And the strike fighter's 460-mile combat radius was little improvement on the F-4, and 10-12 percent less than that of the A-7. It was lessened by engine modifications but remained an issue. Insufficient transonic acceleration showed up, too. Testing revealed problems including excessive liftoff speed and takeoff roll that had to be addressed by changes to the horizontal stabilators. The new airplane, now officially called the Hornet, first flew in November 1978. The Daredevil Race to Be the World's Fastest Plane.Infrared Sidewinder missiles lived on the Hornet's wingtips, while radar-guided Sparrows would hang on one of four wing stations that also could be used for bombs or external fuel tanks. The new jet had fly-by-wire control, a heads-up display, multi-function CRT displays, and the latest Hughes AN/APG-65 radar. thrust General Electric F404-400 engines with fixed inlets. The builders added more internal fuel to meet Navy range requirements, and incorporated 16,000-lb. Leading Edge Extensions (LEX) below the canopy blended back into the wing, allowing the airplane to remain controllable at high angles of attack. The F/A-18's trapezoidal wing had a 20-degree sweep on the leading edge and a straight trailing edge. The airframe and landing gear were strengthened for carrier suitability, and an arrester hook and wing-fold mechanisms were added. With its canted tails, the new airplane certainly looked like the YF-17, but key additions got the jet ready for service in the Navy. The carrier aircraft of the 1950s and '60s tended to be specialized fighter or attack airplanes. But the low power-to-weight ratio of these early jets forced the U.S.

The aircraft carrier-based fighter planes of World War II, such as the Grumman F6F Hellcat and Vought F4U Corsair, could carry bomb loads as heavy as the dive bombers of the day, successfully combining fighter and attack capabilities into a single aircraft. This plane was a way for the Navy to replace multiple single-mission aircraft with a jet that could do it all, but it was a long time coming. The first thing to notice about the Hornet is the 'F/A' in the F/A-18 designation, meaning the jet was designed to be both a fighter and an attack aircraft. But they became the go-to choice for decades.

Hornets weren't always the Navy's first choice. Even so, the swift manner of success showed what the F/A-18 could do and why it was built. Those two Iraqi MiGs are the only aerial victories for the F/A-18 Hornet/Super Hornet during its decades of service-no surprise, since the opponents in America's recent conflicts lacked the air power to challenge the U.S.

F 18 air combat maneuvering