Re: Boeing X-32... Where is It Now???

On 10 Jun, 22:09, Rob Arndt <teuton...@xxxxxxx> wrote:
On Jun 10, 1:02?pm, Bill Shatzer <bshatze...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

Rob Arndt wrote:
http://avia.russian.ee/pictures/usa/boeing_x-32.jpg

Where was this shot taken?

Naval Air Museum, Patuxent.

Cheers,

Thanks Ralph and Bill. I really liked that a/c despite its gaping
inlet that drew derogatory nicknames like "Deepthroat" and its
beautiful white finish. At one time there were rumors that had the
X-32 won it would have been called the "Vindicator", a much better
name that that crappy "Lightning II" unoriginal bullshit name for the
F-35 IMO. It is amazing that for years the polls showed that the
number one name choice on both sides of the Atlantic was for the
"Griffin/Gryphon" and they chose "Lightning II" anyway. Another
favorable runner-up was "Harbinger" with "Bumble Bee" being the only
wise name candidate eliminated.

If I had my way I would name the F/A-22 the Sinkhole or Moneypit, the
V-22 the Easy Prey, and the F-35 the Stop-gap.

Rob :)
Lightning II indeed is rather lame. I would have gone for Kestrel,
myself. I too liked the Boeing entry into the competition. It
certainly looked more interesting than the Lockheed design. The latter
looks like an F-22 mated with an F-16. Boring.

Anyway, looks aren't what matters and are subject to taste. The
problem that I saw, as an outsider is that they simply didn't seem to
have their act together. While the current F-35 production design is
different from the X-35 in may respects, Boeing's production proposal
was very different from the X-32. They changed the aerodynamic
configuration from a tailless delta to something with a horizontal
tail too late in the project.

Cheers,
Ralph

.

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