Aircraft Trivia Quiz

I am going to say the F6F Hellcat. Reason being it was purposely designed and built to be the Zero slayer, and in so doing that it kicked most anything that tangled with it.

Alright...

This next aircraft achieved the best kill ratio of all allied aircraft during WWII.  Name the plane, and for bonus points, name the reason for its lopsided success.

Yes indeed F-8, the supersonic, super tough F-8 crusader, which had a habit of consuming things unfortunate enough to be lying around on deck. I assume in the latter part of it's life it may have developed a taste for French Cuisine?

the F-8 Crusader....the deck crews called it the gator...

Oh so close!

Another shot in the dark the A-7?

Mike

Nope.

It was called the Gator because it was know to have an appetite for anything lying around!

I am going to say the C-5 Galaxy painted in Euro 1 camo. We used to see alot of 141's and called the camo "Lizard" so I will reckon the raising nose painted in that scheme and it's size would warrant being called 'Gator'.

Possibly, but not the aircraft I was thinking about.

Gators have big, greedy & dangerous mouths - this is what gave this aircraft it's name - think of what happened to John Bridget & you have the correct idea, although the aircraft is different & as far as I know it neve had any victims like him.

I'm gonna say the Boeing T-43.....its a 737 used to train navigators for the USAF.  They shortened "navigator" to "gator". 

Cheers.

What aircraft was know as "The Gator" by it's operators?

You are correct, at mach 2.39 the temp on the windscreen was 325 degrees, but it was still accelerating at 0.1 mach every 17 seconds. It was the fastest Accelerating aircraft of all times, it could go from 0.98 mach to 2.2 in just less than 4 minutes, while any others that could do it, took about 9 minutes. Over to you Milair.

XF8U-3 Crusader III - The max speed was estimated by Vought to be Mach 2.9, but the canopy & aluminium structure prevented it passing Mach 2.6?

Ok well lets see what comes of this. This aircraft was in competition with and lost to the F-4. Its max top speed could not be determined however. What was the aircraft, and what was the limiting factor that prevented it reaching its top speed?

Mike

Whether it's a myth or not those are the answers I was looking for. LOL haven't heard of the 'Hopeless Diamond', good one!

MQM107 the floor is yours!!

MQM107

I'll take a stab, Night Hawk and Wobbly Goblin or hopeless diamond

 

Mike

The wobbly goblin name is a myth.  This name was mistakenly put upon the plane by a member of the press.  It came from an "A friend of a friend of a friend told me..." story.  The comment was originally made between two test pilots that the plane was a "wobbly goblin" in earlier testing, because of an issue with the flight control systems. 

The 117 was also not the source of the "hopeless diamond" name.  Lockheed designed the hopeless diamond in 1975, and it was built as a 10-foot long wooden model.  It had no wings or vertical tails on it.  There would be at least one more design built as a model before even the Have Blue experimental plane was built.  This nickname was not associated with the -117 at all.

The official designation was Night Hawk.  For a time early on, the plane was known as Scorpion.  The unofficial nickname was and still is "black jet". 

I'll take a stab, Night Hawk and Wobbly Goblin or hopeless diamond

Mike

Thanks!!! That was just a stab in the dark really, but the pieces fit.

Ok next question, probably pretty easy,

What is the official name and unofficial name of the F-117?

I think that the different manufacturers would be Vought and Goodyear.

Best wishes,

Grant

I don't know but the Soccer War (properly called the 100-hours War) happened in 1969!

Anyway, let's wait for the next question

I think you're thinking of Spitfires.  The Israelis, the British, and the Egyptians all flew Spitfires.  There was an engagement between the British and the Egyptians (around Ramat David AFB), and the British and the Israelis (on the Egyptian border), but, I'm not sure if any Israeli/Egyptian clashes took place.  There were Mustangs in Israel during the Independence War, but, I don't believe they attacked any Mustangs.  They did down MC205 and a Mosquito though.  I don't know if the Egyptians had any Mustangs though

I thought I read somewhere that both the Israelis and the Egyptians were flying Mustangs in thee 1948 War for Independence.  Maybe not?

simpilot34

Would that be the Corsair in the soccer war? Nicaragua and El Salvador?

Yeah, you got it! There actually Corsair vs Corsair kills.

The conflict was between El Salvador and Honduras although the neighboring Nicaragua did help Honduras with weapons and ammo.

BTW: The Mustang and Cavalier were only operated by Salvador.

Anyway, the floor is yours.

Soccer war; Corsair VS Mustang?

Mustang?

Would that be the Corsair in the soccer war? Nicaragua and El Salvador?

Railfan 233

was it the Yak-9? (total shot in the dark)

No.

And just to clarify: even though both sides operated the same plane there were different versions built by different manufacturer. 

what's been happening in Africa?

I think that it dovetails with recent events in Africa.

Enjoying reading the thread.

Best wishes,

Grant

was it the Yak-9? (total shot in the dark)