Watch America's Fighter Jets Morph Over the Decades From the F-1 Fury to the F-35 Lightning II.

The United States military has been flying jets since 1946. Autoauctionmall.com has put together a morphing GIF that celebrates many of the major fighter designs, starting with the F-1 Fury and continuing to today's F-22 Raptor and F-35 Lightning II.

GIF


Here's the full list of the aircraft depicted:

F-1 Fury

F-2 Banshee

F-3 Demon

F-4 Phantom

F-5 Freedom Fighter

F-6 Skyray

F-7 Sea Dart

F-8 Crusader

F-9 Cougar

F-10 Skyknight

F-11 Tiger

F-14 Tomcat

F-15E Strike Eagle

F-16 Fighting Falcon

F-17 Cobra

F-18 Hornet

F-20 Tigershark

F-22 Raptor

F-23 Black Widow

F-35 Lightning II

Design trends over the decades are easy to pick out. The first aircraft, the F-1 Fury, dates to 1946 and looks like a propeller-driven plane. In the 1950s, aircraft such the F-4 Phantom and F-7 Sea Dart were optimized for speed. The 1970s-era F-14 Tomcat and F-15 Eagle mixed speed with maneuverability, while the F-16, F-17, and F-18 trended towards maneuverability over speed. In the 1990s, the F-22, F-23, and F-35 were the first aircraft to adopt stealthy body shaping characteristics, resulting in sleeker, sharper aircraft designs.




- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad