Bob Smith, Grumman's chief test pilot, has been named the new chief test pilot since Grumman's chief test pilot was killed in a take-off accident on an F-111B a few years ago.

After that, Bob spent most of his time on the Tomcat fighter, he was familiar with all the tempers of the Tomcat, and he was also complacent about the improvement of the TF41 in the past, and finally had a working engine.

And now, he is even more looking forward to the performance of the new engine, after all, according to the thrust on the bench, this F101 engine, the afterburner thrust has reached nearly 13 tons, and the two F101 engines in the tail can give the Tomcat fighter a thrust of nearly 26 tons.

What does this mean?

The empty weight of the Tomcat fighter is 18 tons, plus 7 tons of fuel in the aircraft, it is about 25 tons, and it can also hang 1 ton of external plug-in, which is almost a combination of medium-range and short-range missiles.

If you don't mount the Immortal, its thrust-to-weight ratio is enough to reach 1!

If you hang the immortal birds, six immortal birds, it is three tons, so the full weight of the Tomcat fighter in the air combat state of 29 tons is calculated in this way.

Generally speaking, the mounted immortal bird, will also be launched at a long distance, when close to the target, after the fuel in the aircraft is burned off, the tomcat fighter in the air combat state thrust-to-weight ratio, is to reach 1, this is a terrible number, it means that the Tomcat fighter can effortlessly, can quickly climb vertically upward.

In the past, when the F-15 fighter was compared with the Tomcat, it was complacent about its high thrust-to-weight ratio, and now, the Tomcat fighter is about to have this ability.

When the thrust-to-weight ratio is not high, relying on the variable sweep wing, it can already abuse those ordinary third-generation aircraft, and once the hair change is completed, it will have even more terrifying capabilities!

"Falcon, start the engine." There was a sound coming from inside the headphones.

With the help of a ground-based power truck, Smith expertly flipped the switches, and then the engine whistled from behind the body, which was more frequent than previous engines, irritating the eardrums.

"The engine is fine." Smith looked at the dashboards in front of him and said over the radio.

Because it is an experimental engine, it is enough for Smith to fly alone, and he does not carry a radar officer in the back, which can reduce the loss of one person in case of failure.

"You can take off."

Smith turned on the afterburner, and in an instant, two blazing flames burst out from the engine in the tail, and the restrained vents had all opened, and the lilac flames looked so dazzling.

Released the brakes, and suddenly, the Tomcat fighter rushed forward as if it had been hit with hormones, and there was a violent push on the back.

"Oh God!" Smith couldn't help but shout, "Great! ”

Smith's adrenaline was pumping fast, and it was like catapulting to take off, yes, it was the feeling.

It is now the first test flight, so the plane is not plugged in, but it is still in a full fuel state, in this case, the thrust-to-weight ratio of the aircraft has reached 1, which has reached such a degree against the sky.

The tomcat spread its wings, swooped and flew out, as if it had been kicked the runway, slid less than 160 meters, and actually got up on the front wheel!

That's right, relying on its own power, without using a catapult, it was actually such a pervert, the plane continued to slide forward for more than ten meters, and the main landing gear also left the ground!

It's already flying, it's so against the sky!

Everyone's eyes widened, watching as the Tomcat fighter immediately raised the angle of attack after taking off, a full seventy degrees, and under the surging thrust of the tail, the Tomcat fighter quickly climbed upward.

Climbing at a high angle of attack, this chic maneuver, was previously only possible by the F-15, and Nathan made the same move when he burned the fuel in the plane until it was almost clean.

Now, it's full of gas! In a full fuel state, the Tomcat fighter was actually as light as a swallow, and watching its large angle of attack climb, everyone's faces were filled with great joy.

Smith's voice came from the sky: "I feel that on the aircraft carrier, it can fly on its own without opening the catapult." ”

Of course, this is an exaggeration, but this statement expresses Smith's opinion on the improved engine, which is too strong, and it perfectly cooperates with the Tomcat fighter, so that it has a strong performance!

At this time, the Tomcat fighter was rapidly climbing, and soon rose to an altitude of 10,000 meters, at which altitude Smith leveled the plane: "The falcon reports Grumman, the falcon reports Grumman, has reached an altitude of 10,000 meters, ready for an acceleration test." ”

Then, Smith turned on the afterburner again.

The turbulent air flow poured into the engine, and the fuel was burning hot, turning into a high-temperature and high-pressure gas, surging out from behind, and Smith felt the push back sensation come again strongly.

The Tomcat has begun to undergo accelerated trials!

The sensors in the plane are rapidly recording the test data, and the wings on both sides sweep backwards with the increase of speed, and then, shock clouds begin to appear in the nose of the aircraft.

Then, the nose of the aircraft passed through the shock cloud, and the fighter had already entered supersonic speed, leaving the sound behind.

Wing sweep, high-speed flight drag greatly reduced, this airfoil, is a perfect solution to the selection of wings at various speeds, now, driven by the powerful engine, it is even more perverted, in 90 seconds, has accelerated from Mach 0.8 to Mach 1.8, and then, it continues to accelerate.

In the past, when the TF30 engine was used, it was able to make the Tomcat fighter reach a maximum speed of Mach 2.35 by relying on weak thrust, which is the power of the variable sweep wing, and now, driven by the F101 engine, it quickly reached Mach 2.35, which is still at an altitude of 10,000 meters, not a theoretical altitude of 18,000 meters.

The speed continued to increase, but Smith turned off the engine, and he couldn't experiment anymore, otherwise, the body might not be able to withstand it.

"It seems that this engine is okay." On the ground, a group of people were very excited: "Next, we will continue to carry out the test flights of each flight envelope, and if there is no problem, then inform the Navy of the good news!" ”

It's time to put pressure on Pratt & Whitney.

Historically, Pratt & Whitney had little pressure to keep the Navy on the TF30 until October 1982, when the P-414A was introduced, improving reliability and compressor stall problems, making it a truly "usable" model in the TF30 family.

Even then, it has serious problems, with a strong tremor at a certain combination of speed with thrust, and if the pilot does not take measures in time, the tomcat will enter the horizontal spiral; In addition, under a more violent turning action, the engine on the outside of the turn will cause the compressor to stall due to the turbulence caused by the fuselage blocking.

Anyway, it's a terrible powerhouse, and now, finally, there's a new suitable engine to work with!