Top Gun, which tells the story of the growth of pilots, uses their own Tomcat fighter as the main aircraft in the film, and will definitely succeed in attracting those young people to join the US Navy!

Nathan's proposal immediately won the favor of the old general: "Yes, we have to make such a film, that, Nathan, are you interested in writing a script?" ”

It is not suitable to let the pilot be an actor, because the pilot still has heavy flight tasks, and the actor looks simple, but in fact, ordinary people will be nervous in front of the camera, and it is impossible to be at ease.

Writing a script is different, this is Nathan's proposal, Nathan, as a naval pilot, must have been deeply touched, and it should not be difficult to write a script outside of training.

Of course, it's not difficult, just write it according to the Top Gun of later generations, especially the classic lines in it, Nathan can recite it.

If I think I should do it, I will do it.

To be an elite of the elite is to make mistakes and continue to work hard.

So, Nathan immediately nodded: "Okay, no problem, I'll write the script, there is a month of the world, it should be about the same." ”

Generally speaking, for a wonderful film, the script may be revised repeatedly, and it will take months, or even years, to write, but Nathan is full of confidence, and the classic films of later generations are the best if they are written according to themselves.

The old general nodded: "That's the best, by the way, I'll send a secretary to you to help you write the script together, so as not to delay your flight training." ”

While eating, they actually talked about a movie first, and after talking about this topic, the old general talked about today's topic: "Nathan, what do you think of our Tomcat fighter?" ”

One take-off and landing can make people have an intuitive feeling, especially Nathan actually did a few more maneuvers, which is even more deeply experienced.

"Compared to our previous fighters, it has a sleek shape and variable sweep wings that provide excellent maneuverability in all airspace, and can be used for high-speed racing and close-range combat." Nathan said everything that came to his mind: "It can be said that it is the best carrier-based aircraft of our naval aviation, not only now, but even in the future, it must be the most classic." ”

In addition to Tomcats, what other well-known carrier-based aircraft are in the US Navy?

Is that a super big bug that can only fly slowly to Mach 0.8 after being hung with missiles? It simply cannot afford the task of intercepting the air defense of the fleet of the Navy.

Or is it the F-35 with a stealthy appearance and an incomparably bloated single-engine?

For the US Navy, there is only one fighter that is a classic, and that is the Tomcat!

This sentence is Nathan's heart, and at the same time, it also makes the old general happy, this fighter is the old general's proudest, some people praise, of course happy.

"But it's still flawed." At this moment, Nathan's turn of events caught everyone's attention again.

Is everything the Tomcat is the best? Of course not! Nathan is well aware of the plane's flaws, and now he has to speak out about it.

"It's the engine." "The thrust-to-weight ratio of Pratt-Whitney's engines is not high enough, and if we want to conquer the skies of the future, our fighter jets need to have a thrust-to-weight ratio higher than 1, an engine thrust-to-weight ratio close to 8, and most importantly, the engine needs to work steadily," Nathan said. ”

For the Tomcat fighter, the excellent design made him very powerful, but the engine was lagging behind, which was the biggest evaluation of the Tomcat fighter in later generations, until the F-14D in 88, replaced with the F110 engine, which solved the problem of heart disease.

As soon as Nathan said this, he immediately won the approval of all the non-Tomcat fighters present: "Yes, the engine makes us not dare to do what we want, and we must always care about whether it will cough." ”

In the midst of approval, the old general was a little incredulous: "Nathan, how do you know?" ”

Nathan didn't have any contact with any instructions for the Tomcat fighter, and the data of this fighter was not leaked, so Nathan said it so accurately?

"Fly out." Nathan said without changing his face: "It can't climb vertically, of course because the thrust-to-weight ratio is not enough 1." ”

Instructor Lehmann on the side nodded, indeed, the most intuitive way to check the thrust-to-weight ratio of an aircraft is to fly once, and a skilled pilot, as long as he flies, he will know the problem.

Now, with the exception of the Air Force's newly commissioned F-15, which has a thrust-to-weight ratio of more than 1 in air combat, all other aircraft cannot do it.

Nathan was also secretly glad in his heart, he was open to words just now, but he couldn't say it anymore.

In fact, for the Tomcat, there are two major disadvantages, one is the engine, and the other is that the wing box of the variable sweep wing is too heavy and the structure is complex, and it can no longer be said now.

"Yes, we have long expected the problem of the engine, our current F-14A, originally only a transitional model, intends to replace it with a new engine after the production of 67 units, and improve it to F-14B, but unfortunately, we have not changed it so far, we can only use it first, rest assured, this problem will definitely be solved."

The old general said with emotion, most of the people present didn't know the inside story, but Nathan thought of it.

The Navy has long been aware of Tomcat's heart problems, and as early as the first flight of the F-14, the follow-up engine model has already begun to be selected, which is intended to be produced in the competition between General Electric's GE1/10 and Pratt & Whitney's JTF22.

So the F-14A is just an initial model.

Later, they chose Pratt & Whitney's JTF22 engine, giving the F401-P-400 the naval military designation, and the F100 engine, also derived from the JTF22, has been selected by the U.S. Air Force as the power plant for the F-15.

It is a significant improvement over the TF30.

It's a pity.

On the one hand, the United States is withdrawing from Vietnam, the domestic economy is sluggish, the Navy has been drastically reduced, and there is no way to find funds for upgrades, and at the same time, the F401 engine has exposed many serious reliability problems and has not passed flight tests.

Therefore, the Navy can only continue to use TF30 engines now, which is a last resort.

"With any new technology, you have to take risks." Nathan said: "The engine is the laurel of the industry, but it is not so easy to mature, let's watch the good show of the Air Force first, and when it matures, we will not be too late to change." ”

The topic was provoked by Nathan, and of course it was Nathan who ended it, and successfully picked on the Air Force to make a fool of himself, and the people present immediately became happy.

Sure enough, the Air Force and the Navy are full of contradictions! As long as YY makes a fool of the Air Force, it is enough to make people excited, and in fact, the early F-15 was indeed grounded because of engine problems, and as a result, it won the title of the queen of the hangar.