The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 is a fly-by-wire twin-engine supersonic jet, capable of carrier landing and was designed to be both a Fighter and Attack aircraft.
The trapezoidal wing is swept back by 20 degrees with a straight trailing edge with ailerons across the entire span.
The rear stabilisers are canted outwards, with over-sized tail planes and trailing edge flaps, used as flaperons, and leading edge slats all giving the F/A-18 an excellent high angle of attack.
The engine connects to the airframe at only 10 points and can be replaced by a four-man team within 20 minutes without any special equipment. The air intakes are of a fixed design unlike the F-4, F-14 and F-15 which have variable intake ramp inlets.
The F/A-18 was designed with multifunction displays which can be selected in attack, fighter or both modes.
The Hornet was designed as a low maintenance aircraft and required far less downtime than its counterparts, such as the F-14 Tomcat.
PRODUCTION
The McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 was produced from 1980, with 1,480 manufactured.
ENGINES
2 x General Electric F404-GE-402s, producing 35,550 lb st.
Press play to hear the F-18
ARMAMENT
1 x M61A1 Vulcan 20mm cannon
17,000 lb (7,711 kg) Bombs/Rockets/Missiles load.
The F/A-18 Hornet first entered active duty in January 1983 and in 1986, F/A-18s flew their first combat mission from USS Corel Sea.
In 1991 during the Gulf War, Hornets were on an air-to-ground mission when they switched to fighter mode destroying two MiG-21s in aerial combat and then switched back to ground attack mode and completed their ground attack mission.
The Hornet served over Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s and provided air support striking targets in Afghanistan after 9/11.
In August 2000, the last F/A-18C was delivered to the Finnish Air Force and the last F/A-18D was delivered to the USMC the same month.
The Blue Angels Navy Demonstration Squadron operates six F/A-18 Hornet aircraft.
