Aircraft Trivia Quiz

I believe that the defector brought over  a MIG25.  Washington was red in the face when they finally got a look at the 25.  They had poured billions into the development of the F15 and F14 to counter it, only to find it wasn't nearly as high end as they thought it was.  At least we got two of the worlds finest air superiority fighters out of it, and a huge sigh of relief at the pentagon.

fermis

Defected Korean???

Wow, something I actually know!

I believe it was a Polish air-force pilot who defected for the $100,000. I can't remember his name, but I'm sure he was the first. I believe there were other defectors as well?

Correct you are Boba.  The first one was flown by Francizek Jarcki a polish pilot to a Danish airstrip in March 1953.  The offered money was $100,000 but for some reason he only got $50,000.  I guess because we didtnt get to keep it.  The aircraft was returned to poland a few weeks later after US officials went over it with a fine tooth comb. 

The Korean connection was close but not quite right.   A North Korean pilot named No Kum-Sok landed his MIG-15 at Kimpo Air Base in September of the same year.  That one we kept and evaluated, if you want to see it I beleive it is at the US Airforce Museum in Ohio.  

And now the hot potato passes to you Boba Fett

Before the defectors delivered their Mig-15s in 1953, ATIC recoverd portions of two crashed Mig-15s in 1951, the first was 17 Apr, 1951 and the second was 20-21 July, 1951. The first was from a crash 100 miles behind enemy lines and the second was from a crash site in shallow water off a coastal mud flats.

Here is a link to an article with further details.

http://nasicaa.org/chapter02.pdf

Best wishes,

Grant

Wow, actually got something right for once...

Ok, this is super-easy so let the opportunists come!

What combat-used aircraft (Non-piston powered, jet or rocket) is infamous for losing more craft to accidents than combat.

Bonus: How many confirmed kills did this craft score?

P-61?

that could be right, but not what I'm looking for. I'll rephrase it

F-104?

ME-163 komet, lost more pilots to landing and takeoff (fuel related) incidents per aircraft than any other aircraft flying.

Doesn't help the fuel they used dissolved pretty much anything it touched. 

Heinkel He-162, cause the glued they used for the wood wing was poor at best and kept coming apart.

Scorpiomikey

ME-163 komet, lost more pilots to landing and takeoff (fuel related) incidents per aircraft than any other aircraft flying.

Doesn't help the fuel they used dissolved pretty much anything it touched. 

I probably could have made the question better, but...

This is what I was looking for. The other answers may have been right, but this is the winner. The bonus answer: 16 kills. Mostly bombers, but a mosquito was also taken down.

On to Scorpiomonkey!

Ok, The prototype of this aircraft had directional thrust vectoring to shorten takeoff runs, however the full production aircraft removed this feature. The aircraft im thinking of is american.

Whats the birdy? 

The YA2F-1, the prototype of the A6 Intruder?

yup, got it in one, over to you

OK,

The fastest successfully landing by a conventional aircraft?

For a bonus, what other significant speed record does the same manufacturer also hold?

It's not the Israeli F-15 that lost a wing, resulting in the pilot turning the aircraft into a near-rocket, and landing at 240mph?

Nope.

"successful landing" REALLY narrows the lists down...

Didn't the X-15 have a 200-250mph landing speed? That's all I can think of...

OK, it's a conventional aircraft, with a low mounted, swept wing & twin engines.

F5 Tiger?  Or a Phantom maybe.

Sounds like a B-66 / A-3 Skywarrior.....

Brian 

It's somewhat larger than any of those.

Some features unusual for it type were low pressure tires, a glazed nose & a braking parachute on earlier models.

The plane is the Tupolev Tu-134, a twin-jet airliner that has also been used by the Russian Air Force.  Date was December 31, 1988, and the plane landed at a speed of 258.8 mph.  At the time it had 76 passengers on board, no one was hurt.

Tupolev also holds the record for having the first commercial transport to exceed Mach 2--that being the Tu-144 SST in June 1969.

Yes indeed F-8, the Tu-134 "Crusty" - an event made even scarier by the fact that the record was acheived with a load of passengers!

The record I had in mind was the Bear's one of fastest turboprop, or was it the fastest propellor driven passenger aircraft, or was it the most powerful turboprop aircraft, or the fastest in service bomber, or the most powerfull bomber - Tupolev hold so many records......................................

Here is the Tu-134UBL, used for Tu-160 & Tu-22 crew training;

ALright....

This combat aircraft was originally going to be named Tomcat, but the name was not used because it was felt that such a name was too "provocative".  Of course, Grumman later took that name for the F-14.  Name the plane, and for bonus points, name three things it has in common with the F-14.

I believe it was the F7 Tigercat? As for the bonus, I have no clue... both were twin-engined? Both has early engine issues?

One of the bonus answers;

Both aircraft suffered from very poor approach handling on single engines?

Both were produced by Grumman

Both were powered by Pratt & Whitney (well at least initially, for the F-14)

I think you are talking about the F7F Tigercat.  It had wind load problems as well as stability issues early on that were eventually fixed.

The Tigercat it is....

As for the bonus questions, both were twin-engine carrier based fighters.  Both were made by Grumman, and both of them used much more powerful armament than their contemporaries--the F7F with four 20mm and four .50 BMG's, and the Tomcat with the Phoenix missile system.