Message posted by Magoo on January 23, 2003 at 17:45:01 PST:

The Germans were the first to develop swing-wings during the latter stages of WWII, however I don't think it was ever deployed operationally. Both the Russians and the Americans had German scientists working for them after the war, thus explaining the similar paths each took.

Rather than to give added manoeverability, swing wings were primarily employed to give an aircraft a combination of being able to achieve high speeds with the wings swept back, efficient cruise speeds and range with the wings at a mid-sweep, and then be able to land on relatively short airfields or carriers with the wings swept forward.

Vectored thrust gives an aircraft the ability to turn tightly in both close-in dogfights and at supersonic speeds. The Indian Air Force was the first (and is still the only) air arm to deploy a vectored-thrust aircraft operationally when it activated its first Su-30MKI squadron last year.

Magoo

In Reply to: Re: Three questions - Lockheed ATB, Suntan, Switchblade posted by John on January 23, 2003 at 16:05:02 PST:

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