F-16, the first jet fighter that first climbed into the air in 1974, and even now considered one of the best aircraft in its category.
If it were not for the pilot's skill 50 years ago, the F-16 program could have failed during its first test.
On January 20, 1974, Phil Estricher took the management of the General Dynamics YF-16 prototype at Edwards Air Base in California to perform a relatively simple task-a high-speed steering test on the runway under its own engine.
The YF-16 was represented by the public a little more than a month ago, and the first flight was scheduled for early February.
However, the aircraft, which looked like something from a scientific and fiction movie, had its plans.
When the Estricher lifted the front of the aircraft a little, the YF-16 began to roll so sharply that the left wing and the right tail board hit the ground.
"While Estricher was desperate to keep control over this wild" Skacaun ", the situation was becoming more awful-the YF-16 was becoming more and more deviated to the left," Seattle Post IntelligenCer reported about the first flight, which almost ended in a disaster.
Estricher realized that he would have to give up the planned test and quickly lift the plane into the air to avoid disaster.
After a few tense moments, when the aircraft fell on the runway again, Phil Estricher managed to gain enough speed and lift it into the air. After that, he successfully completed his very unexpected flight, the duration of which was only six minutes and returned to the base.
Thanks to the skill, Estricher managed to avoid catastrophe and save the plane, which later became one of the most successful in world history.
More than 4600 F-16 has been produced in half a century, and the production of these fighters does not intend to stop. If not by saving the YF-16 from the disaster, the airs of many countries would have become devoid of an important part of its fleet.
The design of this aircraft also affected the development of modern civil aviation, for the first time using technologies that now became standard for passenger aircraft.
At any time of day or night somewhere around the world in the air are F-16.
Since 1978, when this fighter was embedded in the US Air Force, it has been used in 25 other countries, from Norway to Chile, from Morocco to Singapore. In 2023, 45 years after the adoption, the US Air Force had more than 800 F-16 sides.
Created as a small, lightweight and very maneuverable aircraft, the F-16 takes more and more roles, from attacks on land targets and ships to photo intelligence and fight against anti-aircraft missile complexes.
Since 2015, this is the largest military aircraft in the world. More than 2000 F-16 fighters are actively used worldwide.
Ukraine has expressed a request to the event to give it an F-16 among other modern weapons. Ukrainian pilots are now trained in F-16 in Denmark, and the supply of these fighters should start in the summer.
In early January, almost 50 years after the aircraft rose to the air, Slovakia received its first F-16.
Keeping a combat aircraft in an improved state, not to mention its production, for five decades - these are significant achievements.
The need for F-16 in the air forces continues due to some innovative aspects of the design of this fighter, as well as the studied lessons during air battles during the Vietnam War.
During the 1960s, the United States successfully improved the new air-air missiles as the most effective tool for knocking down enemy aircraft.
Since the outbreak of Vietnam's war in 1965, some American fighters such as F-4 Phantom II have been unarmed with guns. However, US military strategists believed that missiles should be sufficient.
The directed missiles of US fighter jets, although effective against many opponents, faced a challenge in the form of maneuver and rapid Soviet Migs.
These were the same migs that participated in the fighting on the Korean Peninsula in the early 1950s and which, according to Western strategists, were already outdated.
In the melee where US fighters could not use their missiles, Miga were serious opponents.
In the period from 1965 to 1968, US fighter jets were beating more North -Staff fighters than they lost, but the gap in performance decreased significantly.
In addition, large two -motor American fighters became noticeable from afar, while small single -engine migs remained virtually invisible.
One of the decisions was the creation of pilots, such as the Top Gun of the US Navy, where aviators taught the lost art of melee maneuverable air combat. These schools arose before the end of the Vietnam War and significantly improved the ratio of losses in US aviation compared to the enemy.
Air battles began during the First World War on small aircraft moving a little faster than cars.
However, fighting for jet fighters that develop speed of about a thousand kilometers per hour are completely different experience. During maneuvers at such high speeds, pilots face a large overload with steep turn, which lasts for a long time.
