On Thu, 22 Jan 2004 05:57:21 GMT, Fred J. McCall
wrote:

:And the Mig 25 resembles which plane? ;-)
:
:Saunders-Roe SR53

They don't look ANYTHING alike.

I'm not claiming they look alike. With the totally different wing
geometry, they don't even have similar handling (the SR-53 has more in
common with the (N)F-104)

What they do have in common is a design requirement from high command.
Get up there quick, kill something fast, then return to base.

Keith's right - the Lightning is an even closer match. Similar engine
technology to the Foxbat, even if the wings and inlets are barely
related. The surprising thing about the Mig-25 is its long range. Yes,
_long_. Can you imagine a reconaissance version of the even-thirstier
Lightning ?

There's a visual resemblance between the Mig-25, the F-15, the Tornado
and even Concorde :- 2-D ramped inlets. If you design a Mach 2
aircraft in the '60s, using Fortran running on punch-cards, then
movable flat ramps are what you end up with. They'll work at a higher
speed and AoA than something like an F-4 or F-5's side-mounted pitot
and splitter plate inlets, or even the F-104's or Mirage's half-cones.
A "simpler" high-performance inlet like Eurofighter needs a great deal
more gas-flow modelling to make it work, and it just wasn't possible
back then.

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