F-16 Celebrates Its 50th Birthday
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 12 ก.ย. 2024
- Mover, Gonky, and Wombat break down awesome F-16 videos and talk about the 50th anniversary of the F-16's first flight.
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Every Monday at 8PM ET, Mover (F-16, F/A-18, T-38, 737, helicopter pilot and wanna be race car driver) and Gonky (F/A-18, T-38, A320, dirt bike racer, and awesome dad) discuss everything from aviation to racing to life and anything in between. Send your topic ideas to cwlemoine at cwlemoine.com! Featuring Wombat (E-2, F/A-18, A320, Mustang Driver, and Bestselling Author).
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The irony of this 50-year old jet is that it doesn't look a day over 0. It's so modern even today.
The power of make up and lipstick.💄
I've heard it mentioned that some people would believe it if it was claimed that it was designed by the same people who designed Ferraris.
That being said, it starts looking really weird with conformal tanks.
"It's not a toomah!"
@@ypw510 Bloated and overweight, far from the YF-16s of the 70's.
More important, it's still highly-desired. In addition to the used-airframe market, the production line is still full of new-build orders.
Iron Eagle got me loving this bird when I was a kid.. It's still my fav... Happy birthday to the Viper..
When I was a kid, one of my neighbors knew I was interested in fighter jets. He introduced me to his dad. Col. Phillip Oestricher. The test pilot who "accidentally" flew the YF-16 on that cold January morning in 1973 during a high speed taxi run.
It's an amazing story to hear. You guys should do a segment on that!
Don't you mean January of '74? The date of the Official First Flight was February 1974.
@johnosbourn4312 yes. Simple math was easier back then, too.
the real crazy thing is, they are not just still using them, they are still making new F-16 all the time. my country's air force just order 60+ of them a few years ago and we are not the only one
I flew the A10 and then the F4 before converting to the F16. The first time I lowered the canopy I thought it felt like I was going to fall out of the airplane. The lack of any canopy bow was very weird. I still miss flying this airplane even after 23 years.
I was there, Aalborg Airstation. Airshow, thats up every second year 👍 anyway…..we are sending all our F-16`s to Ukraine, and just received the first F-35`s. Bring Gonky to Denmark, and he can try an F16. We have one in display in a hangar, here in Copenhagen 😂w
Thx for a great show. Greetings from Denmark
Iron Eagle may be hokey, but there is more screen time of the fighter jets than there is in that love story called Top Gun.
They did have to get the cooperation of Israel though, since the USAF said no way with a story of a high school being given access to and F-16 and then stealing it. Not to mention that it never seemed to run out of fuel and could fire it cannons for 5 times as long as it should (plus that cannon fire caused enemy aircraft to explode).
@@ypw510 We also won't mention how Doug's 2 seat Falcon conveniently transformed into a single seater when he had to dogfight either...
My first base was an F-16 base and I've spent the last 9 years on F-16 FMS contracts. They will always hold a special place in my heart.
there is another story of how it got the name, viper. the yf17 was introduced as the cobra (the lex looking like the cobra's hood), but the 16's test pilots were outperforming the 17 so consistently, that they began calling it the viper for its quick strike and kill ability. godfather II, empire strikes back.... the 14 never got the fa designation even when configured as the bombcat, so, your point is?
This is like F-4u Corsairs serving as frontline fighters well into the 90’s and beyond.
F4U
Most of my family worked at General Dynamics/Lockheed building the F16 from the beginning. Fort Worth is proud it was born here! It's always been my favorite jet.
Happy birthday to the Viper, Mover from a driver of a similar jet of its time and purpose over almost 69 years ago, and still flying! A-4s Forever, Pete
I will say the Viper is the one I would have loved to fly.
I was a dependent at Hahn AFB Germany when the F16 arrived. Hahn was the first American base outside of the US to get it. I have pictures of the ceremony. One of Hahn's tag lines was "First in USAFE"
Hahn 84-89.
Happy Birthday to my favorite fighter aircraft in the world! I have been a huge fan of this jet since I was a kid. Long live the Viper!!
Big shoutout to the F16 pilots who participated in Operation Opera and Desert Storm, probably the best highlights of it's career. Happy Bday you sexy little bird.
Viper!!!! 🇺🇸
50 plus means wisdom, gentleman
Yall should talk about Major Boyd who was instrumental in its design
It is crazy that it is still a super capable jet. It also looks like it was designed yesterday
Good grief! We need a Mover & Gonky show breaking down that opening Denmark display of WTF
Meee yeah, ok. Happy 50th Birthday to best little Ol viper.🐍
F16 is one of the coolest but no one’s cooler than the Blackbird.
