by Hush Kit -

A formidable and strangely beautiful machine : The AH-56A Cheyenne

by Hush Kit -

Interview with a Lightning pilot! Part 1

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Ian Black has one of the most enviable log books of any pilot. How many other fighter jocks have flown the English Electric Lightning, F-15, MiG-29 and the Mirage 2000? I was fascinated to find out which his favourite fighter was…

 Which aircraft types have you flown?

Off the top of my head; F-4M , F-4J F-5 , F-15, F-16, F/A-18 – Jaguar, Jet Provost  (Mks. 3,4 and 5), Hawk, Hawk 200, MiG-29 Mirage 2000 Tornado F.Mk 3, Lightning (Mks. 3, 5 and 6) Buccaneer, Hunter and Chipmunk !

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Do you have a favourite, if so, which and why?

Mirage 2000 – looked good, flew even better and never scared me – could really fly it seat of the pants style – it talked to you.

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You flew the EE Lightning: do you think it was an effective weapons system?

Not really, but that is a bit harsh; in 1960-1968 it probably was . Pulse Doppler radar changed the ball game as did radar-guided missiles . The Lightning was good for airfield defence

When you were flying it, were there any upgrades you longed for?

RWR – chaff – flares, AIM-9L and a better radar !

Have you flown dissimilar combat against any types, if so which and what tactics did you use to counter them? What was the easiest type to fight against and which was the toughest?  Hard question. I’ve flown DACT vs F-4, F-5 , F-8 , F-14, F-111, F-15, F-16, F/A-18, Mirage F1, Mirage III, Mirage IV, Mirage 5, Hunter, MiG-29, Hawk , A-4 , A-6, F-100 F-104, G.91 and probably a few others !

If you enjoyed this, have  a look at the top ten British, French, Swedish, Australian,  Japanese and German aeroplanes.

Follow my vapour trail on Twitter: @Hush_kit

Jagdbombergeschwader73

by Hush Kit -

Competition to give Sukhoi PAK FA a ‘NATO reporting name’

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The Russians cannot be trusted to give their aircraft emotive English language names. Luckily for them, NATO helped them with this throughout the Cold War. The assigned code-names ranged from the cool (‘Foxhound’) to the bizarre (‘Fishbed’) to the slightly unsavoury (‘Fiddler’). Sadly this now seems to be over. Should we let these exciting aircraft be known only by a bland designation? NO!

We’re running a competition to give the PAK FA a HRN (Hush-Kit Reporting Name) . The winning entry will be sent to Sukhoi’s public relations department and hopefully they will read it, like it, and adopt the name.

Rules

1. The name must begin with ‘F’.

2. It must contain two syllables.

3. Names to be submitted by Twitter only.  Address to @Hush_Kit with hashtag

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