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Fighter Aircraft
Fighters are a type of military aircraft used for air-to-air combat. Ask questions in this category about types of fighters as well as their use in warfare.
966 Questions
Can a Hornet fighter plane travel 1 200 kilometers in 10 minutes?
That is 7,200 kilometres an hour. No fighter jet can go that fast.
What is the cruise speed of a Spitfire?
There were many marks of Spitfire with different engines and weights. Most cruised between 300 and 350 mph.
How many bombs does the Messerschmitt drop?
During WW-II, Messerschmidt produced many aircraft fulfilling many military roles, including bombers. Without knowing which airframe you have in mind, there's no way to answer this question.
Actually almost all Messerschmitt aircraft were designed as fighters, even the notably underpowered Me 110. Many versions of the Me 109 could carry 1 x 550 or 4 x 110 pound bombs. The Me 110 E, G and H models - could carry 4,400 pounds in various configurations. (my father has many photos of them in Libya carrying 4 -1,100 pounders.) but was very slow with this load. - The Me 210 had under fuselage racks to carry 2 x 2,200 pound bombs, but seldom did. The Me 410 could carry 2 x 2,200 internally and 4 x 110 pound bombs under the wings. - Having said all that, remember that almost all of these aircraft were in fighter units and fighter pilots do not like to be weighed down with bombs. -That was up to the Dorniers and Heinkels in their opinion !
How many seat are in a Spitfire?
There is only one seat in a Spitfire, the cockpit was actually quite small.
What similarities did the spitfire MK9 and the spitfire MK16 have in common?
The Mk16 was essentially a Mk9 with an American Packard 266 Merlin engine. At that period of the war (1943-44) the Rolls Royce Merlin 66 was required for Lancaster bombers, so Rolls Royce collaborated with Packard to set up manufacture of the Merlin in USA. These Packard built engines were fitted to the end run of Mk9 airframes (about 1,000 of them) and called Mk16.
What is altitude height for a fighter jet?
It's different for each type of "fighter" jets but it's roughly around 50.000 - 65.000 feet (15.000 - 20.000 meters) for fighter jets.
Google it if you want specifics, it's called "Service Ceiling".
What weapons does a Spitfire have?
.303 caliber machine guns mounted in the wings.
Later models replaced those with 20mm Hispano-Suiza cannons.
What are the top ten fighters?
No. 10: F/A-22 Raptor
Manufacturer: Lockheed Martin
Power Plant: Pratt & Whitney F-119 PW-100
Top Speed: Mach 2.5
Armament: One 20mm cannon, six AMRAAM and two AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles
Because it is almost invisible to radar and carries an awesome array of weaponry the F-22 Raptor, America's fourth-generation fighter, gets superb innovation and fear factor ratings. However, the aircraft's prowess is compromised by its astronomical production costs and the fact it has some way to go to match the combat records of the F-15 and F-16. Therefore, in the kill ratio, production and service length categories, the Raptor scores zip, placing it firmly in 10th place on our list.
No. 9: Sea Harrier FA2
Manufacturer: British Aerospace
Power Plant: Rolls Royce Pegasus mk 104 or 106 turbofan
Top Speed: 736 mph
Armament: Two 30-mm Aden cannon, plus two AMRAAM and four Sidewinder missiles, two Harpoon or Sea Eagle anti-ship missiles
With its unrivaled ability to maneuver, hover and pop up from unexpected places, the Sea Harrier earns a solid fear factor rating. Its unique design and simple-to-produce airframe score well. Despite achieving a high kill ratio in the Falklands, the "jump jet's" slow speed makes it vulnerable to ground fire, which reduces its overall score. Though the aircraft is being phased out of frontline operations it still earns a respectable ninth place in our top 10 league.
