/+11its a shame that they decommissioned it, just like the SR-71 Blackbird. Just because they were too expensive to maintain, really holds a soft spot in many hearts
- werkkrew, on 05/14/2008, -0/+7Im just gonna search the web all day for photos of random ***** and post it here, at least 3 or 4 should make the frontpage each day. What a worthless post.
- ISEEDEADPEOPLE, on 05/14/2008, -2/+9Dude talk about Hijack your own thread!
- mentalfoto, on 05/14/2008, -0/+6"Top Gun" reference.
- Spuy767, on 05/14/2008, -0/+7The F14 was a monster. It was a huge aircraft, and the VSW system was expensive to maintain, but it will always hold a special spot in my heart.
- vroom101, on 05/14/2008, -0/+6F-22A Raptor
1. http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/gallery?section=news&i ... (abclocal.go.com/wpvi/gallery?section=news&id=5187754&photo=65)
2. http://planeplaces.com/gallery2/v/osh06_001/f22/tr ... (planeplaces.com/gallery2/v/osh06_001/f22/transonic.avi.html)
3. http://www.fencecheck.com/forums/index.php?action= ... (www.fencecheck.com/forums/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=217.0;attach=158546;image)
via http://www.fencecheck.com/forums/index.php?topic=2 ... (www.fencecheck.com/forums/index.php?topic=217.msg134367#msg134367)
4. http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/04/picture_this ... (blog.wired.com/defense/2007/04/picture_this_tr.html)
F/A-18 Hornet
5. http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0946082/L/
6. http://chamorrobible.org/gpw/gpw-20061112.htm
B-2 Spirit
7. http://community.webshots.com/album/64801559Zbdmph (community.webshots.com/album/64801559Zbdmph)
B-1B Lancer
8. http://www.airliners.net/open.file/0252881/L/
9. http://chamorrobible.org/gpw/gpw-20041216.htm
10. http://chamorrobible.org/gpw/gpw-20041217.htm
NASA's Space Shuttle Atlantis
11. http://chamorrobible.org/images/photos/gpw-2004081 ...
via photo 11 -> http://chamorrobible.org/gpw/gpw-20040817.htm - PJ1967, on 05/14/2008, -1/+8Could you imagine an F-14 completely re-designed with the latest avionics, stealth materials, vectored thrust, etc? Imagine a black F-14 bearing down on you...it would be mean as *****!
- MacSuxWindozSux, on 05/14/2008, -2/+9SR-71 was fueled on the runway, with fuel leaking everywhere. When it got into the air the heat would expand the fuel tanks stopping the leakage, but it would then need in-air refueling. This was always the case, since this is how the aircraft worked.
The entire purpose was to fly high and fast, snapping pictures of foreign territory. Things that satellites do far better, making it completely and utterly obsolete. - surfacewound, on 05/14/2008, -0/+5Dugg for being the most random Digg comment I've ever seen (unless I just don't get it).
- cslawren, on 05/14/2008, -0/+6Negative ghost rider, the pattern is full.
- LeRenard, on 05/14/2008, -1/+7Such an amazing machine with its ability to carry the Phoenix and AMRAAM weapons packages on top of various combinations of Sidewinders, Sparrows, HARMs, etc. and still be fast enough to intercept and agile enough to dog fight.
- Gudath, on 05/14/2008, -0/+6The plane is not necessarily breaking the sound barrier. There are many pictures on the internet showing the vapor cone that forms when a plane flies through humid air at high speed. This effect is called the Prandtl-Glauert singularity. The Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prandtl-Glauert_Singu ... - mattcurrie, on 05/14/2008, -1/+7thanks for your input
- DrDragun, on 05/14/2008, -0/+6With all of the electronic networking technology, I think we have seen the end of the "big fighter" design. The tomcat suffered from being a bigger target, but had the advantage of a huge weapons payload and division of labor in the cockpit with a crew of 2.
With modern electronics, both of these advantages disappear. With modern electronics, you can have a "mission control" crew assisting the pilot remotely from a nearby base or ship. Also, with respect to weapons payload, modern missiles can be "networked" so that the forward jets act as sort of an "artillery spotter" and target designator while you have a heavy duty "mule" aircraft with a huge weapons payload lobbing missiles from a greater distance. The missiles then connect+communicate with the radar target designations of the forward interceptor jets.
