Live Fast, Die Young: The Story of the U.S. Navy's Hot-Rod F-16N
When you think of the F-16, the U.S. Navy probably isn't what pops into your head, but the truth is that the Air Force's mainstay fighter has a very colorful past serving with the seagoing service in the hands of highly-trained Topgun instructors and fleet adversary pilots. It all started with a purpose-built, stripped-down, hotrod of a Fighting Falcon, the F-16N. This is its fascinating story.
Check out one Naval Aviator's experience flying the F-16N here: www.twz.com/3383/what-it-was-...
Digital Combat Simulator footage from HeatBlur. store.heatblur.com/
The War Zone - also known by the shorthand TWZ - has become an essential resource for the national security community, the defense industry, and the interested public at large since it was launched in 2016.
From its early beginnings to the present day, TWZ’s purpose remains the same. We stand at the nexus of military technology, strategy, and foreign policy. As a full-spectrum defense news and analysis site, TWZ covers the air, sea, land, space, and cyber domains of warfare, with an infusion of geopolitical context and technological analysis that provides viewers with deeper insights and a richer understanding of the subjects we cover than what they will find elsewhere.
We have a true passion for the topics we cover and it’s an honor to be able to share that passion with our KZread audience.
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Chapters:
0:00 Intro
1:05 The F-16N's Origins
3:16 The F-16N's Design Specs
6:56 F-16N Training Ops
12:12 The Navy Says Goodbye To F-16Ns
13:58 Navy Vipers Rise Again
Пікірлер: 385
I flew the N in VF-126. What a great airplane! We would fight as adversaries and then go 1v1 guns only "in house". I wonder how we managed to crack those wing spars? It was great having a radar. In the A-4, we'd tune in the fighter tactical frequency and switch to ADF and follow the #1 needle to the merge. Surprisingly effective! Everyone rightfully mentions the reclined seat for increased G tolerance, but that only reduced the height of the blood column by a few inches. To me, the design of having the feet almost at hip height was a bigger factor as it effectively reduced the column by a foot or two. With HOTAS, and the reclined seat and elevated feet, it had the perfect seating geometry. It was like sitting in a lawn chair with two cans of beer and a gatling gun (even though this model didn't have one) - stay off of my lawn!
@thewarzone
16 күн бұрын
Great color on the canvas here. Shoot me an email!!!
@elliotthorum3671
16 күн бұрын
I totally envy you! I got the opportunity to sit in one in a hangar during a Civil Air Patrol tour in the 90's. I could not believe how GOOD that aircraft felt to sit in. The closest I've come to actually flying one is being boomed at low level by the Red Flag guys sneaking through the bottom of canyons here in Alaska. I'm out there doing mineral surveys along creeks with my head down and all of a su... ==BLAM!== and I'm feeling a whole body slap. ==BLAM!== Geez, there's two of.. =BLAM!== Whoa! =BLAM!= Okay, four, good lord I'm awake now, with the living sh&% slapped right out of me and the bears I was keeping an eye out for are for sure on their way out of the area. Stay off your lawn, indeed!
@keirfarnum6811
16 күн бұрын
@@elliotthorum3671 Adee you gusuk man! Give the cheechakos he|| for me. 😁
@epremeaux
14 күн бұрын
"It was like sitting in a lawn chair with two cans of beer and a gatling gun (even though this model didn't have one) - stay off of my lawn!" What a description!
@DumbledoreMcCracken
14 күн бұрын
"... how we managed to crack those wing spars." By pulling high acceleration with full load (fuel).
So if Top Gun had been filmed a little later... We could have gotten 'Viper' flying a Viper.
@thewarzone
16 күн бұрын
Yep!
@charlescarmichael1124
6 күн бұрын
Nice
@dksl9899
6 күн бұрын
If Viper could terrify hotshot F-14 jocks in a little Scooter, imagine what he would have done to their egos riding this tricked-out F-16N
@MooseGaming33
6 күн бұрын
@@dksl9899 Mav wouldve been dropped from the course in about 5 minutes
@Someguyiguess-iw9nl
5 күн бұрын
Oh hell yea
I was at Miramar when the N first came to TopGun. I had known that it had been retired but I was not aware it was because of the additional stress cause by the adversary role. I was also not aware that the Navy was again flying F-16s as adversaries. Thank you for teaching this old Chief new tricks.
