A quick look at the Royal Canadian Air Force's venerable CF-18 fighter jet

[vancity_cowboy]

By The Canadian Press | The Canadian Press – Fri, 3 Oct, 2014

A CF-18 sits ready for flight at Camp Fortin on in Trapani, Italy, on September 1, 2011

OTTAWA - The federal government intends to send as many as six CF-18 fighter-bombers to join the aerial campaign against ISIL. Here are some facts about the aircraft.

Origin: Designed in the 1970s by the McDonnell Douglas company as an aircraft for the United States navy and marine corps.

Delivery: Delivery of Canada's CF-18s began in 1984.

Cost: Canada's 138 CF-18s cost about $5.2 billion.

What is it? A twin-engine, single-seat aircraft able to attack ground targets as well as other aircraft.

Specs: Top speed Mach 1.8. Armament includes Sidewinder and Sparrow air-to-air missiles, various ground attack missiles, bombs and a 20-mm cannon.

Upgrades: Upgrade programs between 2001 and 2010 installed new avionics and other gear in 80 aircraft.

Combat: Canada sent 24 CF-18s to participate in the American-led Desert Shield and Desert Storm campaigns in 1990-91. In 1999, 18 CF-18s took part in the Kosovo campaign. In 2011, eight CF-18s flew missions over Libya with NATO.

Present fleet: The air force has 77 CF-18s still flying. The others were lost in crashes or have been retired.

oldies but goodies

oooopps...

 

[vancity_cowboy]

i'm definitely not up to speed on the CF-18's, and the photos i grabbed off google were simply the most colourful, i realized they weren't canadian planes when i did it, but i didn't have the time to do a proper search

thanks for helping me out there

 

[sevenofnine]

Old,

I never liked the Hornet, but what do I know Im just a walmart greeter.

I wish they would have bought the f-16
Or the Tom Cat.

And they are old.

The raptor.
I get goose bumps just thinking about her.

 

[Fullhouse]

i realized they weren't canadian planes when i did it, but i didn't have the time to do a proper search

Hey vancity-cowboy, I can understand that you don't have time to do a proper search.

If I wanted to achieve 5,718 posts as you have, I wouldn't have time to take a piss.

 

[badbadboy]

Old,

I never liked the Hornet, but what do I know Im just a walmart greeter.

I wish they would have bought the f-16
Or the Tom Cat.

And they are old.

The raptor.
I get goose bumps just thinking about her.

Raptor?

We have never had the F 22 in our air force. In fact the only customer world wide is the USAF

From the F 22 website:

Worldwide Participation
The U.S. government at this time does not permit foreign sales of the F-22.





===============

For a replacement for the CF18's I am reading a fair bit that the Super Hornet Group is attempting to be a viable replacement/addition to the CF 18's in place already. Estimated cost is $4.5B vs $9B for the F35's.

The downside is the airframe design is 40 years old. The RAAF signed up for Super Hornets in 2010 after many years of using the F 18's in their arsenal.

 

[vancity_cowboy]

Hey vancity-cowboy, I can understand that you don't have time to do a proper search.

If I wanted to achieve 5,718 posts as you have, I wouldn't have time to take a piss.

now that you mention it...

ewwww...

 

[westwoody]

we probably should still insist on a twin engined aircraft as a replacement.

arctic in a single engine aircraft.
Absolutely! It is ridiculous and irresponsible of our government to send pilots on patrol over isolated areas like the arctic in a single engine aircraft.

BTW not many people know that Canada had nuclear weapons! Ah those were the days eh.

 

[vancity_cowboy]

arctic in a single engine aircraft.
Absolutely! It is ridiculous and irresponsible of our government to send pilots on patrol over isolated areas like the arctic in a single engine aircraft.

BTW not many people know that Canada had nuclear weapons! Ah those were the days eh.

we sure did! and they flew patrols over the north atlantic 24 hours per day

CF-101B Voodoos out of bagotville, quebec

 

[westwoody]

104's also had nuke gravity bombs.

 

[Ray]

we sure did! and they flew patrols over the north atlantic 24 hours per day

CF-101B Voodoos out of bagotville, quebec

CF-101's were twin engined.

On the F-18's look at the air intake. If it's rounded, it's a regular Hornet. A,B,C,D Models. A is the original single seater, B is the 2 seat trainer. C is the next generation single seater, D is the 2 seat trainer.
If it's a square intake, it's a Super Hornet. E/F Models.

 

[vancity_cowboy]

winky's helicopter picture seems to have crashed and burned so i'm gonna supply an image of the same model except on skids instead of floats

a helicopter pilot friend of mine told me a hilarious story

he trained at niagra helicopters flying the venerable bell-47 pictured in winky's post above. in the summer heat they flew with the doors off. after graduating, niagra offered the best students in the class a job flying tourists out over the falls on 3 minute flights. it was quite the organizational feat to turn those tourists around every 3 minutes, but once they got the routine down they were pretty much able to do it

one day this couple showed up to buy a ticket for a flight... the only problem was the woman was a land whale, and the guy selling tickets had to tell the couple that they had to go separately or the machine would never get off the ground with both of them - and each flight had to be paid for in full

there was lots of indignation over this, but eventually physics won out and the couple paid double for the two flights. however, the woman insisted that she be able to take her lap-dog or no deal. the ticket vendor said ok, even though there was a rule against pets in the helicopter

they lifted off, and it took the full length of the tarmac before the pilot was able to get the air speed up in order to be able to maintain altitude, but he did it and they headed out over the falls. as soon as the ground fell away when they went out over the escarpment, the lap-dog FREAKED OUT!!! it managed to wriggle out of the land whale's grasp and started jumping up on the inside of the plexiglass bubble, yelping like a mad thing!

GRAB THE DOG!!! GRAB THE FUCKING DOG!!! the pilot screamed and the woman began to shriek the dog's name and the dog barked even louder and started to snap at everything it touched. eventually the dog made it's way out of the plexiglass bubble then started jumping up against the front of the control module (that's the white thing you can see behind the plexiglass in the centre of the cabin - the other side of it is a panel of instruments and switches that control everything in the helicopter)

when the dog showed no sign of stopping jumping insanely against the switches on the module, the pilot finally grabbed it AND THREW IT OUT THE OPEN DOORWAY AND DOWN INTO THE FALLS BELOW!!

by the time they landed back at the base, the woman was clearly intent on murdering the pilot with her bare hands... so much so that when he landed he chopped the engine and ran as fast as he could away from the helicopter and hid in the barracks. the woman raised holy hell, but the people running the show stood their ground, quoting the 'no pets' rule in their defense. eventually they gave her back her fare as consolation

 

[vancity_cowboy]

there was a cat in the video?

i kept trying to figure out how to get the front of the announcer's dress open!