Can we please stop hotlinking pics?

secretariata said:

pilotbraden said:

first peppers of the season, green are Naga vipers, red is a ghost

Aiiieeeeyyy! My eyes are burning!!!!

And so here is a picture of somebody else's Carolina Reapers...

Oh.  GNARLED.  Nevermind.

Wally said:

I tried googling it cause i have a good friend that works on big rigs. Sadly, i can't find it.....

Mandatory hotlink:

Not nearly as funny, but the above reminds me of one of my absolute favorite books as a child...

Unfortunately,  "Drivin' Trucks While High on Meth" is just a cover, but this guy has come up with some funny sh*t... sick, but funny.

Your Childhood Ruined

Ransom said:

Not nearly as funny, but the above reminds me of one of my absolute favorite books as a child...

I wore that book out.

edit: not recently...

For the Yankees.....

Will said:

Adrian_Thompson said:

aircooled said:

Lightning?  That's not a fighter....

...now that's a fighter!  

Realistically very similar planes.  All motor and climb and NO range.

 

SNIP

Despite it's wannabe rocket looks and flight characteristics it only had a ceiling of 50 thousand feet

SNIP

 

This man may dispute your assertion.

Is that a man?

You're damn right it is.

I stand humbly corrected.  Don't know where I got that misinformation from.

Adrian_Thompson said:

aircooled said:

Lightning?  That's not a fighter....

...now that's a fighter!  

Realistically very similar planes.  All motor and climb and NO range.

 

Despite it's wannabe rocket looks and flight characteristics it only had a ceiling of 50 thousand feet, where the the Lightning ceiling was never officially released.  A Lightning did intercept the supposedly un-interceptable U2 and there are reports they were flown as high as 88 thousand feet.

The F-104A was the first - and I believe only - aircraft to simultaneously hold both world speed and altitude records:

16 May 1958 - YF-104A - 55-2969 (83FiS) - Capt. Walt Wayne Irwin - Various records - awarded with Collier Trophy.

Flown from Edwards AFB, Capt. Walt Irwin managed to reach Speed vs Altitude records from start, with his unprepared standard YF-104A aircraft with nickname "Speedy". He reached: 3.000 m from start in 41.8 seconds 25.000 m from start in 4 minutes and 26.03 seconds. 2,259.538 kilometers per hour (1,404.012 miles per hour) over a 15 km/25 km course at Edwards Air Force Base, being an official Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Speed Record.

Note: This was the first time, from this day, that one aircraft (YF-104A) holds at the same time the world altitude record of 27,813 meters (91,246 ft) and the world speed record of 2.259 km/h (1.404 mph).

That's in a standard, off-the-line F-104A.  Service ceiling for the F-104A was more than 73,000 feet.  An F-104C made an altitude record of 103,395 feet.  A prepared version reached 120,800 feet.

It's not my favorite aircraft in the world, and it was dangerous and difficult to fly.  It had an effective range of well under 500 miles and the world record for keeping one in the air without refueling is 2 hours and 50 minutes.  But you can't just pretend it wasn't capable.  It set all kinds of time-to altitude records:

Flying F-104A 56-0762 over NAS Point Mugu, California, U.S. Air Force Lt. William T. Smith and Lt. Einar Enevoldson set several time-to-climb records on 13 and 14 December 1958:

• 3,000 metres (9,800 ft) in 41.85 seconds from a stop
• 6,000 metres (19,700 ft) in 58.41 seconds from a stop
• 9,000 metres (29,500 ft) in 81.14 seconds from a stop
• 12,000 metres (39,400 ft) in 99.90 seconds from a stop
• 15,000 metres (49,200 ft) in 131.1 seconds from a stop
• 20,000 metres (65,600 ft) in 222.99 seconds from a stop
• 25,000 metres (82,000 ft) in 266.03 seconds from a stop

[edit]  Made this post before I read your "I stand corrected" post above.

Duke said:[edit]  Made this post before I read your "I stand corrected" post above.
 

No problem, I have no issue fessing up when I'm wrong.  Shows I should never rely on memory.  It's also nice to see the real story.  I guess it's one of those things where I grew up on the other side of the pond, so I have a different set of 'truths' installed in my brain at times.  Still, I love the EE Lightning.  They were still operational in the 70's as a kid and I'd see (make that hear) them from time to time both practicing and at air shows.  Very very loud and mega impressive when they would pull up into a full vertical climb with afterburner going.  Not the best rate of climb, but damn it burned an impression into this kids head.  Side note.  I've seen a couple of B1's do the full afterburner climb thing too, and that's mega impressive for the shear size of those beasts.

Required.

In reply to 914Driver :

Supervan was awesome in all its incarnations!

I can't even afford to look at this thing, but Singer does some incredible work. The roof spoiler/rear glass is just...

​​​​​​Grassroots Suzuki Sports!!

kazoospec said:

 

Fighter: 

Hmmm,  that a bit like saying this is a weapon:

It IS, but it's hardly the best choice if you have an option. 

That said, you do have to quite a man to make it work in a fight!  

aircooled said:

kazoospec said:

 

Fighter: 

 

Hmmm,  that a bit like saying this is a weapon:

It IS, but it's hardly the best choice if you have an option. 

That said, you do have to quite a man to make it work in a fight!  

 

Try and carry it onto a commercial airliner.

Try and carry it onto a commercial airliner.

Try getting this on an airliner:

...still not the best choice in a fight.

kazoospec said:

Will said:

Adrian_Thompson said:

aircooled said:

Lightning?  That's not a fighter....

...now that's a fighter!  

Realistically very similar planes.  All motor and climb and NO range.

 

SNIP

Despite it's wannabe rocket looks and flight characteristics it only had a ceiling of 50 thousand feet

SNIP

 

This man may dispute your assertion.

Is that a man?

You're damn right it is.

Not gonna go all "fixed that for you", but

Man

 

Fighter: 

There may have been better fighter pilots, but there weren't better aviators than this man.

Floating Doc said:

aircooled said:

kazoospec said:

 

Fighter: 

 

Hmmm,  that a bit like saying this is a weapon:

It IS, but it's hardly the best choice if you have an option. 

That said, you do have to quite a man to make it work in a fight!  

 

Try and carry it onto a commercial airliner.

Hahaha, true enough.  I'm gonna confess to a little bit of bias towards the Rhino.  (See the "garage" in my profile).  I've heard arguments for just about every fighter that is or was in the inventory being the "best fighter" . . .  well every one except:

914Driver said:

For the Yankees.....

Why #50.  During the civil war we didn't have 50 states.  More like 45 or 46....

In reply to wvumtnbkr :

We also didn't have berkeleying Dodge Chargers.

In reply to white_fly :

Well, yea.  But let's not get facts in the way here.

Will add pics tomorrow when on my confuser.

wvumtnbkr said:

Why #50.  During the civil war we didn't have 50 states.  More like 45 or 46....

See the flag on the roof.  34 (35 was most common one used)

The war did result in an eventual 50 states, so maybe that is it.