5 Jets the US built to be Fighters but ended up using as Bombers

five jets the us built to be fighters but ended up using as bombers some planes have long had a reputation for being deadly in air-to-air combat that's an arena built for the fast and evasive and planes get faster and more evasive all the time but what do we do about the older fighters retirement or being passed on second hand to other countries happens to some models and some of these designs are so good they last for decades the p51 served in a military role until 1985. other planes however undergo a little roll change and start dropping bombs instead in fact when you look at the most prominent fighters from world war ii the p51 the f6f hellcat the f4u corsair the p-47 thunderbolt and the p-38 lightning they were all multi-role fighters the jet age was no different many planes designed for air-to-air became very good at dropping bombs on the enemy on the ground here are some of the most prominent one north american f-86 saber the north american f-86 sabre sometimes called the saber jet is a transonic jet fighter aircraft produced by north american aviation the saber is best known as the united states first swept wing fighter that could counter the swept wing soviet mig-15 in high-speed dogfights in the skies of the korean war 1950-1953 fighting some of the earliest jet to jet battles in history the f-86 sabre dominated the skies during the korean war but as the war went on this plane also had a significant impact as a fighter bomber this plane did so well dropping ordinance that the air force eventually bought the f-86h a dedicated fighter bomber version of the f-86 which served until 1972 2 north american f-100 super saber the north american f-100 super saber is an american supersonic jet fighter aircraft that served with the united states air force from 1954 to 1971 and with the air national guard until 1979 the first of the century series of u.s air force jet fighters it was the first air force fighter capable of supersonic speed and level flight the f-100 was designed by north american aviation as a higher performance follow-on to the f-86 saber air superiority fighter like the f-86 the f-100 was initially intended for air-to-air combat but the f-100a had its teething problems and it never saw much combat as a fighter the f-100d version however became a very reliable fighter bomber in fact a later model the f-100f operational trainer model was among the first of the wild weasels vietnam arab bombers that were responsible for taking out enemy air defenses the f-100 fighter bombers stuck around until 1979. 3. mcdonnell douglas f4 phantom [Music] the mcdonnell douglas f4 phantom 2 is a tandem two-seat twin-engine all-weather long-range supersonic jet interceptor and fighter bomber originally developed for the united states navy by mcdonnell aircraft it first entered service in 1961 with the navy proving highly adaptable it was also adopted by the united states marine corps and the united states air force and by the mid-1960s had become a major part of their air arms the navy's version of the phantom the f4b was an all-weather interceptor the air force was the first branch to use this airframe as a tactical fighter and the others quickly followed suit as f-14s and f-15s emerged into service the f-4s took on more ground attack missions today they're still in service with turkey and other countries and are primarily used for bombing 4. grumman f-14 tomcat the grumman f-14 tomcat is an american supersonic twin-engine two-seat twin-tail variable sweep wing fighter aircraft the tomcat was developed for the united states navy's naval fighter experimental program after the collapse of the f-111b project lessons learned from vietnam and the development of new soviet bombers spurred the development of the f-14 as a pure fighter it had quite the long reach too with the end of the cold war though the tomcat quickly ran thin on targets in the air and was quickly retooled to attack ground targets sadly it also saw its production end shortly after the fall of the soviet union and was retired in 2004 it leaves us to wonder just what could have been for carrier air wings 5. mcdonnell douglas f-15 eagle the mcdonnell douglas f-15 eagle is an american twin-engine all-weather tactical fighter aircraft designed by mcdonnell douglas now part of boeing following reviews of proposals the united states air force selected mcdonnell douglas's designed in 1967 to meet the service's need for a dedicated air superiority fighter while the navy replaced its f-4s with the f-14 the air force chose to replace them in the air-to-air role with the f-15 the f-15 dominated as an air superiority fighter it still hasn't lost a for real dogfight then the air force sought to replace the f4 for the ground attack missions and the f-15 was selected today the f-15e is still going strong bringing the fight to ground forces the fact is an air superiority fighter need not despair when newer jets come along it can earn a second lease on life by dropping bombs on the bad guys it might not be as thrilling as a dogfight but it's plenty effective [Music] all right [Applause] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: US Military News

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Keywords: fighter jet, best jet fighters, bomber aircraft, bomber airplane, bomber footage, 5 Jets

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Length: 8min 7sec (487 seconds)

Published: Mon Jan 11 2021