Another ambitious program was to study the methods of confrontation with Soviet aircraft, which were becoming more and more advanced.
In the late 1960s, US defense agencies were alarming because of the emergence of the Soviet MiG-25 fighter, which was at high speed, exceeding the sound speed three times.
According to the Pentagon's call, the Americans have developed a large and quick McDonnell-Douglas F-15 Eagle interceptor, specifically designed for whisking enemy aircraft at high altitude with radar rockets.
However, the Soviet Union and its allies, participating in the Warsaw Treaty, such as Poland and East Germany, continued the production of thousands of combat aircraft, which were fighting at lower altitudes.
The United States also needed a small and maneuverable fighter, capable of knocking down hostile planes with the help of rockets with thermal guidance and guns - skills that were extremely important during the Vietnam War.
Obviously, US air forces needed hundreds of similar fighters, and probably other NATO countries and US allies also showed interest in obtaining such aircraft.
Five projects competed to order, but quickly knocked out two of them: YF-16 from General Dynamics (now part of Lockheed-Martin) and YF-17 from the competitor Northrop.
The YF-16 was specially designed for air battles, and this affected its design, in particular, the layout of the cabin.
The pilot was in a raised cab with a huge dome that provided an almost perfect inspection of the area. This resembled early models of jet fighters that replaced rocket weapons.
"Manufacturers relied on the experience of Korea and the American F-86 Sabre fighter, focusing on maneuverability and dome bubashka with excellent inspection," explains Tim Robinson, a specialist in the military aircraft aircraft of the Royal Air Aeronautics Society of Great Britain.
Some even suggested that the radars completely abandon.
"The idea was to install two rockets with thermal guidance and guns. It was all necessary. They considered the number of Soviet aircraft and thought:" We will definitely need, we should build and build, "Robinson adds.
The new jet aircraft did not need such a long range as the F-15, so it could be more compact and lighter, with one engine instead of two.
This combination of a small mass and a powerful engine provided a high ratio of thrust to mass, which was translated into high traffic. This not only provided high speed, but also great maneuverability - ideal for short -distance air battles with guns and short radius missiles.
The F-16 kept overloading up to 9 g, which means that the weight it felt during maneuvers was nine times more weight on Earth. This put huge pressure on the construction of the aircraft and the pilot itself.
For comparison, the F-4 could withstand seven units overload, but not long, because due to a more heavy structure, it was more likely to lose speed and height.
In order to avoid loss of consciousness during vines, the seat in the F-16 cab was rejected back, which allowed to reduce the effect of overloads.
Aircraft and TV presenter Jeff Bolton flew twice in a double version of the F-16, which is used for training pilots and special missions.
"When you get into the F-16 cabin, you are pulling a leather driver's glove," he says.
"My height is almost 190 cm, so I feel very tight, but I can throw away the seat to the end and I can move my hand between the helmet and the roof of the cab.
However, the designers have made several revolutionary changes in the F-16 cab.
They abandoned one of the key elements of the Fighters of the First World War - the handles of managing the pilot's feet.
In the F-16, the joystick handle is located to the right of the cabin, which is very similar to the one used in computer flight simulators.
The F-16 was the first aircraft to use electrodstal control (Fly-by-Wire). This means that the signals from the helm or control handles are not mechanically transmitted, but with the help of a computer and electric drives.
Today, this technology is used in most modern airliners such as Boeing 777 and Airbus A320.
"We are now taking flights Fly-by-Wire as something ordinary," Robinson notes. - "This technology can be found everywhere, from small drones to large airliners."
"Some call the F-16" electrodes ", and perhaps not everyone liked this technology, as it deprived the pilot of ordinary mechanical interaction."
Initially, the F-16 was designed as an option of the F-15 model for low altitudes, but quickly turned out that the F-16 could carry more cargoes, more fuel and have a larger radar.
“F-16 is almost the perfect army” Swiss knife, ”Bolton comments.
In the XXI century, the F-16 also successfully performs the functions of the assault, although its designers in the early 1970s did not provide.