@thewarzone
18 күн бұрын
Awesome. That place was incredible back in the day. I was lucky enough to spend some time there right before the transition. 101 was literally packing up when I was there. Very different place now. Glad we could fill you in on the N's backstory.
@tolson57
17 күн бұрын
I retired while stationed at Miramar AIMD in January 97. It was turning into a ghost town. Didn't have a retirement ceremony because all my friends were gone.
@Tigershark_3082
14 күн бұрын
I remember seeing in a podcast episode where an adversary pilot from VF-43 was being interviewed (namely about his experiences with the Kfir up at Oceana), and it was stated at one point that these folks would be flying at least once per day, nearly year-round. The biggest reason being that these guys were dedicated full-time adversaries. Modern adversary squadrons (namely after budget cuts to the USN) ended up causing a majority to be sundowned, leaving only NSAWC/NAWDC and part-time Navy/Marine reserve adversary squadrons (they still do a fantastic job)
@AlexSkaltsis-km4vk
10 күн бұрын
I was in Miramar in 1987 when the first f16Ns were delivered,beautiful aircraft!
@fastone942
6 күн бұрын
Indirectly, they save the Air Force a lot of money and aircraft theAir Force study these aircraft what failed in the bulkheads and F-16s built after this, and a bunch of other stuff corrected to prevent it from happening and older jets had modifications done also, they tone down and put restrictions on certain maneuvers
This presentation gets it. The beauty of the N is not that it was simply the most agile and capable dogfighter in the sky, but that it had such a broad performance envelope, it could be flown in a manner that replicated the flight characteristics of any lesser fighter....which is all of them. Absolutely invaluable.
@thewarzone
15 күн бұрын
Glad we are on the same page! Thanks for taking the time to watch it.
@sikertsok225
15 күн бұрын
The whole VIPER platform is an amazing jet. And with 50 years of upgrades, it is still a threat to ANY plane in the sky. Not the best for multi role, as it does have a limited capability to fly with bombs, but these is a reason Russia screamed like a baby for Ukraine getting them.
Nice documentary on the F-16N. I learned about it during my aero engineering studies in college and have ended up flying if for about 17 years now (Block 25, 30, 32, 40, 42, and 50). The F-16N had such a short lifespan and developed longeron/wings spar cracks due to pilots either not knowing about or potentially disregarding technical order limitations on the air frame. The jet will go over 9 g’s during an AOA overshoot, but the real problem is what’s known as an asymmetric over-G. Simply put, you can’t pull 9 G and roll at the same time. This causes a massive amount of torque on the air frame and subjects the wing going upward relative to the air frame to much more than 9G’s. If that happens, maintenance has to pull the motor and inspect practically all the bulkheads for cracks (ask me how I know). Back then, both Air Force and Navy pilots were probably under the impression that the jet wouldn’t allow any sort of over-G, but the FLCS only tries to stop the jet from going over 9. Tech order guidance has a much lower limit for asymmetric G’s. The limits for asymmetric G's are easy to find in the tech order, but the exact amount of roll rate required to consider G as asymmetric is not so easily found and is actually very low. As you mentioned, the Air Force jets didn’t have cracks developed nearly as quickly, which can be attributed to doing more Air-Ground and less chances to violate those asymmetric limits. Also, weight underneath the wing helps relieve stress on the wing, so it’s harder to damage the air frame by accidental over-G. Air Force air-to-air missions are generally flown with more underwing stores and a center-line tank which, although not the intended effect, helps reduce stress on the air frame during maneuvering and more closely simulates combat conditions for dogfighting (i.e. you just jettisoned your bombs, but still retain things like missiles, pylons, jamming pods, etc.). You can see in a lot of F-16N videos (especially gun camera footage) that pilots are rolling and pulling at high G a lot of the time in a close in fight. This is not necessary to win a fight against a Tomcat or Hornet, but I’m guessing no one ever told them that doing such things was very bad for the air frame. Nice that you mentioned about the Block 25s at the end. The unit I fly for donated our oldest Block 25s a year or two ago. Kind of bittersweet, but we got big mouth Block 30s to replace them. This documentary was really well put together and I look forward to more. Easy subscribe.
