A genuine Canuck’s view

[ft.niagara]

I also saw the Thunderbirds flying the F4 at our airshow. A great smoky noisy beast, spectacular on its own but not a great formation aerobatic aircraft. It took so much area to get turned around, it used to disappear for a few minutes between passes. The switch to the F16 makes for a better show. They were the only ones to use the F4 as the Blues Angels stuck with the smaller more agile A4 during that period and most other display teams use jet trainers for the same reason.

You seem to be very knowledgable about aircraft. Do you follow all aircraft, or just jet fighters.

I got to see the F101 fly out of Niagara Falls Reserve Base. It had short wings, and was good in a stright line, but could not turn around well. It was a two seater, with pilot and weapons officer, and was designed to go after bombers.

I also got to see the Concorde once. It flew around the Buffalo airport as a public relations demonstration.

[Proud Canuck]

According to the information I have read. It was not a mistake to build it! It was such a good aircraft that the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, an Airforce General by the name of Curtis LeMay suggested to President Eisenhower that the US government buy the aircraft. The decision not to buy came after companies such as McDonell/Douglas and Northrop Aviation, who were the major suppliers of fighter aircraft to the US Airforce, put pressure on the US Congress. Avro Aircraft tried to counter this by offering to build a US version in the United States!.

They also offered to use weapons systems purchsed from US manufactures.