The history of American fighter aviation has more than a hundred years. Today, us air force fighters are head and shoulders above their competitors in terms of technology, but at the dawn of their existence, American aviation purchased aircraft from the allies.
Portal businessinsider.com collected images of the most iconic U.S. air force fighter jets flown by American pilots over the past century.
During world war I, the United States purchased fighter aircraft. The most famous was the SPAD XIII, a French biplane armed with two Vickers machine guns. It could carry four 25-pound bombs and had a top speed of about 200 km / h
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The P-38 Lightning, introduced in 1941, was then one of the fastest in the world, reaching speeds of over 600 km/h. In addition, it was widely used for exploration
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The P-51 Mustang is the most famous American fighter aircraft of world war II. Introduced in 1942, it carried six M2 Browning machine guns, as well as various bombs and missiles. It is believed that P-51s shot down 4,950 enemy aircraft
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The F-86 Sabre was not the first jet fighter of the air force, but none of its predecessors could cope with the Soviet-made MiG-15 when the Korean war began in 1950. Armed with six .50-caliber machine guns and 16 missiles, the Sabre had a top speed of 1,000 km / h
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In 1960, the US Navy adopted the new f-4 Phantom II jet. Unlike its predecessors, the Phantom was developed as a fighter-bomber, which allowed the use of a single model for several tasks. He accounted for 78% of all MiGs shot down during the Vietnam war. At the same time, only 33 of the 445 "Phantoms" lost by the air force during the war were shot down in air battles
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The F-15 Eagle was adopted in 1976. Initially, the F-15 was designed to carry eight air-to-air missiles, but later models could carry up to two dozen missiles or about 10 tons of missile and bomb weapons
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The F-16 Fighting Falcon, designed as a light fighter and adopted in 1978, has a 20 mm gun and can carry eight missiles and up to 3.6 tons of bombs. the F-16 is the basis of the modern us air force fighter fleet and one of the most popular fighters in the world
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The F-22 Raptor is the world's first stealth fighter. It was adopted in 2005 and is unique in its low visibility for enemy radars
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The F-35 Lightning II has been in service since 2016. Under the f-35 index, three fighters with the indexes A,B, and C are hidden. The first is a classic fighter, the second is able to land vertically and has a very short take-off run, which allows it to be used on helicopter carriers. F-35C-modification for aircraft carriers. The F-35 Lightning II is the most expensive weapons program in US history, with more than $400 billion already spent on it
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