@thewarzone
15 күн бұрын
Fantastic info here. Thank you! Yeah I was talking to someone involved with support for the N and they touched on the 'unique onset events' or something like that in terms of stress on the airframe. We briefly touched on a simplified version of the over stress that happened briefly at 9+. If you ever want to share some thoughts, hit us up, our little growing audience would love to here from you.
@rmp5s
14 күн бұрын
Very interesting. Never really thought about it but that makes a ton of sense. It's like trying to corner under hard braking. You can do it, but it's not ideal...something's got to give.
As a General Dynamics structural flight test engineer on F-16 from Day 1, I was pleasantly surprised by the accuracy of the F-16N structural problems description. I would like to add a little more to the story. As mentioned, F-16 structure was designed for about 50/50 air to ground and air to ait missions. When GD structural engineers looked at adapting to Navy air combat training, it was clear some mods would be required. Because budget and schedule were limiting factors, the only improvement made was to use titanium instead of aluminum for the wing to fuselage lower attach brackets. As expected, that's where the cracks first began to appear. USAF and Navy use different approaches to handling cracked structure. AF uses Fracture Mechanics to track crack growth and then repairs or replaces parts when the crack grows to a conservative specified length. Navy uses Fatigue technology that says if a crack appears, the structure has failed and may not fly again. Fracture Mechanics, although costly, allows years of safe flying to follow crack appearance. If the F-16Ns had been AF airplanes, they likely could have stayed in service for years.
@billpandos7962
9 күн бұрын
Actually, there is an example of what you're describing; the Hellenic Air Force Block 32 F-16Cs, which are from the same production line the F-16Ns were. They have "survived" and are still in flyable condition today, because they had a 50/50 ACM - A/G role.
'Stealth is king.' "Yes, but I see you and can outmanuver you." I've always loved this 'little' jet.
Just found your channel. This is like a Dark Skies video, except better edited, researched, has pictures and film actually relevant to the plane being talked about, isn't shown a clickbait thumbnail, has smoother voice overs and better music. So yeah...I mean besides being 500% better, just like a Dark Skies video. Lol. Subscribed
@thewarzone
15 күн бұрын
Welcome! I am so glad you liked it. We put a ton into it. Some will be shorter, some will be about this long.
@MrTaojonz
9 күн бұрын
That's how i felt with Dark Skies and clipbait formula. Its titles sound like information is an updated but it seems it read off from a Wiki article. Most Aviation fans would already know these info. example - "A10 Warthog is receiving new upgrades" in the title and instead ths clip talked about the fighter has a gatling gun
I grew up during the 80s in Rancho Penasquitos and Poway, which next to Mira Mesa or Carroll Canyon are the closest areas of San Diego to Miramar and its legendary airfield. We used to be able to drive down the 15 and watch these guys take off towards the east where they'd do most of their dogfighting (nearer to Julian, Ramona, and part of the Cleveland National Forrest. The yearly Airshow each September was quite the treat, as it was one of the few times that the pilots behind the controls would be allowed to "indulge themselves", when they were given free reign to fly whatever sort of maneuvers and patterns they wanted for the time they were demonstrating. It's sad that they're all at Edward's now (and much, MUCH quieter), and it's only when we get to see the occasional FA-18s, Seastallions or Ospreys (especially in conjunction with the training up at Pendleton), KC-130s, and the ubiquitous F-35s taking off or landing on the east side of the base where the I-15 passes by, that we're reminded of the neat and exciting piece of American military history that once used to take place here. As a sad little epilogue, they even closed down and dismantled the Marine's "Flying Leatherneck Museum" that used to be on base there at Miramar. It happened during the pandemic, and it was so sad watching them take apart those planes and crate them up that it made my stepdad weep openly for the first that I've ever seen, and we're talking about a tough as nails Vietnam vet who was the heavy gunner in his squad. Hell of thing to see this base wither away into a husk of its former self, especially when one realizes that it was only 30 years ago that it was the crown jewel in a city whose population growth and infrastructure sprawl was directly tied to the gargantuan Naval presence here.
Very stoked for this channel!
@MichiganGreatOutdoors
18 күн бұрын
for real!!!!
@thewarzone
18 күн бұрын
Thanks so much, we are stoked too!
Hell of a debut video
@thewarzone
16 күн бұрын
Thanks so much, a lot went into this one.
