Aircraft Icons

YF-23 "Black Widow" by Grumman Corp is my favorite plane never made (in production). This collaboration with McDonnell Douglas competed with the Lockheed Martin F-22 "Raptor" to become the 5th gen air superiority fighter for the USAF. The YF-23 achieved the same rankings by the Air Force across the board as the F-22, but lost out due to the Raptor's slight edge in maneuverability and the Air Force's superior confidence in Lockheed's supply chain. In fact, the YF-23 was more stealthy than the Raptor due to its lack of vertical stabilizers.

Fun Fact: Japan was in talks to buy an upgraded version of the Black Widow for its fleet a few years ago, but it never seemed to materialize (possibly due to U.S. Arms export control).

The Lockheed Martin F-35 "Lightning II" is named after the original Lockheed P-38 "Lightning". Much like the P-38, the F-35 is a multirole, all weather aircraft that can supply air superiority and strike missions. Unlike its namesake, the “Lightning II” can take off and land vertically, land on an aircraft carrier, and provide electronic warfare capabilities. Talk about an overachiever! It is the most expensive fighter program in history and in all likelihood will be the last manned fighter jet to ever be designed. It is currently flown or planned to be by over 8 countries, and is slotted to replace the F/A-18, E/A-18, F-16, A-18, and AV-8B in the American arsenal.
Fun Fact: The pilots of the F-35 where an augmented reality headset that allows them to look through the plane in all directions to maneuver and acquire targets.
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That wraps up the 4th generation American fighter jet series, but we are just getting started! Tune in next week for the start of the modern 5th generation fighter series!

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F-14 "Tomcat" by Grumman. Costar to Tom Cruise in the world famous "Topgun" film, the F-14 was the first aircraft to feature variable sweep wings to improve high speed maneuvering (shown in the fully swept position here).

Fun fact: The F-14 has a fully titanium wing box and pioneered the material along side the SR-71 "Blackbird"

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