Viper Mk III (mild B&C spoilers)

[bryce]

cbspock wrote:

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How do we know it is a MK3 Viper? Was it mentioned on screen? How do we know its not a MK2 variant.

Yeah, in the last episode of B&C the lady commander refered to them as the "new mark 3's"

Oh, and I checked, and the tail number on the Mk. II Viper that Adama crashed in the Razor minisodes did not have the same tail number as the Mk. II Viper he said in the pilot that he flew during the war, which was 7242NC:
http://en.battlestarwiki.org/wiki/Viper_7242

The question I had was that Adama said in the pilot that the restored for him, 7242NC was the Viper he "flew during the war"...but the Viper he crashed in the Razer flashbacks was a different one - and (if it had been 7242NC - which it wasn't anwyay) he bailed out of that Viper at a pretty high altitude...likely it was flattened beyond repair on impact. And those flashbacks took place at the very, very end of the war - in fact, shortly after Adama crashed that Viper, the Cylon's surrendered - so there was no more time in the war left for him to be reassigned another Viper and fly it during the war.

But I dunno...maybe he flew 7242NC during the war for a long time...but for some reason he was in a different Viper in the Razor flashbacks...maybe 7242NC was damaged and during that battle he flew a different Viper.

What's weird about B&C is that so far we've *only* seen MK. III's...and I'll bet if Adam is given a Viper in (or at the end of) B&C it will be a Mk. III...(in fact there's a scence in the trailer for B&C that looks like that's exactly what happens...)

It's just not very consistent. But then again, liek I said, there have been some inconsistancies before about what Viper Adama flew during the war, so...

(But at least the makers of B&C remembered that Adama said that he flew a Raptor too during the war...)

[Candlelight]

As someone mentioned, they will likely have mk 2s and 3s on Galactica, so will probably be given 'that' viper at the end of B & C.

[DanCPA]

well, I doubt he will be assigned another raptor!

[Candlelight]

TighsEye wrote:

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well, I doubt he will be assigned another raptor!

You never know, if Razor truly was his first proper combat mission then he's probably gonna get his viper but not be able to use it for two more years!

[USS KG5]

BenRoethig wrote:

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Bunch of possible reasons: attrition, airframe fatigue, not enough IIIs to go to all squadrons. Real world, we had two squadrons of A-7s still flying in the Gulf even though the Hornet had entered service 8 years early. More recently, Navy/Marine F/A-18 squadrons have switched from C models to A+ because the Alpha+ had more airframe life than the charlie stockpile. Plus, newer pilots tend to get older gear.

Good examples.

Something slightly older - look at Spitfires. By 1944 squadrons were re-equipping with the Griffon engined Mk XIV, but until the end of the war the older Mk IX was still considered a very good fighter. In fact many Mk Vs continued in secondary roles on the front line.

Or for the Americans, the P-51, where P-51B and P-51D variants, despite fairly significant differences, stayed in service until VE-Day, and the later K model as well.

So, especially considering the nature of the war, Mk II and Mk III Vipers probably served alongside each other, Galactica is very new in B&C so probably left dock with a wing of new fighters on board. The majority of the fleet would continue to use Mk IIs, or even Mk Is.

[Retu]

USS KG5 wrote:

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Good examples.

Something slightly older - look at Spitfires. By 1944 squadrons were re-equipping with the Griffon engined Mk XIV, but until the end of the war the older Mk IX was still considered a very good fighter. In fact many Mk Vs continued in secondary roles on the front line.

Or for the Americans, the P-51, where P-51B and P-51D variants, despite fairly significant differences, stayed in service until VE-Day, and the later K model as well.

So, especially considering the nature of the war, Mk II and Mk III Vipers probably served alongside each other, Galactica is very new in B&C so probably left dock with a wing of new fighters on board. The majority of the fleet would continue to use Mk IIs, or even Mk Is.

Yep, switching to a new fighter type isn't instantaneous. In the late 90s, Finnish Air Force had three different fighters in service. Swedish J 35 Draken, Russian Mig-21 bis and the new F-18-C Hornet. Drakens and Migs were phased out during the next three or four years.