Longtime fan - from the early Foxtrot Alpha days, v excited for this next step. Hyped for everything you're building Tyler & Crew. 🙌
@thewarzone
18 күн бұрын
Thanks so much for sticking with me for so long! We are super stoked about this.
@K1ddkanuck
14 күн бұрын
Same! FA was a Kinja gem. Thanks to TWZ, it's one of the Kinja remnants I didn't need to long for. I became a member of the TWZ community from its inception. It's a shame how we lost Gawker and the rest of Kinja. Jalopnik remains one of the last sites on that blog I still check in with occasionally. The success of TWZ makes up for all of that more than a bit.
The Navy making the best and most diverse air force in the world. Good to see this content come from TWZ and can't wait for the next one.
@thewarzone
18 күн бұрын
Some real gems in NAVAIR history book! We are stoked, more coming every Tuesday.
Now I want to know what Ward Carroll has to say about this!
@thewarzone
16 күн бұрын
Ward is a friend of the site, he does great work
To my eyes, the most beautiful jet fighter ever! US Navy aviators , the best in the world.
@thewarzone
13 күн бұрын
F-16 is definitely a looker
This takes me back to watching WINGS back in the day. Super pumped for more videos!
@thewarzone
17 күн бұрын
Huge praise!
@edburns00
14 күн бұрын
I loved Wings.
Strong content right out the gate! Look forward to the next video.
@thewarzone
18 күн бұрын
Thank you! We have a bunch of different stuff in the works, some history, some new, some shorter, some longer.
I had the Hasegawa 1/72 boxing of this model as a kid!
@thewarzone
17 күн бұрын
Those were the days!
I have to compliment Tyler & the TWZ staff on everything about this from the script, technical data, voice over & integration of flight sim vs real world footage; wonderful job. There are a few channels who needlessly show the wrong plane or have a VO artist who is hard to listen to thankfully that is not the case here keep up the great work.
@thewarzone
15 күн бұрын
Thank you so much! I can assure you that will never happen, at least systemically (haha), with us. We are very particular about B-roll and Josh, our production lead, is ex-USAF.
I lived near Fallon Naval Air Station in the early 2000s, where they had a part of the Top Gun, we would see the camo painted F-16 flying over all the time. At first i thought they were Air Force jets, but they were Navy F-16s
@thewarzone
18 күн бұрын
Yeah the reintroduction of the embargoed Pakistani Vipers was sort of low key.
SO SO SO HYPED FOR THIS CHANNEL!!!
@thewarzone
17 күн бұрын
US TOO!
Great video! I just want to point out, the guy doing the voice over at 7:00 sounds like the same guy who did "The missile knows where it is at all times. It knows this because it knows where it isn't, by subtracting where it is, from where it isn't, or where it isn't, from where it is, whichever is greater, it obtains a difference, or deviation."
Quality content. Keep it up Joshua. Come along way from aviationintel Tyler.
@thewarzone
18 күн бұрын
Thanks man, it really has been quite the journey. Thank you so much for sticking with me!
I cannot begin to tell you how glad I am to finally see a dedicated video that covers the F-16N in great detail! Aside from sone of the testbed and Block 10 Falcons, the F-16N is easily my favorite model!
@thewarzone
14 күн бұрын
We really pride ourselves on the deep-dive things you’re not going to find anywhere else. Stay tuned!
Welcome to the party pal! This is my offering to the KZread algorithm gods. Excellent quality content. I've been reading Tyler's work since the Aviation Intel days. Great to see this next step with an ever growing team. Excited to see what's to come!
Congrats on making of the KZread channel. FTA alum here
@thewarzone
13 күн бұрын
Makes me so happy to see that. Thanks so much for sticking with me for so long.
Well done Josh! I’ve been around since FA, and it’s amazing to watch TWZ empire grow!
@thewarzone
18 күн бұрын
We are super lucky to have him and thank you for sticking with us!
Awesome 1st Video. Learned a ton.... like how there was a version of F-16 I didn't know about beyond the Wikipedia entry
@thewarzone
18 күн бұрын
SO much to mine in the F-16's history! Thanks so much for watching and commenting
Solid presentation
Excellent video. Thank you.
@thewarzone
18 күн бұрын
Thanks for checking it out!
I really hope you guys make more videos like this. This is fantastic and i love over looked stories like this Ive never heard of.