You forgot to mention: F-16; (first) fly by wire (electric jet), off center stick. (The days of General Dynamics..)
man that yacht buzz...they had to be rubbing antennas
Gonna watch Iron Eagle and Iron Eagle II, just for this celebration.
Check out Into the Sun while you're at it. Don't be fooled by the mudhens on the ads; that's just the PA office at work. It's all Vipers all the time.
Yes I am showing my age here. I got the chance to sit in a F-14, F-15, F-16 and YF-17 as a kid, all in the same day when they were all staged at Ramstein AFB prior to the 75 Paris air show. To this day the F-15 is my favorite with the F-16 a close second.
Yep, from A Model Blk 10 Deep stall training at Edwards, to Blk 15 ADF, to C model Blk 30 Big Mouth GP. What a machine to grow up in. Jenny 86-309 My Girl, over 8000 hrs on her .
That training was awesome. I was sick for hours after, but it was a lot of fun.
I still have my 8mm tape from it.@@CWLemoine
I was around eight or nine flying my 1/72nd Scale Revell F-16A in the Inaugural Red/White and Blue Paint scheme. Running around the trails of Will Rogers State Park. (My buddies Mom was a Ranger and we had the run of the place.) Some Dirty Smelly Hippies came upon me and my buddy and "Told me "Do you know those planes are killing people everyday in VietNam?" I told him he was stupid because these are just now entering service. It was 75 0r 76.
Happy Birthday to the F-16!
This will always be one of the coolest looking fighters ever. Grown up playing it in flight Sims. So cool!
IIRC, back in the 70s the fighter mafia lived & died by the motto "not one pound for air to ground." They resisted any suggestion to add CAS capability to the design. But, like many other classic birds (Mustang, Jug, Lightning, Corsair, Phantom II) the design turned to possess extraordinary flexibility.
Myself, I would love to see the guys try the F-15 in DCS.
50 years come and go so fast
... The little lawn dart's *50?!?* Still got it, dayum!
50 years of awesomeness.
In answer to Wombat's question, the second flight "Flight 1B" -- the official first flight -- was February 2 of the same year, '74.
looking forward to RIAT 2024 and seeing all the vipers!
Me also 😎💪💪🔥
From the Viper's nest YEEEHAW!!!
When I was a kid someone gave me a toy F-16. I thought it looked like a silly sci-fi spaceship, not a “real” plane. It sure has grown on me in the years since!
Apparently it got its name from a "silly sci-fi spaceship", the Colonial Viper from Battlestar Galactica.
The F-16 STILL has among the most ergonomically laid out cockpits and an unparalleled level of pilot visibility and situational awareness.
When my Air Force (South Africa) got the Gripens, first question I asked the pilots were if the ejection seat is also slanted so that their knees are higher than their hips, to assist with the g-forces.
The Phabulous Phantom, Pholks! the Phamous Phellow Phantom. Semper Fi!
Next to the Tomcat, Raptor, and HAWG, the Viper is one of my favorite modern fighters. Happy 50th, Viper!
My dad flew F 84Fs with the St Louis National Guard, Now that was a good old jet.
I don't care if she's really 50, she still looks like sweet 16.
Well said!
Doug Masters would be proud.
Chappy would second that :)
The F-16 Viper will always be the F-15's little brother.
@@BOZ_11 So why would you buy an F-16?
@@BOZ_11 That's just the purchase price. The F-15EX is a more expensive to buy per jet, but to maintain the F-35 is much more expensive, and the F-15 is expensive to maintain.
This was a fighter pilot's version of my jet can beat up your jet... 😅 Seriously though, The Viper is my favorite 4th gen. fighter!
As a follower and a line worker the viper was in the top 5 but for the best fighter is the Tornado, GAFTIC for life.
Too bad we never got the Viper XL.
Long live the "Fighting Falcon" 😅
Can we get a Mover and Gonky review of 'Top Guns: Inside the RAF' which is on Channel 4 in the UK.
They are pretty open about a lot of things incl. missions in Estonia and elsewhere.
Watching one episode now where they discuss QRF times and a competition they have with the Germans.
Thx for making me Old. I was on TDY from PI in Korea whilst in the 26tftas circa 1982. I was refueling my F5-E when the guy in the revetment across from me refueling a 16 asked me to come over and shake the airplane back and forth to help get all the air out to fill the tanks. I was 18 SOB got me.
