Supersonic Skyhawks? (A-4E)
david.r.wells
From "david.r.wells" <d...@cbnewsg.cb.att.com>
And Now for Something Completely Different: A Non-Battleship Article!
I was looking through Tom Gervasi's "Arsenal of Democracy", (1978 edition,
ISBN 0-8021-0143-7), and I noticed that on pg 85-86 where he talks about
the A-4 Skyhawk, he lists the top speed of the A-4E as 865 mph, as opposed
to 676 mph for other A-4s. The A-4E has a more powerful engine than other
Skyhawks, (J-52-P-6A) but is that really enough to make the plane supersonic?
Or did Gervasi just get two digits reversed? BTW: the numbers were not changed
in later editions of the book.
Now, if additional power alone could make the Skyhawk supersonic, how
fast are the Skyhawks which have been converted to use the F-404 engine?
David R. Wells
"There seems to be something wrong | David R. Wells
with our bloody ships today" | AT&T Bell Labs, Holmdel, NJ
Adm. D. Beatty, May 31, 1916 | Email: drw...@houxa.att.com
DISCLAIMER: I don't speak for AT&T, and they don't speak for me.
Edward Lim
From Edward Lim <li...@cs.uwa.oz.au>
In <CEqJ7...@law7.DaytonOH.NCR.COM> "david.r.wells" <d...@cbnewsg.cb.att.com> writes:
>From "david.r.wells" <d...@cbnewsg.cb.att.com>
>And Now for Something Completely Different: A Non-Battleship Article!
>I was looking through Tom Gervasi's "Arsenal of Democracy", (1978 edition,
>ISBN 0-8021-0143-7), and I noticed that on pg 85-86 where he talks about
>the A-4 Skyhawk, he lists the top speed of the A-4E as 865 mph, as opposed
>to 676 mph for other A-4s. The A-4E has a more powerful engine than other
>Skyhawks, (J-52-P-6A) but is that really enough to make the plane supersonic?
>Or did Gervasi just get two digits reversed? BTW: the numbers were not changed
>in later editions of the book.
>Now, if additional power alone could make the Skyhawk supersonic, how
>fast are the Skyhawks which have been converted to use the F-404 engine?
> David R. Wells
As a "Skyhawk lover", I almost felt obligated to answer you...........
Well, I believe that the top-speed of A-4E is never higher than 676 mph 'cos
the additional weight of their very much improved avionics (in the hump) and
some other factor made the fighter-bomber flies almost as fast as its pre-decessor....
As for the A4 with F-404/100 engine used by the Republic of Singapore Air Force,
the top speed on level flight is just slightly shy of breaking the sound barrierbut when it comes to a dive, it can do a Mach 1.2.
I hope this info. is helpful to you David..................
cheers,
--
Edward Lim University of Western Australia
AARNET : es...@tartarus.uwa.au.edu Department of Computer Science
Internet : li...@cs.uwa.au.edu
Edward J. Rudnicki
From "Edward J. Rudnicki" (FSS) <erud...@pica.army.mil>
"david.r.wells" writes:
#And Now for Something Completely Different: A Non-Battleship Article!
Well, if you must.... :)
#I was looking through Tom Gervasi's "Arsenal of Democracy", (1978 edition,
Stop right there! The only useful thing about Gervasi's books is the
price information on weapon buys/sales. The man is a "military reformer"
with an axe to grind, and the only thing really updated through the
three editions is his ranting about alleged waste and how we've got
too much of whatever and so on.
The technical data is pockmarked with errors:
- He continues to call the M1 Abrams the "XM-1" even after it was
type classified. A "military expert" should know better.
- Ditto on the "XM-198", about which he even says "it is entering service";
if it's entering service it isn't experimental any more, is it?
- Ranges on artillery are totally wrong. The Army would love to have the
ranges he quotes on the 155mm "XM-198" and the 8 inch. Either that or his
metric/English conversions are off :)
- In the 1st ed he states that the M16's bullets tumble end over end in
flight, though this is corrected later.
- He doesn't have a clue to the difference between offensive and defensive
hand grenades, putting in moralistic pablum instead.
This is only the stuff I know. Maybe the Air Force and Navy sections are
better. I don't know, but I tend to doubt it :)
Ed Rudnicki erud...@pica.army.mil All disclaimers apply
.sig out for repairs.
Lau Won Soon. Ext 6319
From "Lau Won Soon. Ext 6319" <l...@eeserver.ee.nus.sg>
Edward Lim (li...@cs.uwa.oz.au) wrote:
: As a "Skyhawk lover", I almost felt obligated to answer you...........
: Well, I believe that the top-speed of A-4E is never higher than 676 mph 'cos
: the additional weight of their very much improved avionics (in the hump) and
: some other factor made the fighter-bomber flies almost as fast as its pre-decessor....
: As for the A4 with F-404/100 engine used by the Republic of Singapore Air Force,
: the top speed on level flight is just slightly shy of breaking the sound barrierbut when it comes to a dive, it can do a Mach 1.2.
It has been publicised that the new engine gives about 20 percents more power.
But I believed that the manuvability of the aircraft was very much improved.
Just saw a squadron taking off for exercise, every impressive compared to
what I used to see 10 years ago. Even the F-5 pilots think that they have
the worst fighters in the entire airforce. :-)
Won-Soon Lau
--
VLSI DESIGN & CAD LABORATORY \ INET: l...@ee.nus.sg
Dept of Electrical Engineering \ BITNET: ENGP...@NUSVM.bitnet
National University of Singapore \ Phone: (+65) 772 6319
10, Kent Ridge Crescent. Singapore 0511. \______________________________