@thewarzone
17 күн бұрын
Oh we have a ton of stuff lined up, every week on Tuesday! Some shorter, some longer like this, all in-depth
The batch of Vipers sold/not sold to Pakistan were then offered to New Zealand, who had aging A-4s at the time - who declined them despite the very favourable pricing.
@thewarzone
15 күн бұрын
Yes great element of the story. I want to do a big thing on the Kiwi fighter saga.
@zyoungson215
Күн бұрын
@@thewarzone Please do. The newly elected government at the time cancelled the deal last minute despite them being almost completely paid for in the early 2000s. I would have loved to have seen F-16s in RNZAF colours, it's a real shame.
Wow man....phenomenal phenomenal video. I felt like I was in the cockpit twisting and turning. To watch my 6,I just subscribed
Been waiting years for this channel, brilliant progress
@thewarzone
18 күн бұрын
Me too! And THANK YOU!
Much more of this please. This was an awesome video. Your longform is fantastic!
@thewarzone
14 күн бұрын
There is certainly much more to come and we hope you enjoy our future videos as much as you did this one!
That was awesome and informative! Learned a few things along the way.
@thewarzone
18 күн бұрын
That's the goal for us too!
Thanks for making this. Good luck with your new channel. I look forward to your next videos.
@thewarzone
15 күн бұрын
Thank you! We are aiming for a release every Tuesday
I've been reading your work for nearly a decade now, and you have excelled in your video debut! Love the production quality and incredible story!
@thewarzone
15 күн бұрын
That means the world to me... That people have stuck with me so long. It makes this all worth it. Thank you so much!
Glad I came across this channel. Great video
@thewarzone
17 күн бұрын
We're glad you came across the channel too! Thanks for the feedback and hope you enjoy next week's offering, and every one past that, just as much.
Excellent video. I’m looking forward to more long form from you
@thewarzone
15 күн бұрын
Some will be a little shorter some will be about this long yeah. Whatever the topic requires is my motto, we don't stick to length limits.
Super informative and entertaining. Well Done!!
@thewarzone
18 күн бұрын
Thank you glad you dug it!
謝謝你的介紹
fantastic production value! i enjoyed seeing the old 'speedvision' clips you were able to source, and the CGI sim from Heatblur is amazing. this is possibly the best series since Wings on Discovery.
@thewarzone
17 күн бұрын
We're all big Discovery Wings enjoyers here at TWZ! Glad we were able to hit that tone for you, because it was part of the plan.
This video is so well made, subbed!
@thewarzone
17 күн бұрын
Thanks for the sub!
Awesome video!!! I love seeing the Vipers fly around Fallon!!!
@thewarzone
15 күн бұрын
There's a special place in all of our hearts for Vipers...at least there should be!
Love that TWZ has jumped into video ! :)
@thewarzone
17 күн бұрын
It was a long time coming, that's for sure. But like we said in the article we posted yesterday, doing it right was more important than just doing it.
What an awesome video! The presentation, information and delivery was very impressive. I’m a big fan of your work! Also the hot rod is undoubtably the coolest of the viper family!
@thewarzone
15 күн бұрын
I am so glad you liked it, we put a LOT of time into this one.
Great first video - so excited for you all bringing your content to KZread!
@thewarzone
17 күн бұрын
We are so stoked!
Looking forward to more!
@thewarzone
18 күн бұрын
No, thank you!
Awesome channel. Looking forward to more!
@thewarzone
15 күн бұрын
Good thing you're looking forward to more, because there is more coming next Tuesday!
Awesome!!! Looking forward to seeing more videos.
@thewarzone
17 күн бұрын
And we look forward to bringing you more videos!
What about the 28? Nobody’s ever been that close to a MiG 28 😂
@thewarzone
13 күн бұрын
You have to be inverted to get that close to a -28....
Top shelf. Well done.
@thewarzone
17 күн бұрын
Thank you!
Absolutly awesome Video. More pleaseee
@thewarzone
18 күн бұрын
More is coming, every Tuesday a new show will be posted!
Great start to the channel! I had no idea that Top Gun had a new version of the F-16, and like everyone else here, I'm a huge aviation buff! Looking forward to seeing more!
@thewarzone
17 күн бұрын
That's high praise and the goal of our little channel here.
Fantastic video guys!
