After an exhausting session with Victoria's Secret Police,Kevin Brooks
blurted out:
Any real evidence of this alleged opposition to the F-4? Let's see,
the F-100. ... the F-105, ... was not exactly what those fighter pilots were thinking of
when you say, "fighter aircraft"...where was this opposition again?
Let me try again and see if you recognize opposition. Single seat
fighter pilots "opposed" to the extra body sitting in an aircraft that
lacked a gun. Do you see it?...single seat fighter pilots not wanting
to fly with another guy in the jet...and not wanting to fly a fighter
that didn't have a friggin' gun. There were lots of guys that thought
this was not a very smart move on the part of the USAF. One might even
say they were "opposed" to the idea of a two-seat, no gun tactical
fighter. This doesn't suggest an alternative to the two-seated, no-gun
jet...simply opposition to an extra body and no gun.
Then there's the other convenient fact that the USAF was adopting a
USN jet. The corporate culture clash of the USAF vs USN is fairly well
recognized. Part of the "not invented here" POV that is/was reluctant
to embrace the other service's equipment or tactics.
This opposition doesn't negate the eventual acceptance and embracing
to the F-4 by the USAF culture.
See? I'm pretty sure that even in the Army those facts qualify as
opposition.
I don't recall the opposition against the F-16 as being anything like
that that the A-10 faced early on,
I agree...but I was addressing your incorrect analysis that there had
been NO USAF opposition to the F-16. Kevin, you're tossing out extra
bits and pieces simply to take the discussion off on a tangent.
as well as later in its career--and
where is all of that anti-F-16 later opposition?
There is none. I never suggested there was. My response was addressing
opposition to the introduction of the F-16 into the USAF inventroy.
But if you were ever around WSOs in an F-4 squadron making the
transition to F-16s I think you might have noted some displeasure
toward the Viper. [say 1987-88 at Moody AFB or Osan AB after that]
I flew the F-16, I loved the F-16. However WSOs losing their job in
F-4 squadrons were not uniformly happy. One might even say they were
"opposed" to the F-16...exception were made for the B and D.
Thank goodness that his concept was not what ended up rolling off the
assembly line then, as we know that the F-16 was indeed planned for
multirole use from very early in its development.
Agreed...the "concept" [as opposed to the "plan"] was for a guns and
heater air-to-air jet, as this wonderful airframe has matured it has
successfully taken on many missions not intended by John Boyd.
Thankfully the USAF had other plans.
Juvat
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