With lofty ambitions, tell the story of the growth of pilots. Using your own Tomcat fighter as the main model in the film, you will be able to successfully attract those young people to join the U.S. Navy!
Nathan's proposal immediately won the old general's favor: "Yes, we have to make such a film, that, Nathan, are you interested in writing a script?"
It is not appropriate to let the pilot be an actor, because the pilot still has heavy flying tasks, and the actor looks simple, but in fact, most people will be nervous in front of the camera and it is impossible to do it easily.
Writing a script is different. This is Nathan’s proposal. As a navy pilot, Nathan must have deep feelings. After training, writing a script should not be difficult.
Of course it is not difficult, just write according to the lofty ambitions of later generations, especially the classic lines in it, Nathan can recite.
I think I should do it, I will do it.
As the elite of the elite, we must continue to work hard after making mistakes.
So, Nathan nodded immediately: "Okay, no problem, I'll write the script, there should be one month of the world, it should be almost the same."
Generally speaking, a wonderful film, the script may be revised repeatedly, and it takes months or even years to write, but Nathan is full of confidence. The classic film of later generations, if you write it yourself, is the best.
The old general nodded: "That's the best. By the way, I will send a secretary to you to help you write the script together, so as not to delay your flight change training."
After eating, I actually talked about a movie first. After this topic was finished, the old general came to today's topic: "Nathan, what do you think of our Tomcat fighter?"
A take-off and landing can make people feel intuitively, especially since Nathan actually did a few more maneuvers, it is even more profound.
"Compared with our previous fighters, it has a smooth appearance, variable swept wings and excellent maneuverability in the entire airspace. It can be both high-speed and close-range combat." Nathan said everything he thought of "It can be said that it is the best carrier-based aircraft of our naval aviation. Not only now, even if it arrives, it must be the most classic."
In addition to the Tomcat, what other famous carrier-based aircraft does the US Navy have
After it is full of missiles, is it a super bug that can only slowly fly to Mach 0.8? It simply cannot afford the navy's fleet air defense interception mission.
Or the invisible, bloated, single-shot, tri-service F-35
For the U.S. Navy, there is only one fighter that is classic, and that is the Tomcat!
This sentence was from Nathan's heart, and it also made the old general happy from ear to ear. This fighter is the old general's most proud of. Some people praised it, and of course he was happy.
"However, it is still flawed." At this moment, Nathan's turning point attracted everyone's attention.
Is everything the Tomcat the best? of course not! Nathan is familiar with the flaws of this aircraft, and now he naturally has to speak out.
"Its engine." Nathan said: "Pratt-Whitney's engine has a power-to-weight ratio that is not high enough. If we want to conquer the sky in the future, the thrust-to-weight ratio of our fighter jet is higher than 1. The thrust-to-weight ratio must be close to 8. The most important thing is that the engine must work stably."
For the Tomcat fighter, the excellent design made him very powerful, but the engine was dragged down. This is the biggest evaluation of the Tomcat fighter in later generations. It was until the F-14D in 1988 that it was replaced with the F110 engine. It can be regarded as solving the problem of heart disease.
When Nathan said this, he immediately won the approval of all the non-Tomcat fighters on the scene: "Yes, the engine makes us not dare to do whatever we want, and we must always care about whether it coughs."
In agreement, the old general was a little unbelievable: "Nathan, how did you know?"
Nathan did not have access to any instructions for the Tomcat fighter, and the data of this fighter was not leaked. How accurate is Nathan
"It came out." Nathan said without changing his face: "It can't climb vertically, of course, because the thrust-to-weight ratio is not enough."
The Lehmann instructor on the side nodded. Indeed, the most intuitive way to check the thrust-to-weight ratio of an aircraft is to fly once. A skilled pilot, as long as he flies, will know the problem.
Now, except for the F-15 that has just entered service in the Air Force, which has a thrust-to-weight ratio of more than 1 in air combat, all other aircraft can't do it.
Nathan was also secretly rejoicing in his heart, and he just couldn't stop talking about it again.
In fact, for the Tomcat, there are two major shortcomings, one is the engine, and the other is that the variable swept-wing wing box is too heavy and the structure is complicated.
"Yes, we have already anticipated the engine problem. Our current F-14A was originally a transitional model. We plan to install a new engine and upgrade it to an F-14B after 67 aircraft have been produced. It's a pity. Ah, we haven't changed it up to now. We can only use it first. Don't worry, this problem will definitely be solved."
The old general said with emotion that most of the people present didn't know the inside story, but Nathan thought about it.
The Navy has long known the Tomcat’s heart disease problem. As early as when the F-14 flew for the first time, subsequent engine models had already begun to be selected. Produced in competition.
So F-14A is just the initial model.
Later, they selected Pratt & Whitney’s JTF22 engine and assigned the Navy military designation F401-P-400. The F100 engine derived from JTF22 has also been selected by the US Air Force as the power plant of the F-15.
Its appearance has been greatly improved over TF30.
such a pity.
The navy can't afford to change. On the one hand, the United States is withdrawing from Vietnam, the domestic economy is sluggish, and the Navy's funding has been drastically reduced. The upgrade funding is unavailable. At the same time, the F401 engine exposed many serious reliability problems and failed the flight test.
Therefore, the Navy can only continue to use the TF30 engine now, which is a last resort.
"Any new technology requires risk." Nathan said: "The engine is the crown of the industry, but it is not so easy to mature. Let's watch the air force first, and when it matures, we won't change it. late."
The topic was picked up by Nathan, and of course it should be ended by Nathan. After successfully picking the Air Force into a fool, the people present immediately became happy.
Sure enough, there are conflicts between the air force and the navy! As long as the Air Force makes a fool of it, it is enough to make people excited. In fact, the early F-15, indeed, was grounded because of engine problems, and as a result, it won the title of a hangar queen. (End of this chapter)