Swept Wings

[Daveman]

Actually "Roll due to Yaw"

Nice point.

The T-38 wing is about thin as an IHOP pancake. Unbelievable.
Other than the F-4 or PBY-Catalina, that's one military aircraft I'd like to fly.

 

[FastCargo]

Wings...

Bjammin

Swept wings are also stronger thus fighters can pull more "g" forces.

AdlerDriver

I don't quite get this. Could you elaborate? Thanks

BonesF15

I don't quite get it either.

I think this is the answer you are looking for:

Bjammin

By having a swept leading edge and a not so swept trailing edge you have more attach points with the body making for a stronger route. An extreme example is a delta wing.

You know, I've never thought about that until this point, but most (almost all) modern fighter type aircraft have wings like he described. I think it's the 'aspect ratio' (chord to length)??? My aero terms knowledge is very rusty.

Only a few modern aircraft come to mind that are not designed this way, and both are swing-wingers. Tornado and F-14. I'm not sure what their G-limits are/were compared to their breathren. I know our (B-1B) G limits varied depending on the sweep of the wing.

Daveman

The T-38 wing is about thin as an IHOP pancake.

Not quite, but pretty darn close. It's amazing at airshows how many people look at the wing and wonder how the heck a T-38 can fly. Funnier when we tell them that we can't use mechanical pencils directly on the skin because of the danger of poking through it in some areas.

You think our wing proportions are small, look at an F-104. There is an aircraft I would have wanted to fly...the ol' 'Missile with a man in it'. My father used to work on 'em when he was enlisted in the USAF. They had to put wing gloves on the leading and trailing edges to keep people from cutting themselves (yes, they kept them SHARP)!

Fly Safe
FastCargo

 

[Bjammin]

I'm not sure what the Tomcat's "G" limit is either, but I know It has to be around 6g's after seeing them fight. With the wing swept back the "moment" of force is quite a bit less from the wingtip on in, so I bet with them out the limit is less. However, it wouldn't matter because when the wings are out the jet is slow and would stall long before it got high G anyway.

Flechas, I got right seat on the 747-400 out of LAX.