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In Reply to: RE: PT Barnum Is Smiling posted by Gary on February 11, 2016 at 15:00:49
I was once in the USAF and back in my cadet days I wrote a research paper on the F-15 development history, for which I learned a lot about Sprey's tenure at USAF HQ. I have come to believe he was the same person back then, i.e. self-aggrandizing, not grounded in science. And never was actually an aircraft designer although he aspired to be.
The energy-maneuverability theory that he advocated isn't grounded in science either. It's not really a theory at all and has nothing to do with maneuverability. It was a heuristic formula of thrust, drag, speed, and weight created by Boyd to rank aircraft and show the US at a air combat disadvantage in the 1960s. Boyd and Sprey were two of three like minded self-aggrandizing outsiders at USAF HQ who liked to call themselves the "fighter mafia", and who used the formula to try to undermine the F-14 and F-15 programs in the late 1960s.
Sprey favored a fighter concept called the "red bird" which would have been a cheap, short range, clear-day only fighter with no radar, no countermeasures, minimal avionics and limited speed and limited turning capability. He believed it was necessary to match the Soviet Union in number of fighters, but not try to match the flight envelope and intercept capabilities of the newer Soviet fighters. From what I read, he and the other "fighter mafia" briefly had the ear of the incoming Nixon administration appointees, but never really had any credibility with the engineering community and their proposal wasn't seriously considered.
As far as I can tell, he wasn't involved in the design of the F-16, he only helped draft some early requirements. Otherwise he was out of the picture for the most part. And his input wasn't very consequential since many of the key aspects of the F-16 are the opposite of what he advocated for, e.g. multi-role capability including air-to-ground, sophisticated radar and avionics, external stores, 9G sustained turning. Aside from the light weight (relative to an F-15 anyway) and high production numbers/low unit production cost, the F-16 doesn't resemble Sprey's concept.
He also wrote requirements for the A-10, which did end up close to his original concept, so we can give him credit for that although he still wasn't an aircraft designer.
Over the years he has been telling tall tales and trying to puff up his credentials, even saying he was the chief designer of the F-16 at one point. But he has no credibility among any of the people I worked with who are actually knowledgeable about aircraft design. I think he's half curmudgeon and half con artist and it drives me crazy when people reference his rants believing he designed the F-16 so he must know what he's talking about. I'm a critic of the F-35 program and every time I get into a discussion about it seems like I end up having to correct the record about Sprey.
Needless to say, I am never going to buy anything from Mapleshade.
Follow Ups:
I have an amateur's interest in military aircraft, especially from the Vietnam era forward. I'd always thought Pierre Sprey to be counted among some of the best designers, but I can see I have more reading to do. I guess he's no Kelly Johnson, huh? Thanks Dave.
Wish I could have met Kelly Johnson but he was before my time. LM Skunk Works was involved in a couple programs I worked on and according to the old timers there Kelly Johnson was a god. Not just as an intuitive designer but a crack project manager and good salesman. His successor Ben Rich was reportedly a better engineer and a good manager too, but he had bit of a used car salesman personality.
15 or so years ago, I tried some Mapleshade speaker cables and interconnects. They easily bested anything else I had ever tried before, helping to make me a believer in good cables and connectors.Although they were overly fragile, Mapleshade's old style (air-dielectric w/ huge brass connectors) interconnects are still my all-time favorite ICs. And Sprey's entry-level speaker wires have always sounded good to me.
Edits: 02/12/16
I can't comment on the efficacy of the products, as I've never tried them. At least they're not crazy expensive, although they aren't the bargain they once were either.
is used descrbing his accomplishments?
When I read of them, I thought of "The worlds most interesting man" from the Dos Equis commercials.
In fact, that that would be a great thread- When Pierre.....
Wish I could finish your sentence, but my funny bone seems broken today.
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