The last advantage of the "big fighter" design was range and huge fuel capacity. The "supercruise" ability of 5th-generation fighters such as the F22 raptor essentially eliminate this advantage as well.
So basically, I think fighter design will continue to trend towars small+difficult to hit, highly maneuverable and stealth. I believe that the F22 Raptor has a theoretical 10:1 kill ratio against MiG-29 and F14 designs, and around a 3:1 thoeretical kill ratio against modern 4.5 gen fighters like the Euro Typhoon or Super Hornet.
RIP Tomcat, you were awesome in your day. - JaNkz, on 05/14/2008, -2/+6It's just a picture of an airplane man. Do you really have to seize every opportunity you can possibly find to express your political and world opinions? Seriously no offense at all I have much respect for Great Britain, as they are one of our strongest allies. But I mean c'mon...
- cslawren, on 05/14/2008, -1/+6Agile enough in the 80s you mean. It wouldn't hold up against this (http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-117877937 ... if we ever went to war with a country that had this.
- trconk, on 05/14/2008, -0/+5Cool, I was on the Saratoga assigned to VAW-125 as a Aviation Electronics Technician. We did more than Just catch Hijackers, we also screwed with Qaddafi's "Line of Death". Many fond memories of that 8 month cruise.
Thanks, for the post.
Tom - fadetoone, on 05/14/2008, -2/+6Congratulations, this was news when I was still in high school. I could be a doctor by now.
- motivatedguy, on 05/14/2008, -0/+3Sorry Goose, but it's time to buzz the tower...
- Shrooms27, on 05/14/2008, -1/+4As an American I can easily agree with your ummm lets call it a speil. In terms of kickassery we rock, but politically well its like watching a bunch of monkeys throw ***** at each other.
- nightsky07, on 05/14/2008, -1/+4When I heard that the Navy was retiring the Tomcats, I was shocked. I could not believe the Navy would give up use of the most versatile fighter jet for the "Landdart" jet fighter (aka F-18). The F-14 Tomcat not only can do everything with style; it also looks good doing it. When I was in the Navy (aviation side), everyone had pride in the Tomcat.
- vroom101, on 05/14/2008, -0/+4The photographer, U.S. Navy Ensign John Gay, won the World Press Photo 2000 contest with the beautiful and now-famous photo: http://www.news.navy.mil/view_single.asp?id=1445
Award info via http://wilk4.com/misc/soundbreak.htm - BelatedHero, on 05/14/2008, -0/+3Strangely enough they still use the U-2.
- mijelh, on 05/14/2008, -0/+3It's not breaking the sound barrier, or at least there's no reason to think so. Flying with relatively high humidity can cause this effect well before sound barrier, especially when making hard maneuvers. Just look at this picture of a b2 (which have a maximum speed of 760 Km/h): http://rides.webshots.com/photo/106480170003020631 ...
- Dan11023, on 05/14/2008, -2/+7glad to see my tax $ is going towards something COOL
- mijelh, on 05/14/2008, -0/+3Satellites cannot provide the same resolution as spy planes. That's why the US maintains it's fleet of U-2. They will be replaced one day, but not by satellites, but by UAV's like Global Hawk.
- mopedfred, on 05/14/2008, -0/+3You've lost that loving feeling... Whoa that loving feeling...
- GiJoeBob, on 05/14/2008, -1/+4Um, so?
- Alreadyinuse99, on 05/14/2008, -3/+6Pointless? Really? Are you really that stupid?
- colin8651, on 05/14/2008, -0/+2Weren’t they release a short while later because the Italians thought their group would retaliate against them? I could be getting my hostage situations mixed up.
- kowalzki, on 05/14/2008, -3/+5older than mankind
- elipabst, on 05/14/2008, -1/+3You must be awesome at parties.
- vroom101, on 05/14/2008, -0/+2The Righteous Brothers - You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o689EaiTESk - NorthKorea, on 05/14/2008, -2/+5but you're not, are you? ur just a digg loser! now your loser friends are going to bury me!
- buba1243, on 05/14/2008, -0/+3umm pretty sure china has the worlds largest infantry, and air force. We happen to make up for that with much better infantry and air force.
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