The F-16N (Navy)

[LittleLebowski]

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...gendary-hotrod

[Greg]

That was a great article!

[Half Moon]

Cool article! They have one of the N's at the Pacific Coast Air Museum in California:

https://pacificcoastairmuseum.org/aircraft/f-16n-viper/

Not a huge museum but one of those little volunteer run places where you can feel the love and pride.

[Bergeron]

God, what a job. "Here's your clean, bare F-16. Practice daily aerial engagements against Tomcats and Hornets."

I think the part that stood out best to me was how the USAF F-16 community was heavily Air-to-Ground focused, while the USN F-16 guys were pure Air-to-Air specialists, who had more in common, and communication, with the USAF F-15 community.

[Duelist]

Good read.

[LittleLebowski]

I’m dying to hear what @GyroF-16 thinks of this article.

[Borderland]

Thanks for the link. Great history.

I'm going to send it to a relative that has some involvement with DoD and current production. I've talked to him about it but I think he can only say so much, which isn't a hell of a lot.

[Andy T]

Thank you for the article. If anyone wants to "virtually" recreate some of the experiences and open to a new hobby, check out Digital Combat Simulator. But be prepared to invest lots of time and a bit of money - I started that since last December. Still learning.

[GyroF-16]

I’m dying to hear what @GyroF-16 thinks of this article.

Thanks for the invite, LL. Pardon my slow reply - It was quite a long article, and took me a few overnights on the road to finish it.

Overall, nice story. The Navy guy flew a light airframe Viper with a pretty big engine, clean, in an exclusively air-to-air mission. Sounds like fun, when your body is young, and your neck is (yet) undamaged. I flew similar, slightly heavier F-16s with even bigger engines for my career in the AF. The biggest challenge as an F-16 pilot was maintaining proficiency in several missions at once - it always gave you something to work on for the next mission.
A few observations:
It was interesting to hear him talk about learning, as a prior F-14 pilot, to run the radar while flying the airplane. It reminded me of when we Air Force F-16 pilots used to chuckle at the F-15E pilots who’d been convinced by their backseaters that just flying the airplane was a full-time job, and the Weapons System Operators were essential for operating the radar, running the air-to-ground targeting pod, and talking on the radio. Because Viper pilots routinely did all those things simultaneously. Just another insight into different “cultures” and expectations.

The author of the article sounds like a good guy to share a beer with and trade stories with the bar for an evening.

Here’s me, “back in the day” leaving the tanker to go back into Iraq.

[Robinson]

Here’s me, “back in the day” leaving the tanker to go back into Iraq.

That's about the coolest thing ever.