MetaFilter posts tagged with warplanes

15 Vintage Warplanes in Flying Condition

maxwelton — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 16:27:25 -0800

As the Seattle PI notes "Paul Allen's 'Flying Heritage Collection' of 15 planes, mostly dating from the 1930s and '40s, is noteworthy both because of its rarity -- several are the only models of their kind remaining -- and its condition -- almost all of them have been refurbished so that they can be flown." The collection includes: Curtis JN-4D Jenny Curtis P40C Tomahawk Fieseler FI 156-C2 Storch Focke Wulf FW 190D-13 Dora Grumman F6F Hellcat Hawker Hurricane Mk.XIIB Messerschmitt 163B Komet Messerschmitt BF 109E-3 Emil Mitsubishi A6M3-22 Zero-Sen Nakajima KI-43 Hayabusa Oscar North American P-51D Mustang Polikarpov I-16 Type 24 Rata Polikarpov U-2/PO-2 Republic P-47D Thunderbolt Supermarine Spitfire Mk VC The PI also has a photo gallery accompanying its story. The collection is housed at Paine Field in Everett, Washington (satellite view). Paine Field is also the home of Boeing's 747, 767, 777 And 787 assembly plant, as well as the Legend Flyers, a pair of reproduction ME-262 jet fighters from the same era.

Patriot Missiles shooting down our side

Xoc — Thu, 03 Apr 2003 20:38:28 -0800

US fighter shot down by Patriot missile The Patriot Missiles that are supposed to be the protector of American forces are living up to their reputation. So far, one just shot down an F-18, and previously took out a RAF Tornado, killing two people. Another one locked onto an F-16, but the quick-thinking pilot blew up the Patriot missile battery's radar dish with a HARM missile. These missiles didn't work in the last gulf war, and are continuing to follow that trend. The locking onto allied planes seems to indicate a bug in the IFF routines of the Patriots. Not very patriotic of it.

F-22 Raptor

JohnR — Thu, 19 Dec 2002 17:19:25 -0800

The F-22 Raptor is the next generation fighter for the United States. At nearly 97 million each, it will be deployed in 2004.This site gives a remarkably detailed report regarding its design and function. Including such gems as "first-look, first-shot, first-kill capability" and " Humans are good differentiators, but they are poor integrators."