@thewarzone
16 күн бұрын
Thank you!
i live in Fallon and know several people that work on the f-16s, it a love hate relationship with maintainers but damn is it cool to see them fly with navy written on them
@thewarzone
15 күн бұрын
And Marines!
I'm so glad to see my favorite military news site has a KZread Channel! Keep it coming!!!!
@thewarzone
16 күн бұрын
Glad your here!
Great premier with history & present information. Very good video & graphics, a home run start🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
@thewarzone
18 күн бұрын
Thanks it was a labor of love!
Amazing production for a youtube vid, liked, subscribed.
@thewarzone
15 күн бұрын
Glad you enjoyed the video! We're always looking to the most high-quality content we can, whether it would air on KZread or anywhere else!
i love reading your articles and now you even have a channel! subscribed without need to check it! never knew that navy have more f16 after the f16n decade
Awesome fresh content! Love it TWZ 🎉
@thewarzone
12 күн бұрын
Thanks so much for the kind feedback! look forward to seeing how you like the next one, and all the ones to come!
Outstanding presentation! Well done. Carry on ... ^v^
Excellent video thanks. Love TWZ ! 👍🇺🇸
@thewarzone
14 күн бұрын
And we love our followers...if it wasn't for you all, we'd just be sitting around talking to ourselves!
@gusm2752
14 күн бұрын
@@thewarzone 😂👍🇺🇸
Awesome video very informative
@thewarzone
16 күн бұрын
Thanks! We wanted people to feel exactly that.
This was excellent!
@thewarzone
16 күн бұрын
Thank you glad you liked it!
Awesome!
This is your first full length video? Woah. What an incredible dive coupled with some fantastic footage! This earns a sub, for sure. Also, man... They played with some beautiful liveries; that white and green Marine two-tone, wow!
@thewarzone
15 күн бұрын
Thanks so much for the kind comments and the sub, which is everything for a absolutely tiny channel like ours to get going. Staring up a huge mountain here.
@FuzedBox
15 күн бұрын
@@thewarzone Hope so! You're off to a strong start, and judging from your reply to another comment: You've got access to good footage. You're off to a STRONG start.
Solid information. If you keep offering up videos like this, dense with info..you're gonna get big. Good job bro. Subbed
@thewarzone
17 күн бұрын
Well, that is the aim, isn't it? You guys keep watching them and we'll keep making them, and we'll see where this all goes. But, we have big dreams here for the channel!
Ive been to Fallon for TOPGUN (unfortunately as the people behind the scenes, a maintainer) and seeing the 16s rip over is kinda insane. Couple times they would get probably no more than 250ft above the runway, if not lower, easily going 300-400 and then pull as staright a vertical climb as possible. Kinda like watching a motorcycle just fly past on thw highway.
TWZ goes KZread! Looking forward to your content here ❤
@thewarzone
14 күн бұрын
Thanks so much for the comment! We really hope to bring a lot of great content to everyone. We think you'll like what we have in store!
Just liked saved and subscribed. Most bad ass aviation video I’ve seen in awhile!
@thewarzone
5 күн бұрын
Hope you think the same about the next video, and the next, and the next... :)
Nice Job!
@thewarzone
18 күн бұрын
Thank you!
Well done. I remember well the F5s flying out of Fallon, and often flying in to the Reno Air Races. While the races are sadly no more, I hope that future airshows might also have visitors form Fallon Aggressor squadrons.
@thewarzone
5 күн бұрын
It's a real shame the Air Races are gone. They were always a fun time and great to see all the Unlimited warbirds really spread their wings.
One video, and already an outstanding channel.
@thewarzone
17 күн бұрын
Thanks! We've got some Shorts content up too for more breaking and quick-hitter type things, so be sure to check those out as well!
Woohoo! 1st video is live! Can't wait to see what else they have for us!
@thewarzone
18 күн бұрын
Lots of stuff in store. More about the channel here: www.twz.com/air/live-fast-die-young-the-story-of-the-navys-f-16n
Dude! Awesome to see the TWZ breaking onto youtube!
@thewarzone
15 күн бұрын
A long time coming!
@m.d.bishop4435
14 күн бұрын
@@thewarzone Isn't it amazing we have DCS to illustrate actual realistic aerial combat?
Good to have this channel. God speed
@thewarzone
18 күн бұрын
Thank you!