No. 8: Sopwith Camel
Manufacturer: Sopwith Aviation Company
Power Plant: Clerget rotary engine
Top Speed: 112 mph
Armament: Two Vickers .303 machine guns
Credited with destroying at least 1,200 enemy aircraft, the Sopwith Camel rightly deserves to be called one of the best fighters of all time. Its solid, if unspectacular, scoring across the board ensures its standing in eighth place on the list of the greatest fighters of all time.
No. 7: Me 262 Schwalbe
Manufacturer: Messerschmitt
Power Plant: Two Junkers Juno 004s
Top Speed: 540 mph
Armament: Four 30mm MK-108 cannons
For innovation the "Swallow" scores maximum points. As the first of its kind, the Me 262 inspired equal measures of fear and admiration, so it also scores at the top of the scales in the fear factor category. However, because the aircraft was difficult to build and it had notoriously unreliable engines, the aircraft's production rating is low - so too is its service record, having only been active for a little over two years. Nevertheless, the Me 262 will forever be in the record books as being the world's first fully operational jet fighter - a legend of the skies and the seventh greatest fighter of all time.
No. 6: Supermarine Spitfire
Manufacturer: Supermarine Aviation Works
Power Plant: Rolls-Royce Merlin V-12 piston engine
Top Speed: 369 mph
Armament: Eight Browning .303 machine guns; later version, four 20mm cannon
Used in all British theaters of conflict throughout the Second World War the Spitfire remains the unrivaled symbol of victory and Britain's finest hour. But the Spitfire is also famous for giving Field Marshall Erwin Rommel the scare of his life. On July 17, 1944, in the north of France, a Canadian pilot named Charlie Fox shot at the car carrying the German military mastermind and knocked it off the road, putting Germany's "Desert Fox" out of commission.No. 6: Supermarine Spitfire
Manufacturer: Supermarine Aviation Works
Power Plant: Rolls-Royce Merlin V-12 piston engine
Top Speed: 369 mph
Armament: Eight Browning .303 machine guns; later version, four 20mm cannon
Used in all British theaters of conflict throughout the Second World War the Spitfire remains the unrivaled symbol of victory and Britain's finest hour. But the Spitfire is also famous for giving Field Marshall Erwin Rommel the scare of his life. On July 17, 1944, in the north of France, a Canadian pilot named Charlie Fox shot at the car carrying the German military mastermind and knocked it off the road, putting Germany's "Desert Fox" out of commission.
No. 4 - A Tie!
MiG 15
Manufacturer: Mikoyan Gurevich Design Bureau
Power Plant: Klimov VK-1 turbojet
Top Speed: 668 mph
Armament: One 37mm N-37 cannon and two 23mm NR-23 cannon
AND
F-86 Sabre
Manufacturer: North American
Power Plant: General Electric J47 engine
Top Speed: 685 mph
Armament: Six .50-caliber machine guns and eight 5-inch rockets
Compared to today's fighters both these jets are underpowered and primitive but few aircraft have done so well at the job they were designed to do. Both the F-86 Sabre and MiG 15 were the right aircraft at the right time and each richly deserve a prominent place in aviation history. Both designs relied heavily on captured German swept-wing technology and British engine design, so for innovation the MiG and Sabre are equally matched. Both fighters were produced in large numbers, but the MiG edges in front of the Sabre in the production category because of its renowned simplicity. Both jets have similar service records. The result? They are inseparable in the rankings: the MiG 15 and F-86 Sabre tie for fourth place.
No. 3: F-4 Phantom
Manufacturer: McDonnell Douglass
Power Plant: Two J79 Spey turbojet afterburning engines
Top Speed: 1,485 mph
Armament: Four AIM 7 Sparrow and four AIM 9 Sidewinder missiles.
Produced in large numbers the F-4 Phantom has an unrivaled service history. But the aircraft really earns its third place ranking for being fast, durable and deadly. Phantoms were the test bed for missile technology - and the aircraft held five speed records for an impressive 13 years before being beaten by the aircraft featured in the No. 2 spot on our list of the top 10 fighters of all time.
