Super AirCombat Aircraft

Ac notesThe Hornet was conceived from the word go as a dual-role aircraft, hence the designation F/A-18, which means Fighter-Attack. It was meant to supplement the role of the F-14 Tomcat, providing shorter range Air defense and to totally replace the A-7 Corsair and A-6 Intruder.

Ac notesLike many flight sim fans, my love affair with the Wobbly Goblin began in 1988 with F-19 Stealth Fighter on my Atari ST.

Ac notes"The Northrop/McDonnell Douglas YF-23 is an American single-seat, twin-engine, supersonic stealth fighter aircraft technology demonstrator designed for the United States Air Force. The design was a finalist in the USAF's Advanced Tactical Fighter competition, battling the Lockheed YF-22 for a production contract." - Wikipedia

Ac notesFrom the 1980’s the Panavia Tornado was a staple of the UK, German and Italian airforces and along with the F-111 and B-1B dominated the low-level high speed interdiction bombing role for decades. There were also air defense variants. At the time it boasted the most sophisticated bomber / navigator station in service, the seat being dominated by 3 large cathode ray tubes. The flight plans were loaded via cassette tape and the Terrain Following Radar (TFR) enabled it to fly super-sonic at night and at altitudes down to 50 feet, a performance metric which is hard to match even in the 2020’s.

Ac notesThe "Soviet Super Fighter" is what we called it in the 1980's.