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The gap between a refined trainer... with add-on lead-in-fighter/attack light-weight weapons pylons... VS a dedicated/survivable/capable combat aircraft is huge. This seems like a 'no-big-deal'... but it REALLY is gigantic.
I worked T-37 and A-37 years ago [OK: 1983-to-1988]. At first I was not a fan of either jet [not pretty, somewhat oddly buttugly]. BUT after awhile, I developed a grudging respect and then admiration for the old-generation [WWII era] Cessna designers. They smartly designed the compact T-37A... found ways to extend/evolve the T-37A to the demonstrator YAT-37D just prior to the VN war. AND then, ultimately created a deadly combat jet into the A-37A that evolved further... after REAL VN combat... to the more capable/survivable A-37B. The final A-37B design incorporated with subtle, but major, design elements... which almost doubled the gross weight and quadrupled the available thrust... within the 'same airframe envelope' [OH Yeah... they increased the wing area too]... for starters. It became a lean-mean-killing machine... which was also really hard to shoot-down [~12 USAF lost in attack... others lost primarily to accidents, in-coming mortars/rockets or sappers].
In the mid 1980s, I actually studied a variant of the A-37B... Cessna-proposed A-37D variant, late in the VN war, as a highly refined light attack combat jet... which the USAF rejected. After awhile I arrogantly decided to refine the 37D design further... only to find-out how mind-bending-complex a true combat jet can become... it is a unique-system-of-system that has wholly special elements which must be brought together in harmony unlike anything mere mortals individually can conceive of. The exercise over 2.5 years was humbling and informative... leading to my deeper understanding of MIL-Acft... and to my experiences-to-come with a huge number of other MIL aircraft types thru the years [in ROK/USAF depot and the field]... up-to-today. IF curious, click on my name to see... in-brief... most of what I've worked-on. But I digress...
Anyone else have similar experiences... with going-from simple aircraft 'A' to vastly-more-complex aircraft 'B' of the 'same design'???
Regards, Wil Taylor
o Trust - But Verify!
o For those who believe, no proof is required; for those who cannot believe, no proof is possible. [variation, Stuart Chase]
o Unfortunately, in science what You 'believe' is irrelevant. ["Orion", HBA forum]
o Only fools and charlatans know everything and understand everything." -Anton Chekhov