Its adaptability allows you to perform more and more tasks, which makes it extremely attractive to the air forces. "If there is a military conflict somewhere, it is likely that the F-16 will appear there," Robinson says.
Initially, the F-16 was nickname Fighting Falcon ("Falcon"), but this name is not in use, says Robinson.
"Some people call it Viper (" Viper ") because it was born in the late 1970s with the TV series" Star Craser "Galaxy. It looks like a Colonial Viper spacecraft from this series, ”Robinson adds.
"He still looks like a plane of the future."
Parked on Earth F-16 really has a futuristic appearance. And in the air, it becomes a real discovery even for experienced pilots who have rich experience on jet aircraft.
"There are times when pilots lose consciousness during significant overloads," Robinson notes.
"This aircraft really puts the physiological capabilities of the pilots, both due to large overloads and because of the high speed with which it happens."
Bolton himself personally tested it in one of his flights to the F-16.
The control handle proved to be extremely sensitive - easy enough pressing, and you already feel 9G power. "So, if your weight, say, 100 kg, multiply it by nine. It seems as if the whole world has fallen on you and pressed it," Bolton says.
Pilots are often characterized by the F-16 as very easy to control, which is explained not only by the Fly-By-Wire system, but also by a strong body with large wings that provide lifting.
"When I first got behind the wheel, the pilot said to me," Ok now, it's your plane, "Bolton recalls, emphasizing that the pilot determined him the opportunity to control the plane on his own.
During his experiment, Bolton decided to perform a "barrel" - the rotation of the aircraft at 360 degrees without losing height. He used light movements, avoiding excessive pressure on the steering wheel.
"After that, the pilot said," It was cool. "The instructor reported that the newcomers are often too strongly pressed on the wheel, because the aircraft is so sensitive that the instructor has to" beat his head against the cabin, "Bolton adds.
Bolton went to the US military aircraft, such as Northrop F-5, which were used as standards for Soviet aircraft in Top Gun training.
"This is a little old -fashioned thing, similar to a MG sports car with Corvette engine," Bolton compares.
However, the F-5, which previously performed similar tasks in numerous air forces, has a more "analog" approach.
In its small cabin is not as much latitude as the F-16.
"You hang over the front rack chassis, and during the takeoff you see how the earth is moving away from the nose," says Bolton about the impression of the F-16 cabin.
An experienced pilot and presenter of aviation, John Wotters, began his career at the F-16 at the US Air Force in 2013. He is now managed by Boeing 777 and leads afterburn.
Waters participated in ground attacks against IDIL in Syria and trained for extremely dangerous SEAD missions (suppression of enemy air defense), hunting anti-aircraft missile complexes. Such US Air Force missions are known as Wild Weasel.
The F-16 is able to run a rocket with a radar on a horizon on an enemy aircraft, dump managed bombs for land purposes and at the same time launch a rocket with radar guidance to suppress the enemy radar.
Waters performed such tasks during training. "To complete all three tasks in the air at the same time is a real challenge of Wild Weasel," he says.
At the end of his career on the F-16 plane, John Wotters actively participated in demonstration flights and performed high pilot tricks during the air show. In 2018, one of his fascinating performances was held on YouTube.
"It was July in Phoenix, the air temperature reached 48 degrees Celsius," the pilot recalls, adding that the first seat in the F-16 cabin was a striking experience due to the heat and noise of a jet aircraft. The feeling of sensory overload caused the huge capacity of this aircraft, which at that time was the most powerful among those on which it was flying.
During his flight activity on the F-16, Waters was also actively noted with the help of video taken from the Go-Pro camera, which memorize its exciting moments of flights. One of the videos shows how the pilot uses a portable device to track his pulse, revealing that it can burn from 300 to 600 calories in 15 minutes of flight.
Although the F-16 is replaced by F-35 in the US Air Force and other NATO countries, Waters expresses nostalgia on this aircraft flights, emphasizing that nothing is equal to contact with the F-16. Despite the fact that the F-35 progressively put into operation, there is a high probability that the F-16 will remain in circulation for many years to come.