I was a crew chief on the predecessor to F-16 in USAF adversarial training. I was a crew chief on F-5E's and they kicked Eagle and Phantom ass every day of the week.
@thewarzone
15 күн бұрын
In the right hands, the F-5 is still a nasty little adversary/aggressor especially with the new F-5AT upgrades
Thanks
Just outstanding!
@thewarzone
15 күн бұрын
Thank you!
Getting my place as your 8700ish subscriber. Very interesting video. I can’t wait for more!
@thewarzone
16 күн бұрын
NICE!
Goodness. You guys hit the sweet spot. From where I sit, there are two kinds of aviation mini-docs available on KZread. 1. High visual and audio production values, editing, music, graphics, pacing all good, but with basement-level bread-and-butter commentary, or, still worse, stupid zippedy-doo-dah errors, Or... 2. Excellent (but sometimes too long-winded) commentary with terrible production values. 3. AI-generated gobbledygook. All things considered, I generally prefer option 2. I clicked on this video, saw the graphics and heard the music and prepared to click away, thinking: yeah, this is going to be garbage. It isn't. Really great content. I'll be checking out more of your videos.
Pakistan: "I want my F-16's back!" Top Gun: "Yeah, I think we 'Lost' them... have you put a Lost Fighter Jets ad in Craigslist yet?"
Cool plane and cool music ❤
Great video. Love the 80s soundtrack.
@thewarzone
16 күн бұрын
Thanks so much, 100% the vibe we were going for.
Congrats on growing the brand. YT is a natural extension, as many of your readers probably consume media on here. Maybe do some collabs with SubBrief and CarrolWard… I’m curious to see what the algorithm starts suggesting based on other TWZ YT viewers.
@thewarzone
16 күн бұрын
Thank you! Yeah that would be cool. Love both of them.
For your first video, you did a great job 👍
@thewarzone
17 күн бұрын
Thanks for the feedback. This is just the first step of the journey, but we think it's a great first step!
That was really cool! Never heard of the F-16N at Top Gun before...thought they always just used the Skyhawks & Tigers.
@thewarzone
14 күн бұрын
It's a pretty obscure thing, but we want to make sure everyone walks away from our articles and videos feeling like they learned something!
@Limeysack
10 күн бұрын
@@thewarzone Yep, I click on pretty much any airplane or WWII related video that pops up on my feed. Doesn't matter if it is just rehashing videos and stories I've heard multiple times already, but it is truly a special treat to learn something new:) I had to wonder why weren't the F16Ns featured on the original 1980's TOP GUN? Maybe the time frame was off, I can't remember the dates now. Anyways, happy new subscriber and look forward to more videos:)
Love to see that USMC liveried Viper live on at least in videos.
@thewarzone
18 күн бұрын
It was the best looking N by far.
We need this in DCS!!!
I soooo pumped you guys are gonna do KZread!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
@thewarzone
18 күн бұрын
US TOO!
Good first video.
One of the hottest fighters ever made. With the weight stripped out, this might be the greatest two circle fighter ever made
@thewarzone
15 күн бұрын
haha that is exactly what a Hornet guy said.
The Airwolf-ish music is awesome! I'll bet Tyler had something to do with that ;)
@thewarzone
15 күн бұрын
I demanded that haha. Powerglove is amazing.
Great video, with awesome sourcing. I will note that DCS World is owned by Eagle Dynamics. Eagle Dynamics made the F-16 module. Heatblur is seperate from Eagle Dynamics as an independent aircraft module maker, they produced the F-14, F-4, and Viggen for DCS World.
@thewarzone
15 күн бұрын
Glad you liked the video! Heatblur provided us with the footage and flew the airplanes in the video we ran in the story. That's why we credited them, because the "footage" came from them.
Awesome content! MoAR!!!!
@thewarzone
16 күн бұрын
Every Tuesday!
I’m curious. You guys fly with pilot survival kits in the adversarial role out over the desert? Seems like there could be a potential dehydration event if you had to bail several hours from EMS help
I ❤TWZ
@thewarzone
18 күн бұрын
We love that you love TWZ!
Awesome vid, this channel is going to.. take off
@thewarzone
15 күн бұрын
We're hoping the channel doesn't take after the first plane we did a video on and become a Lawn Dart.