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Zepherus β Don't mess with Poland
Published: 2008-06-09 15:45:55 +0000 UTC; Views: 637; Favourites: 17; Downloads: 11
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Description
King Con IPMS Convention.A Polish F-16 with external fuel tanks (?).
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Comments: 29
omg why can't i get to these kind of cons? i mean there's no commercial in tv or in the papers -.- sometimes i hate this place :S
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You just have to look on the IPMS website and look for a local chapter.
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Just like those I've seen in News on TV.
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... Oh dear, those saddle tanks really ruin the Viper's sleek lines.
I mean, yeah, effective for sure, but... keh. :/
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I know, makes it look bigger, but I bet they slow it down a lot.
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I'm sure they'll have designed those tanks so they generate as little drag as is possible, but no doubt they'll be detrimental to the good ol' Viper's performance...
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So ya'll call the F-16 the Viper? Intesresting.
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"Viper" is an unofficial nickname, predating its official "Fighting Falcon" tag. It dates back to its early service days - pilots had originally wanted to call it the "Cobra", but Northrop had already selected that name for its LWF* competitor, the "YF-17 Cobra". "Viper" was the name which scored highest in a vote among its pilots - partly for the snake, and partly after the "Colonial Viper" battlecraft from the 1978 "Battlestar Galactica" TV-series.
Despite its official "Fighting Falcon" nickname, pilots still like to refer to it as the "Viper".
However, as this one is a Polish F-16C, technically it's a "Jastrzab" or "Hawk", as it's called in Polish Air Force service.
(*Light Weight Fighter - the program that spawned the F-16. The still-born YF-17 later evolved into the F-18 Hornet.)
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I like viper over falcon and hawk.
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I really love the idea they added the 'Fighting' part to 'Fighting Falcon', so that there wouldn't be confusion between it and the Dassault Falcon bizjet...
No, I prefer 'Viper' as well. And it isn't such a mouthfull as 'Fighting Falcon'...
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short and sweet, kinda like the plane.
Sharing a name with a Bizjet?!
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Yup - Dassault Falcon Mystère 20E . As you can see, some sleek lines, but not exactly... that other Falcon...
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Looks like a Learjet 45....
The "other" falcon is faster too, I think.
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I think you'd have to say the Learjet looks like the Falcon - the Falcon seems to predate it by some 32 years... (doesn't look like it, does it? 
But, yeah... the Viper's certainly a lot faster...
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Ah, nothing to worry about.
Did I ever tell you about the time I mistook a Cessna for a Hurricane...?
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Ah, it was at one of my first ever airshows that this happened. There were a whole lot of aircraft, and... well... I really didn't do well on the 'aircraft recognition' part. Starting with a Cessna I 'identified' as a Hurricane. Even though it was towing a glider. And I still thought it was a Hurricane...
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I've done worse, so don't worry.
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I would not want to be caught dead in a dogfight with that thing^_^x
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And that's no joke^_^x
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Nope, those Poles are pretty indepenent and patriotic.
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