No. 2: F-15C Eagle
Manufacturer: McDonnell Douglass
Power Plant: Two Pratt & Whitney F-100-PW-100 afterburning turbofans
Top Speed: Mach 2.5
Armament: One 20-mm cannon, four AIM-7F Sparrow and four AIM-9L Sidewinder missiles
No other fighter in the history of aerial combat has a record that even comes close to the Eagle's. The F-15 is far superior to most of its brethren - way better than the F-4 - accelerating better, turning better, handling better. In fact, such is the reputation of the F-15 that during the opening phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Saddam Hussein's air force simply refused to get in the air. They knew the F-15 would just knock them out of the sky.
No. 1: P-51D Mustang
Manufacturer: North American Aviation
Power Plant: 1600 hp Packard-built Merlin 61 piston engine
Top Speed: 437 mph
Armament: Six wing-mounted .50-caliber machine guns
Fitted with external drop-tanks the Mustang's range was extended to almost 2,000 miles, making it the only Allied fighter capable of protecting the Allied bombers on long-range, deep-penetration raids. The Mustang performed its job so well that after its introduction in 1944, casualty rates for bomber crews were reduced by 75 percent. In fact, American P51s destroyed almost 5,000 enemy aircraft in Europe - making it the highest scoring U. S. fighter in the European theater of operations.
What was the top speed of the Spitfire MkIX?
The top speed of the MkIX was about 420 mph. This version had a 1,720 hp Merlin 66.
How many bullets does a spitfire fire a second?
The Rate of fire for each gun in the RAF Supermarine Spitfire was 20 rounds per second (rps).
Since the spitfire had eight guns in total (4 on each wing), it resulted in a total rate of 160 rps.
How many years of training does it take to fly a fighter jet?
It takes approximately 3 years to go through basic flying and progress to military jet aircraft, then in most air forces, a further course in the particular fighter
What was the wing span of a spitfire?
The wingspan of a Spitfire depended on which model. Most were 36 ft 10 inch, but some high altitude model VII's were 40 ft 2 inch and many MK XVIII and XIX had their wings shortened to 32 ft to increase low altitude performance.
What is the meaning of cav filter?
C.A.V. are the initials of the owner (Charles Anthony Vandervell) of a company that invented a simple, cheap, replaceable (throw-away) fuel filter. The company was taken over by Lucas Industries (later the mechanical division was renamed Delphi Inc). Originally CAV filters were intended mostly for tractors but are now also used in trucks and 4WDs everywhere. The whole CAV 'system' is in 4 parts - 1. The head/top has inlets and outlets, a bleed port and mounting holes to bolt onto your vehicle/engine/chassis, etc. There is a central exit pipe for filtered fuel to rise up from below which has a long, thin bolt hanging down through its centre. 2 gaskets are fitted to the bottom of the head, one on the outside of the central outlet pipe and one in a groove around the outer edge of the whole unit. 2. The 'throw-away filter' itself is a can with lots of holes in the top and bottom. A tube through its centre fits over the outlet pipe in the head unit and is sealed by the central gasket mentioned above. The outer edge of the filter is sealed by the outer gasket in the head unit. Fuel coming into the unit therefore must pass through the can which is filled with a specially impregnated paper that also has a carefully controlled pore size. 3. A glass sight bowl with a drain port is clamped by the centre bolt below the filter. A perimeter gasket in a groove around the outer edge of the bowl seals the outside to the filter while a small o-ring seals around the central bolt (under a washer on the outside). 4. [Not always present] Between the filter and the glass bowl an upside-down plastic 'tree' attracts and holds tiny water droplets so that they are prevented from being passed up the central pipe and out of the filter assembly. The minute droplets join together (agglomerate) and drop to the bottom of the bowl where they can be drained out periodically. The special paper and the agglomerater work together to extract water from the fuel. Running the filter backwards defeats the purpose of the coating and agglomerater by pumping the small water droplets through and directly out the top of the filter unit. The small pore size of the paper removes fine, suspended particles from the fuel either way. This filter is NOT designed to separate large particles or large drops of water from the fuel (although it still does do this, and it will clog very quickly). Good fuel tank design and good fueling practice should keep the larger particles out of the final filtration path which is where the CAV system is designed to perform a final 'polishing' of the fuel. Cheap CAV filters used after a cheap, coarse pre-filter and a water trap provide superior filtration to protect engine parts from abrasive particles and disruptive water. The sight bowl with its water drain are not only reassuring when it remains empty, but a very simple warning system when it starts to fill. Many vehicles fit a (cheap, throw-away) CAV filter between the coarse filter (located near the tank) and the final filter (located on the engine). Often the engine's final filter (usually expensive) lasts several manufactures' replacement periods and is only changed when the operator becomes paranoid about leaving it on for yet another 5000km! bruceg 8-2009
Not every fighter can do this, but as part of its qualification tests an F/A-18A flew standing on its tail at such a high angle of attack that lift was impossible at under 40mph airspeed.
