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From: newave!john@uunet.UU.NET (John A. Weeks III)
Newsgroups: sci.military
Subject: Re: Mig-29 operated by Iraq
Keywords: AIM-54, olive drab fuzzy bananas
Message-ID: <1991Jan22.014153.18512@cbnews.att.com>
Date: 22 Jan 91 01:41:53 GMT
References: <1991Jan15.021838.23936@cbnews.att.com> <1991Jan17.053752.29563@cbnews.att.com> <1991Jan19.043412.6425@cbnews.att.com>
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From: newave!john@uunet.UU.NET (John A. Weeks III)

> From: anthony@batserver.cs.uq.oz.au (Anthony Lee)

> In <1991Jan17.053752.29563@cbnews.att.com> davisp@skybridge.SCL.CWRU.Edu (Palmer Davis) writes:
> > (And carried by the big and relatively unmaneuverable F-14.)

> Sorry to disagree but I think the F14 is more maneuverable then you think.

You bet it is!  In Top Gun training, F-14's fly against the F-5 and F-16.
An airplane has to be extrodinary to stay with an F-5.  If you pit a well
trained F-14 pilot against any plane/pilot combination in Iraq, the Iraqie
better start looking for a soft place to land.

I saw the Navy F-14 demonstation team perform this summer with the Soviet
Mig-29 display team.  The Mig-29 cobra manuver was impressive, but the
F-14 was either vastly superior, or the Mig-29 pilots were holding back.
One of the Tomcat pilots made a 90 degree turn at the end of the runway
with burners on, then pulled the plane straight up, where it accelerated
until it was out of sight.  During the right hand turn, the jet blast
caused hats and umbrellas to go flying, while no other plane in the
show created any type of noticable jet blast or prop wash.  Except when
doing high-speed fly-bys and demonstrating the swing wings, the F-14
did not fly more than 1/4 mile without making some type of turn.

If you would like to see two Tomcats showing off, rent the movie "Final
Countdown".  A pair of Tomcats play with two AT-6's dressed up as Zeros.

> Also don't forget the engagements against the Su and Mig fighters of the
> Libyan air force.

The planes that the F-14's faced were not a match for the F-14's.  The
Libyans would have faced about the same chances if they were flying Zeros
or F4U Corsairs.  This was the same situation that the Syrians faced at
the Golan Turkey Shoot where Syria lost 78 or so planes to the Isrealies
with no loss to Isreal.

-john-

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