Fighter Aircraft Since, 1945

By Frank Schwede

The world's first jet engines were already available shortly before the end of the Second World War, but they had not been developed to a high enough standard to take part. This changed after 1945 when, on both sides of the Iron Curtain, one technological development surpassed the others and records tumbled almost every week. The era of the piston engine was finally over and jet fighters now dominated the skies. By the mid-1950s their speed had already reached double that of the speed of sound; an achievement which a few years earlier, would have sounded to many like science fiction.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Nov 30, 2017
• ISBN: 9781473891319

Book preview

Introduction

Fighter aircraft with propellor drive quickly lost their significance after the end of the Second World War: the jet engine had proved its superiority and spread rapidly. Aircraft were faster and it was not long before even the last aircraft smithy recognized the sign of the times. Especially the fighter groups, which staked everything on pure speed, benefited from this new, pioneering development. Fighter aircraft have always been, and remain so today, the spearhead of all air forces. In the upshot, their task is to destroy enemy aerial formations or at least not allow them to cross into home airspace. It is therefore no surprise that fighter aircraft can look back on a long tradition.

Taking a brief look at the history: as mentioned in the Foreword, the fighter came into being in the First World War, therefore more than 100 years ago, and by chance. Initially the role of aircraft was only reconnaissance. On account of the heavy fighting on the fronts, naturally the reconnaissance units in the air had a dangerous role and could even be fired upon from the ground. Necessity is the mother of invention and so now reconnaissance machines always carried a weapon. From this measure of selfprotection during the early stages of the First World War there developed the first deliberate attacks on enemy aircraft, and so the fighter aircraft was born. From then on these special aircraft would have mounted fixed or rotatable machine-guns. In the summer of 1916 the first official German fighter squadrons were formed and soon became the model for numerous such squadrons around the world.

In the years between the wars an important variant came on the scene: the interceptor-fighter. It has now as then the role of climbing fast to great heights to intercept incoming bombers or other types of hostile. In earnest they fly directly towards the intruders in order to force them to abandon their objective. Thanks to modern radar and weapons of intervention suitable for the task, nowadays it is no longer necessary that enemy aircraft must be in sight. In the early stages of the fighter, however, high speed, fast rate of climb and great range were required, but now the parameters have changed, of which more later. Often interceptor-fighters were directed to attack ground targets. From the 1980s special, so-called air-superiority fighters received for these purposes a multitude of very powerful precision weapons.

An F/A-18 Hornet breaking through the sound barrier in low level flight above the aircraft carrier USS Constellation. (John Gay/USN)

For unrestricted air superiority, an excellent field of view from the cockpit is an absolute must. (Lance Cheung)

At the latest since the end of the Second World War fighters have been classified into generations. At present we have fighter aircraft of the fifth generation. If we go back to the beginning, the legendary F-86 Sabre, Hunter and the Soviet MiG-15 and -17 were of the first generation. Not only people with an interest in aircraft agree beyond any doubt that these machines set a milestone. The second generation contained prominent names such as the MiG-21, F-4 Phantom and the elegant Mirage III. The classic machines of the third generation were finally the F-16, the MiG-29 and the Mirage 2000. The fourth generation was characterized by machines of the Eurofighter or Gripen Types. At the latest from the fourth generation, so-called Stealth technology came increasingly into the picture. The most recent projects, as for example the F-22 Raptor or the Chinese Chengdu J-20, have already been indicated as being of the fifth generation.

What are the qualities which a modern fighter aircraft must have in order to be considered reliable and superior? Most important are good manouevrability and flexibility together with fast rate of climb and acceleration. Another important requirement for pilots is naturally a good field of view from the cockpit so as to follow the target in all flight situations. Fifth-generation Types are again machines of such compact profile as to seriously handicap optical pursuit, or render enemy pursuit based on radar-based Stealth technology either impossible or at least very difficult. The generally accepted existing belief is that extremely high speed, or the ability to operate at very high altitude, have become almost insignificant for the newest generation of aircraft. In the 1960s for example, the United States built fighters and fighter-bombers all of which had to be able to fly at two and a half times the speed of sound at a maximum altitude of around 20,000 metres. In the modern state of knowledge these specifications have only a minor tactical use. In Viet Nam, US pilots discovered that in combat with the North Vietnamese MiG-21, they had to fly the tightest curves in order to keep the enemy in their sights. This forced the pursuing pilots to reduce their speed to around Mach 0.4 and naturally they lost height in doing so. Often the enemy fighter would spiral down fast to tree-top height, and from that moment at the latest it was clear that any attempt to increase speed in level flight was dangerous, for then the pilot would show the enemy his rear and offer him as it were a sitting target. Based on this knowledge, subsequent US machines such as the F-16 and F/A-18 dispensed with speeds above Mach 2 and a service ceiling above 17,000 metres . As a result of the more moderate speed these aircraft are far more efficient and nimble.

In considering the newest fighter aircraft it is of great interest to note the period of development generally required nowadays. Whereas the development and manufacture of a fighter of the first and second generations required only a couple of months, today it will often take twenty years or more between the drawing board and the first delivery. One of the reasons for this is principally the technological demands of modern fighter aircraft. It must also be mentioned here that nearly all fighters of the fourth and fifth generations are conceived as single-seaters, two-seaters operate primarily as trainers.

What the next generation of fighters will look like can already be imagined with a little fantasy. The probability bordering on certainty is that they will controlled from the ground by joystick and satellite. In the German Luftwaffe it is considered that the Eurofighter will be the last piloted fighter – by 2025 the Bundeswehr (Federal armed forces) will have fighter-drones. However, unmanned fighting aircraft will give rise to ethical questions which can only be resolved by having a human pilot aboard. Gone are the times of Top Gun and so forth – nobody must ever risk his life any more, and all a shot-down drone leaves on the ground is a heap of scrap. Tomorrow’s fighter pilots will therefore be office-bound fliers and never sit in the cockpit. The first drones of today are already the fighter aircraft of tomorrow.

Even today still classic: the McDonnell Douglas Phantom. Seen here is the reconnaissance variant RF-4B, in which the cannon is replaced by a camera installation. (Robert Lawson)

Lockheed-Martin’s Camouflaged-Magic Hood fighter F-35 is at present one of the most expensive fighters in the world. Eleven other nations beside the United States are planning to use the JSF Joint Strike Fighter operationally. (Andy Wolfe)

United States Of America

Convair F-102 Delta Dagger and F-10 Delta Dart

The Delta fighter-family of F-102 and F-106 were begun at the Convair Works, San Diego, California. Convair Aircraft was founded on 17 March 1943 by means of one of the first large industrial mergers, the fusion of Consolidated and Vultee. It is noteworthy in this respect that the former production aims of both concerns could not have been more different. Consolidated concentrated in the main on building large aircraft, Vultee dive-bombers, but one thing they had in common was that neither in all their long histories had ever designed or built a fighter.

The merger would change that at a stroke. Two years after it took effect, and more or less coinciding with the end of the Second World War, Convair engineers came by chance into possession