CF-18 Aproach plate

ScudRunner · Post by **ScudRunner** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 2:17 am

Might have to zoom in close on this Hornet driver Dash! I though flying one of those would be enough to get ya off but I guess not

TheCheez · Post by **TheCheez** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 7:55 am

"Wah wah defense spending is too high! We don't need a military!"

"Ha ha our air force sucks."

Make up your mind.

Lost in Saigon · Post by **Lost in Saigon** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 8:03 am

Brewguy · Post by **Brewguy** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 8:08 am

Now that's funny!!!

clunckdriver wrote:What a great shot! only in Canada can you get a picture of 50% of our sevicable fighter force in one shot!

So, what you're saying is that when our airshow got the Hornet demo to come (along with their spare) - we had the enitre fighter force on the ramp? Cool!

wha happen · Post by **wha happen** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 9:23 am

I think I have that issue

low n over · Post by **low n over** » Fri Feb 10, 2006 10:23 am

It was very common for Fighter guys to hold up centerfold pics against there canopies to show the Commies they intercepted over the arctic that our society was kick-ass and theres F#$kin sucked. A great way to show them what there missing.

That or have your backseater get all unhooked and press his bare a$$ against the canopy.

cone · Post by **cone** » Wed May 10, 2006 9:32 am

Dude where'd you take that shot? Someone needs to get burned at the next beer call...

CAL · Post by **CAL** » Wed May 10, 2006 10:06 am

Russian porn rocks

cougr41 · Post by **cougr41** » Wed May 10, 2006 12:08 pm

Flight from A to B is just as boring in the Hornet as it is in any other aircraft.

Have to pass the time doing something!

abc xyz · Post by **abc xyz** » Wed May 10, 2006 3:52 pm

better remove the post before some do gooder sees it and demands we send our boys and girls in uniform to some over budget useless class on political correctness.

another airborne story maybe unfolding before our eyes.

Legacy · Post by **Legacy** » Wed May 10, 2006 4:28 pm

Ya gotta love the pride we take in the cleanliness our our military planes. I bet the last time that was clean is back in 82 when they were delivered. compare it to the american f18's

http://www.airliners.net/open.file?id=1 ... id=1039255

Diddy · Post by **Diddy** » Wed May 10, 2006 5:10 pm

ignorance is bliss eh man

cougr41 · Post by **cougr41** » Wed May 10, 2006 8:36 pm

[quote="Legacy"]Ya gotta love the pride we take in the cleanliness our our military planes. I bet the last time that was clean is back in 82 when they were delivered. compare it to the american f18's

[/quote]

This very clean Marine aircraft has probably not been to the range in a very long time. I would suspect it also has very few flight hours on the airframe. Marine squadron aircraft are usually maintained by a much larger group of personnel.

The Marines and the U.S. Navy often use pooled aircraft maintained by a maintenance squadron - centralized maintenance.

I would also suggest that the aircraft you mentioned may have just come out of maintenance. It usually includes a pretty good wash and touch up on paint and decals and such.

Those aircraft are flown far less than Canadian Hornets. I might add that I would suspect this is a much newer lot number - making it younger by probably 15 years to that which are flown in Canada. I would bet you your next paycheque that the airframe hours are less than 40% of any Canuck Hornet. Paint jobs age - and look dirty - even when clean. The paint jobs are not smooth like you are probably used to. They are not made of aluminium. Run your hand over the skin - it feels like a primer paint - but it is not. They do gather dirt and grime though.

Canuck Hornets are often on the range - hence the soot and smoke around the LEX, canopy bow and upper fuselage along with paint chips from wire damage from bomb drops and tosses, jettison cartridges and some old fashioned rocketry (in the old days). They also tend to live in Inuvik and other hot spots - making their upkeep a bit more difficult than one might think.

Canuck squadron personnel numbers are smaller in number than you might think - maintenance is far more difficult with the older lot aircraft.

Canada is planning to amalgamate the squadrons in Cold Lake. 441 and 416 will disappear and the new squadron will be 409.

Your comments are very enlightening but perhaps somewhat off the mark.

In closing I can assure you their is no lack of pride, but there is serious lack of funding - so it goes where it is most needed - maintenance, training, weapons and fuel.
------------------------------------------------------------

EDIT - second look at the fancy Hornet:

MARINE FIGHTER ATTACK SQUADRON 312

Based in South Carolina - snow in the background. Interesting pic.

Examination shows it is visiting Bradley. It is also the commanders personal aircraft. RHIP!!

Rank Hath Its Privileges!

No one touches a Marine Commander's kit - be it a tank, a plane, or what ever. It will be kept spotless at all times - OR ELSE.

Hardly a fair comparisom.

Bradley ANGB - If memory serves - they fly A-10 aircraft.

The 103rd Fighter Wing is located at the Bradley Air National Guard Base, located approximately 20 miles north of Hartford in northern Connecticut. The base is home to the 1000 personnel and equipment that make up the 103rd Fighter Wing. The nearby airfield is shared between Bradley International Airport and the 103rd Fighter Wing located at the Bradley Air National Guard Base.

