Tag Archives: general dynamics

The F-16XL That Most People Ignored

There was a grey camo F-16 on the ramp at the air show at Edwards this year.  When I saw it I was really excited but I think I was in the minority.  I mentioned to a photographer next to me how cool it was and he commented on the air data boom.  I told him it was an F-16XL and he had no idea what that was.  The XL was the long range strike version of the F-16 that went up against and lost to the F-15E Strike Eagle.  Two jets were built and they ended up having some test duties including so work for NASA.  The single seater was the jet on the ramp for the show.

It has a large cranked delta wing but, from a normal viewpoint, that can be seen but isn’t obvious.  A look at the shadows, though, and you know what you are dealing with.  The airframe is an early fiscal number – the next jet became the AFTI aircraft – and the rear fuselage has the mounting points for an anti-spin chute rig.  This jet has done a lot in its flying days but it is now a museum piece.

Drop Tank By the Road

Sometimes you find the oddest things by the road.  Just outside NAS Whidbey Island, there is a drop tank sitting by the road.  I have no idea what it is doing there.  It seems to be on someone’s yard.  The shape was not something that looked like a Navy tank (which you might expect). I thought it looked like something from an F-111.  Fortunately, It had a data plate which showed a serial that seems to suggest a Fort Worth General Dynamics product so I guess F-111 is probably it.  Anyone know the story?

One of the Early F-16s

The early versions of jets are often repurposed throughout their life.  They serve a role for testing but they are not configured like production jets and to make them so is too expensive to be worthwhile.  Besides, they are instrumented to some extent so they can be useful for carrying out alternate tests.  As a result, they often get used for trials, research tasks or development of alternate concepts.  The early F-16s did a lot of this sort of work and ended up in some odd programs like the AFTI effort.  Sitting outside at the Frontiers of Flight museum is one of these test aircraft.  It spent its life with General Dynamics (now Lockheed Martin) at Fort Worth and, once it was done with, it found a new home at the museum.  Compared to the average F-16, this jet will have had a lot of interesting experiences!