General Dynamics F-16A Fighting Falcon

General Dynamics F-16A Fighting Falcon. . , The U.S. Air Force learned many operational lessons during the Vietnam War (1964-1975). The most impotrant was that it needed a small nimble dogfighter with an onboard gun for air-to-air combat. This prompted the development of the single-seat F-16 Fighting Falcon., The F-16 entered service in 1978. It is a single-engine, compact, highly maneuverable fighter. Its frameless bubble canopy gives the pilot unobstructed visibility in every direction. The ejection seat is fixed at an angle of 30 degrees, placing the pilot in a semi-reclined position. This position increases the pilot's ability to tolerate the physical demands of intense combat maneuvers. Pilots can experience as much as 9Gs, or nine times the force of gravity, on their bodies., The F-16 is intentionally designed to be aerodynamically unstable. This instability allows it to execute extreme maneuvers. Traditional aircraft flight controls cannot compensate for this instability, so a sophisticated computer-assisted "fly-by-wire" system achieves positive control. The F-16 has gone through many upgrades over time and is still in production, now by Lockheed Martin. In part because of its economical maintenance costs, more than 4,500 F-16s have been built and flown by 27 nations around the world. The F-16's name "Viper" originated with a group of pilots who likened the plane to the "viper" fighters in the 1970s science-fiction television series Battlestar Galactica., In 1991, this F-16A was assigned to the 138th Tactical Fighter Squadron, part of the 174th Tactical Fighter Wing of the New York Air National Guard in Syracuse, New York. The 138th was deployed to the Persian Gulf in support of Operation Desert Storm (1990-1991). On the first day of Desert Storm, this aircraft was flown by Col. Brent Richardson, who had flown 224 combat missions over North Vietnam during the Vietnam War. Colonel Richardson went on to fly the F-16 in a total of 47 combat mission during the Gulf War.,

Length: 49 feet 5 inches (15.1 m) , Wingspan: 32 feet (9.8 m) , Height: 16 feet 8 inches (5 m) , Empty Weight: 16,300 pounds (7,393 kg) , Max Weight: 37,500 pounds (17,009 kg) , Top Speed: 1,500 miles per hour (2,414 kph) , Ceiling: 50,000 feet (15,240 m) , Crew: One , Armament: One 20mm Vulcan rotary cannon with 500 rounds. External stations carry up to 15,200 pounds (6,895 kg) of air-to-air missiles, conventional and nuclear air-to-surface munitions and electronic countermeasure pods

, [Captions:] , An F-16 releases flares to thwart anti-aircraft missiles. The aircraft carries large fuel tanks as well as Sparrow and Sidewinder air-to-air missiles on the wings. Advanced targeting and navigation pods are just under the jet intake., The U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, an air demonstration squadron, have flown F-16s since 1983.