How was the Spitfire successful in the dogfight?
It could turn and roll faster than the Bf109, and had slightly more speed.
What does the tail numbers on a F-4 Phantom jet mean?
The tail numbers on any fighter aircraft usually refer to their squadron and often individual aircraft. In the US Navy they also denote east or west coast Carrier Air Groups.
What is the meaning of 18-135mm f3.5-5.6g ed-if af-s dx?
This is a Nikon lens that was originally released around 2005. AF-S stands for Auto Focus-Silent Wave Motor. This means that the lens has an autofocus motor built into it, so the cameras used with it do not have to have AF motors built into them. "DX" refers to the size of the camera sensor; the sensor has a 1.5x crop, which affects the focal length and the aperture. "18-135mm" refers to the range of focal lengths of the lens. "f/3.5-5.6" refers to the aperture of the lens; as the lens is zoomed in to longer focal lengths, the aperture gradually increases from f/3.5 to f/5.6. "ED" refers to the Extra-Low Dispersion elements, which reduce the chromatic aberration of the lens. IF stands for Internal Focus, which means the lens length does not change when focusing. The front element of this lens does not rotate when focusing either, so the orientation of front mounted accessories such as polarizing filters does not change during focusing.
In photography, the "focal length" of a lens is usually stated in millimeters (mm). The higher the number, the greater the magnification. A "normal" focal length for a 35mm film camera is around 50mm. A focal length of 18mm is considered "wide angle" and 135mm is sometimes referred to as a "portrait" lens. Lenses with higher numbers (200-1000) may be called "tele-photo". The listing for a lens as 18-135mm means it is a "zoom" lens. This means the focal length can be changed by the photographer usually by turning a ring on the body of the lens. As to "f3.5-5.6", in this listing, it is the range of the maximum size of the aperture. The aperture is the opening in the camera that allows light in to take the picture. The f number -- called the "f-stop" is calculated by dividing the diameter of the aperture opening by the focal length of the lens and expressing the answer as a properly reduced fraction (with the top number a 1). The f-stop is the bottom of the fraction. For example: a camera with a 100mm lens that has a maximum aperture of 50mm, or an "f-stop" of 2 (50/100=1/2). On a zoom lens, since the focal length changes, but the aperture does not, the f-stop will change with the focal length. So, the first number 3.5 means at the lower focal length (18mm) the maximum aperture opening is 1/3.5th of the focal length, or about 5mm. The other number 5.6 means at the higher focal length (135mm) the maximum aperture opening is 1/5.6th of the focal length, or about 24mm.
When you say the air is thinner at altitude what do you really mean?
You really mean that there are less oxygen and other gas particles in the same space then when you are lower. This happens because the higher you are, the less air you have on top of you, therefore the weight (pressure) is lower and the gas is compressed less, which is why it occupies more space.
The F4 is a Mcdonnell Phantom, a heavy twin engine fighter of the 60's and 70's