Oh, I suspect that you might think 1000 personnel is pretty good support for 15 aircraft. They probably even have a full time wash bay - but then again the Warthog does tend to get a bit dirty in it's job.

Canuck squadrons would kill for this amount of support.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oh, one more thing - You want to pony up a few extra bucks for the wash crew? I can provide an address for you to send money through official channels should you desire to contribute to the welfare and upkeep of Canuck government equipment.

No?

I thought not.

chief · Post by **chief** » Wed May 10, 2006 10:25 pm

Actually he is not way off on his claim. I lived in Cold Lake for 15 or so years. Got to see many a Maple Flag. Used to be able to get on the hangar line quite a bit. That is one of the first things I did notice was that the American planes were much cleaner than ours.

boomer1028 · Post by **boomer1028** » Wed May 10, 2006 10:35 pm

The american F/A-18's are mostly litoral based (close to Shore). The Navy and Marine squadrons are the main support for the Atlantic and Pacific fleets and due to being so close to salt water 90% of the time (unless they are on detachments) they are usually washed down failrly often to increase the life of the airframes from salt water corrosion.

The CF-18's on the other hand are a lot older than the american F/A-18 squadrons and usually the american squadrons that have airframes that are as old as ours are the marine and navy reserve squadrons. I think we (canadians) do very well with what we have from what I hear they usually do very well in war games against the US.

twotter · Post by **twotter** » Wed May 10, 2006 11:17 pm

It was very common for Fighter guys to hold up centerfold pics against there canopies to show the Commies they intercepted over the arctic that our society was kick-ass and theres F#$kin sucked. A great way to show them what there missing.

I guess you haven't seen many russian women.. Some of them are "HOT"!!!

Of course there are the old stereotypes, but from my experience, WOW!!

monkeyspankmasterflex · Thu May 11, 2006 4:02 am

They also tend to live in Inuvik and other hot spots

By hot spot do you mean isolated with over-priced produce?

Expat · Post by **Expat** » Thu May 11, 2006 5:31 am

low n over wrote:It was very common for Fighter guys to hold up centerfold pics against there canopies to show the Commies they intercepted over the arctic that our society was kick-ass and theres F#$kin sucked. A great way to show them what there missing.

That or have your backseater get all unhooked and press his bare a$$ against the canopy.

They were missing nothing!

If you like women, take a trip to Russia. Take my advice, you life will be changed forever. Been there...

Hedley · Post by **Hedley** » Thu May 11, 2006 6:04 am

You want to pony up a few extra bucks for the wash crew?

Gladly. I wish more of our tax dollars got spent better. From memory, our federal government has wasted:

1) half a billion dollars getting out of the CH-101 contract
2) over a billion dollars on a gun registry for the tree huggers in Toronto
3) $800 million dollars on leaky old british submarines
4) $250 million dollars embezzeled by the Liberal Party in Quebec

There's 3 Billion dollars right there for you, that the taxpayer coughed up, but was pissed away in a snowbank.

linecrew · Post by **linecrew** » Thu May 11, 2006 11:34 am

chief wrote:Actually he is not way off on his claim. I lived in Cold Lake for 15 or so years. Got to see many a Maple Flag. Used to be able to get on the hangar line quite a bit. That is one of the first things I did notice was that the American planes were much cleaner than ours.

It may be due to the salt water environment the yanks operate them in meaning that they get washed more often.

chief · Post by **chief** » Thu May 11, 2006 11:58 am

Well check out any of their planes. F16's which are parked no where near salt water. Anyways I think he was just mentioning the planes are cleaner and thats a fact.

... · Post by **...** » Thu May 11, 2006 3:36 pm

Legacy wrote:Ya gotta love the pride we take in the cleanliness our our military planes. I bet the last time that was clean is back in 82 when they were delivered. compare it to the american f18's

Globe and Mail May 11th 2006

PM says government is working with U.S. and UN on plan, but ‘won't abandon commitments elsewhere'....

Good! How about allotting some money in the budget for a bucket of soap and water.

linecrew · Post by **linecrew** » Thu May 11, 2006 4:09 pm

chief wrote:Well check out any of their planes. F16's which are parked no where near salt water. Anyways I think he was just mentioning the planes are cleaner and thats a fact.

Sorry..we were talking F/A-18's which are NAVY and Marine aircraft in the US. I didn't realize we weren't all on the same page. I'll shut up then.

hazatude · Post by **hazatude** » Thu May 11, 2006 4:23 pm

I'll PayPal them $20. PM me where to send it.

Nark · Post by **Nark** » Thu May 11, 2006 5:25 pm

I just thought I could clear things up a little. VMFA-312 was UDP (deployed overseas for 6 months) here last year. I can talk about them with confidence.

They would pull their F-18C over to a hose and fill up buckets of water with soap. The exact same way I used to clean a navajo when I was in PA. They had civillians wash the birds, which didn't take time away from marines performing maintenace actions. This has nothing to do with our proximity to the ocean, just clean a bird when it gets nasty.

The Marine Corps takes great pride in our appearance. This is presented by our uniforms, our grooming regulations, and even our aircraft.

I bet you won't find ribbons out of place, brass not shined, or an IP (irish pennant=string) hanging off a marines uniform. Can't say that for the other services.