Happy birthday fighting falcon 😊
The crown prince of Denmark, who is about to take the throne (Queen Margrethe announced, over New Years, that she's abdicating) is the former head of the Danish Air Force. And yes, he flew Vipers.
yes coolest jet of all the jets period. love it
Wow 50 years ! I remember it as the General Dynamics Fighting Falcon. Designed to dominate air superiority and dogfight. Featured new digital fly by wire and pilot inputs as they were now the limiting factor in agressive manoevers. It performed as good as it looked. Obviously a solid base that supported so many evolutions.
love the falcon
There USAF did use the F/A-16 designation at one time for the F-16s assigned to the 174TFW of the NY ANG when the jets were equipped with the GPU-5/A gun pod.
Viper is still king! The F-16V should be in the US Air Force. Don't get me started about what I think of the Flying Waiver F-35 Fat Amy.
4th Gen Aircraft Forever.
Im going to push back on the sequel thing. The Phantom II was far superior to the original Phantom FH Phantom lol
1:07 RDAF celebrating 40 years with the viper in 2020.
The m16 platform is over 50 as well. Crazy our main fighters and main infantry weapons are 50+. We have temporarily plateaued with small improvements. What will be the next big leap? The Brit’s used the Brown Bess for 200+ years.
Hi guys! DCS guy here, would you trade the bubble canopy of the Viper anytime against mirrors in a Hornet (or whatever with a frame)?
Happy Birthday Beautiful!! I'm so sorry i missed out :/
Crazy to think the F-16 is almost as old as I am.
The Singapore Air Force flies some of the best F-16 out there at Luke and they look very different from the regular ones here.
She might be 50, she may have short legs, she may not carry as much ordnance as other jets but if you want something to become scrap metal, she still gets the job done and then some.
Was the bombcat f/a-14? Lol. Loved the fight peeps. F-16 was initially called the electric Jet I believe because of the fly by wire controls. A lot of firsts. The yf-17 cobra I believe was a 9g jet unlike the bigger f-18. F-16 still is relevant today. Great Aircraft and great dogfighter.
Unfortunately the -16 was also known as the Lawn Dart. Over 30 jet per year were lost in 1989/1990/1991 peaking at 37 in 91.
At least it didn't have widow maker attached to it like the F-100. The F-16 did have a lot of awards for it's design. The Hornet and Eagle also still fly which is a testament to the great designs of that era. Top Gun I'm sure loves the Viper for training to help simulate rate fighters. @@hoghogwild
@@airshowguy916 There's just something special about the 4th Gen designs -14,-15,-16,-18A-D. Beautiful and they all still fly today.. And yes the boys at Miramar sure did enjoy those TF/F-16Ns in use from 88-98 and their replacement Vipers that followed. They are/were worked hard.
The plane I flew in is also still flying in active service and it's 70. They don't make them like they used to.
I still have faith that Mover will strap on the Viper once again…..he has unfinished business with his first love…🤞🏼🙏🏼
aww they should have made that the YF-16 tail
I dont know if its the coolest, but its certainly on the short list. I applied for a manufacturing position on the line in Greenville - making Vipers would be cool.
Factoring in performance, longevity, innovation, industry influence, flexibility, combat record, export success, cost-effectiveness, and numbers produced, it really is hard to argue it isn't the best figther plane ever produced. That's not to say there aren't fighters that exceed it in many of those individual categories (as well as others), but taking them collectively into account the only real competition seems to be the F-4 (with the caveat that at 50 years old the F-4 was/is fading, while the F-16 is still highly desirable both in the US and internationally).
As Bob Ross would say: We don't make mistakes, we have happy accidents. The Viper is one happy accident.
Bob Ross did spend 20 years in the US Air Force. Apparently being stationed in Alaska meant he had a lot of landscapes to inspire his art. And he had to act angry in his military capacity but wanted to leave the yelling behind in retirement.
"Happy Birthday to the world's coolest jets"? But the Tomcat is 53...
And now I feel old.
Don't forget fly by wire, side stick, bubble canopy
I believe the F/A status change occurred after the cold war and MD needed to keep the Hornet solvent during defense cuts. It was sold as an upgrade to fill a need the Navy was looking for and sold according. Then again, I could be wrong. It's been so many years ago. Lol
Yep; marketing to sell it to Congress
@@glennkraft The Navy loved Grumman but Cheney was in bed with GD and MD. If he wasn't involved. There might have been a Tomcat 21. This variant solved legacy problems, A/G capabilities, Radar upgrade with super cruise! Way ahead of its time. Just to salty for Congress ( ** Cough Cheney)
The hornet is the first and so far only one to receive the f / a designation.
