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Nuclear consent switch on an F-16 Fighting Falcon (lemmy.world)
submitted 5 months ago by to c/historyphotos@piefed.social
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[–] 17 points 5 months ago (11 children)

Since when do they put nuclear warheads on F-16?

Or is it just the button to say "You are allowed to nuke my position if it is necessary for the mission"

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  • [–] [S] 47 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (9 children)

    F-16s were certified to carry B-61 nuclear bombs in October 1980, the same time they were certified as combat operational with the USAF.

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  • [–] 23 points 5 months ago (8 children)

    In GI-JOE, they had lasers and everyone had a parachute.

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  • [–] 16 points 5 months ago* (7 children)

    I had a very smug "ACKSHULLY" all lined up about how the Joes only flew F-14 and X-29 derivatives, but nope. Late in the run, they got an adorable little mini F-16.

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  • [–] 7 points 5 months ago (6 children)

    Oh that one they had in the 80s with the wings that would fold back, that was an F14? I always thought it was an F16, but I don’t know shit about planes other than some flight sims I played decades ago.

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  • [–] 8 points 5 months ago (3 children)

    Folding wings is practically the trademark of the F-14 Tomcat. I understand why we stopped making planes that do that, but I thought the folding wings was the coolest shit as a kid.

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  • [–] 4 points 5 months ago*

    Right up there with suicide doors and the bench-seat as trunk-space "upgrade". 🤣

    As a kid, I was super interested in entering/exiting vehicles being dramatically faster, and spent years watching every trip go by via rearview w/ the fam noise in the back of my mind. ☝🏼

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  • [–] 3 points 5 months ago (1 child)

    Also (correct me where I’m wrong) I thought the F16 seated two, a pilot and a weapons officer, while the f14 only had the pilot? And I thought the GI Joe toy sat two. Of course the folding wing would be the much more obvious identifier, given it’s a toy and a replica where they probably took a lot of license, and this isn’t that tank wars forum where everyone is posting military secret schematics for akshually points.

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  • [–] 5 points 5 months ago (1 child)

    LOL, I had my "JETS ARE COOL!" phase when the F-1n fighters were the only active ones, so yeah. The swing-wing one from Top Gun is an F-14. F-16's (provided by the Israeli Air Force, so... yay?) were featured in the, ahem, somewhat less well regarded Louis Gossett Jr. vehicle Iron Eagle.

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