MIG-29 OVT - My favourite jet fighter. What's yours?

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Lopéz

Lopéz

Lopéz

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Anybody who was at the recent Farnborough or Fairford airshows will undoubtedly have seen the very impressive MIG-29 OVT with thrust vectoring engine nozzles. What this basically means is that the engine nozzles at the rear of the plane can turn in such a way that it dramatically improves the maneuverability of the plane - particularly in low-speed flight from what I could see in the demo.
It means the plane can perform forward-rolls, tailslides, endo's (:D) and other similar acrobatic stunts.

But in modern combat is there any real need for this? We are in an age where warfare is increasingly done from long-distance missile firing and so on. Is there still enough demand for a jet with good dogfighting ability? Is stealth technology, as seen on the F-22 Raptor, more important than being able to showboat?

Anyway, enough ramling. The jet itself is bloody gorgeous IMO - here's a couple of pics from Airliners.net:

MIG.jpg

Picture © Marcus Jellyman/Airliners.net
MIG-29 OVT
MIG-29 OVT
Demonstrating it's ability

Aviapedia has a 21mb video on the jet - in Russian but with a written English synopsis, so it's worth a watch

MIG-29 OVT Video and Translation

So, this thread can run a parallel discussion. Is there a future for jet fighters such as the MIG-29 OVT? Are they producing a jet that has no market?

And what are your favourite jet fighters? Pics, links and technical information welcomed. :)
 
Visage said:
The Spitfire.
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I've noticed that your replies to posts are normally the first to come in, generally have little to do with the original thread, are sarcastic, "ironic" or sometimes all of the above.

As you well know, the Spitfire was generally propelled by a conventional supercharged Rolls Royce Merlin or Griffon internal combustion engine, so they are not jet fighters.

Do you have an on-topic reply or is it beneath you to attempt a non-controversial post for once? :)
 
AJUK said:
It is nowhere near as fast or as capable as the MIG but I will always hold the Harrier as my all time favourite. :cool:
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The Harrier may be old but it gave a bloody impressive display at Farnborough. It always tickles me to see a jet flying up and down the runway sideways like a crab.
 
Domo said:
For me it's the F15 Strike Eagle. The quintessential fighter imo.
Some of you mention F14s which are of the same calibre (and I won't deny watching Top Gun as a lad helped form that opinion!).

Su27 and Mig29 also great to watch (saw the Mig at Farnborough this year).
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The Strike Eagle was always my favourite until I saw one in the flesh. It just left me a bit cold.... can't really explain why. The F/A-18 Super Hornet, which I was never taken with was actually mightily impressive in the air and is now probably my favourite US fighter.
 
NicktheNorse said:
I just don't find the Tornado to be good looking enough!

The F-16 on the other hand is a beautiful and curvacious beast! :D
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I don't think the Tornado is pretty, but it looks purposeful. We get them flying low over the Beacons here which is always worth seeing.

The F-16 was always a bit.... poofy for me :D
 
-Tauren- said:
Agreed. But the Mig-31 Foxhound is such an awesome bit of kit, the shear speed of it is amazing.
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The MIG-25 is a more pure looking design I think.

Hell of a piece of kit, built more like a tank than a jet, with an engine so powerful you can't use it at full whack or it destroys itself. Didn't they fly one through such tortuous moves that the airframe was bent like a banana? Anything that can fly itself apart is cool by default.
 
-Tauren- said:
Haha. For sure. Anything that can warp or twist the airframe is an awesome piece of kit by default. I'd love to fly in one of those over sea level at 900mph. I've neverh eard of one destroying itself because of the engines being on full whack though. But it is an amazing interceptor. I think you can't beat a good russian plane. Look at the SU-47, such a good looking plane.
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The Americans clocked it at something crazy like Mach 3.2 across the Sinai desert if I recall the incident correctly. When some Russian chap defected to the West he took a brand new MIG-25 to do it in. The Americans stripped the thing to bits and sent it back to Russia in component form.

They questioned the bloke (I can't remember his name - Pavel/Dmitri/Yuri or something) and he said the engines could power the plane to exceed Mach 2.8 but they would be destroyed in the process. They weren't supposed to exceed Mach 2.5 because the throttle control would become unstable that high it could jump about between Mach 2.5 and Mach 3 with the pilot having little say in the matter, destroying the engines in the process.

We're far too conservative to build something like that :D

And yes, MIG and Sukhoi are both Russian. Are the government still considering merging them?
 
Save the props for another thread. This one is all about jet power.

Regarding the Sukhoi's, the Su-27 is a nice looking jet but it always reminds me of tall gangly girls with long necks like Delta Goodrem. Fit, but look like they might have had a few sessions on the rack.
 
gord said:
I came in here with my mind set on a GR4 Harrier.. but now.. All of the F series fighters from 14 upwards just look awesome, along with the Vulcan and Tornado..

If theres one thing we can learn from this thread albeit probably not learning it but reinforcing it is that..

Jet Fighters are COOL
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That's the only conclusion I've been able to come to as well.
 
Skii said:
Just some of the better photos from Farnborough I took
F-18.jpg
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Apparently that Super Hornet is pretty much brand spanking new.

The Eurofighter left me cold in all honesty. F/A-18, MIG-29 and Gripen all outflew it from what I could see. Sounded good though.
 
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