1/4/2023 0 Comments F 111 cockpit![]() McNamara still stuck to the idea that the US Navy and Air Force should work together on a joint request for proposals, something they reluctantly did. McNamara that their operational needs could not be fulfilled by the TFX and was subsequently dropped from the program. In 1961, the US Army and Marines convinced defense secretary Robert S. F 111 cockpit series#That might be why the DoD started the TFX program almost as soon as the Century Series aircraft started to populate US squadrons. The TFX was also supposed to be sold to numerous NATO member countries as a replacement for the F-84 Thunderjet and F-86 Sabre fighters delivered on a lend/lease basis as military assistance during the fifties and sixties.Īn aircraft type's frontline service in the US was typically much less than ten years in the fifties. The British experimental P.1127 VTOL program had done tethered hovering for the first time in October 1960, but it would take almost ten more years before this evolved into a usable VTOL airplane: the Harrier Jump Jet. As far as fuel was concerned, it was required to be able to cross the Atlantic Ocean without refueling.Īnother requirement was Vertical Takeoff and Landing capability, probably influenced by research by contemporary British aircraft designers, but this requirement was dropped in February 1960. F 111 cockpit zip#It was also supposed to be able to zip along at Mach 2.5 at high altitudes and Mach 1.2 at a few hundred feet. A tall order which General Dynamics later partly managed to fulfill, but not before the TFX program had overcome a great number of political and technical hurdles as well as serious cost overruns.ĭoD envisioned a single flying machine able to replace all the aforementioned aircraft in all their different operational roles: air-to-air, air-to-ground, close air support, tactical reconnaissance and strategic bombing. The program became known as Tactical Fighter Experimental - TFX. For good measure he told the US Marines and the Army to pitch in so that the plane could be used in the close-air support role. McNamara directed the Navy and the Air Force to work together to issue a common specification so that the needs of both services could be fulfilled by a single aircraft. ![]() ![]() At the same time the US Navy needed a replacement aircraft for its F-8 Crusader and F-4 Phantom II fleet air defense fighters. In 1958 the US Air Force issued a specification for an aircraft that was supposed to replace the F-100 Super Sabre, F-101 Voodoo and F-105 Thunderchief in the Century Series tactical aircraft. US heavy fighter-bomber built by General Dynamics in the 1960s. ![]()
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