Curious to know what people's thoughts on Col. John Boyd's involvement in the development of this amazing fighter.
Mover will not stand for any Viper slander 😂
F4 Phantom. America's proof to th world, that if you big enough engines on a brick it can fly.
F-4 was multi-role too, why wasn't it F/A-4?
The fighter slash attack designation was not in use. Aircraft were either one or the other.
#Airpower!
Gonky old? Not so much. I was a 19-year-old A1C when it first flew.
Well actually….
… this was a cool video! And Mover just think of all of us who have never been in a fighter jet, let alone an F-16!
I love you guys! The Viper was my favourite [ It's the CORRECT spelling TH-cam ! Get OVER yourself and learn English ] jet, until I saw the Gripen in England in 1998. Since then it played 2nd fiddle to the Swedish Phenomena , until I bought the Viper for DCS in October.
Slowly learning the high fidelity jet ( oh yes, I replied after laughing at Wombat's "DCS IS REAL"). Over the week-end learned to shoot the AIM120's in BORE mode - I will never switch on my radar again - I am going to become the Silent Assassin online. Just wish I had an answer to the Russian's IR missiles with that damn pimple sensor on their noses. 🤣🤣
Lmao. Wombat is hilarious
50 years old… strange to think it is that old… or even how old the F22 is.
Never dawned on me that Doug Masters was older than his jet.
Mover what’s the fastest speed you’ve ever achieved in the Viper?
800 knots M1.86
Me: What the fuck does he mean 50th birthday!? Like since it first started out on paper??
Also Me After Watching: Awww fuck I am old.
When he said "happy birthday to the coolest jet of all the jets" I assumed he meant the F-14.
*TOMCATS!*
Same
While the F-16 was making its first flights, The F-14s were making their bones off of carrier decks. By the time F-16 saw service, F-14 had flown CAP missions during Frequent Winds during the evacuation of Saigon. I often wonder what an extra 5 years would have done for the Tomcat. 22 months was a quick development cycle. But the Navy needed an AIM-54 launcher as the F-111B SeaVark was too heavy.
Hey Mover! Curious if you’d do a video checking out Falcon BMS ($5 game and I can help with setup) and let us know what you think. All kinds of different vipers and they model it off nasa data. Systems are also really deep
Excuse me Wombat. F-4 Phantom II or the A-7 Corsair II.
I recall Mover mentioned the piece on him on the Air Force Reserve Command website. Had a look. Might be triggering.
"The major knows a few things about setbacks and challenges. He began his Air Force Reserve career in 2006 and flew F-16 ****Fighting Falcons**** at Homestead Air Reserve Base before transferring to the U.S. Naval Air Station Air Reserve Base New Orleans in 2012 to get closer to home to help his father who had a deteriorating health condition."
Could be worse. At least they didn't say he flew aircrafts.
@@crazypetec-130fe7
The author didn't even capitalize "major". And the author is supposedly a Lieutenant Colonel.
DCS IS REAL!
Last count was 4600
4th gen fighters being 50 years old is a great testament to their airframe design. It’s kinda funny seeing the jets that came before, were in and out of service quickly because the airframes were outdated in no time.
Are 5th gen aircraft slow rolling mainly because of cost?
Cost and complexity. Plus everything is sub contracted. And there's peacetime levels of building. You are never going to see World War II assembly line production numbers.
The F4 Phantom II was around for a long time.
@@Caseytify still hanging on with a few Air Forces.
That era is where Mach 2 to 2.5 could be reached with reasonable maneuverability at lower speeds. At that point it might not have been the aircraft that was the limitation but the avionics and weapons. I understand the improved radar and weapons are what make the F-15, F-16, and F/A-18 still relevant.
DCS is as real as it gets for me sans hitting the lottery
The brief F/A-22 nomenclature was a calculated political move. They were trying to sell Congress (which f*cks everything it touches) on the idea that it wasn't a one-trick air superiority pony. The "/A" was added to suggest it would be flexible like the F-16 (because at the time the only conceivable use the USAF would every have for an airplane was killing dudes in caves, and the emergence of a future situation in which air superiority was at issue apparently couldn't be fathomed). Of course, now that F-35's around actually burning F-22 airframe hours on JDAM-hauling seems even sillier than it did at the time (though yeah, it could be and was done). But hey, maybe the ploy even worked. At least we got some planes produced (not enough, but not so absurd as the B-2).
Blue Falcons
Who?