Yeah, as I mentioned earlier, the COBRA "Rattler" was a modified A-10 (they added a dorsal turret). Cobra also used a fighter based off of the French "Mirage", but they never gave it a designation. For high altitude recon they used a knock off of the SR-71 "Blackbird" they called the "Night Raven" that featured a piggyback "fighter pod" that could detatch and serve as an escort. Other "famous" COBRA aircraft were the "Trouble Bubble" flight pod and the FANG one-man mini-copter. GI JOE operated an F-14 variant they called the "Skystriker", a variant of the "Cobra" attack helicopter whose designation I can never recall, a stealth fighter based on one of the conjectural designs of the F-117, and the "Skyhawk" flight pod. Latter on, they replaced the "Skystriker" with the "Conquest" X-30, a forward-swept wing fighter that was similar to a couple of design studies done for the Navy/Marine Corps.
Sounds odd, but I guess no odder than "I went into <insert science field> cause of Star trek", but I know people that joined the military because of GI Joe. They toon and the comic just made it look like something cool to do, so they did it. Granted they got a disappointment after the fact
I'll be damned, you're right about it being a NOTAR. I was about to correct you, but I just looked at the original toy online, and you're right Huh, I never noticed that before.
Really? That was the first thing I noticed. "Hey, isn't that thing supposed to have a little propeller on the tail?" Funny thing is, the only NOTAR helicopters i'm familiar with in real life are the Bell 500Ds. I'm not sure if the concept is older or if the Dragonfly came first.
A similar jet, the Liquidator, appeared years later in the toyline. http://www.yojoe.com/vehicles/92/liquidator/
VAMP (and Cobra Stinger) were based on the Lamborgini Cheetah, an actual vehicle. http://www.lambocars.com/archive/lm/cheetah.htm Not as far fetched as one might suspect. maybe in the ordnance it carries and any ability to go toe to toe with real fighter jets, but in terms of being a pocket rocket... http://www.jamesbondmm.co.uk/vehicles/acrostar-mini-jet
Highly modified version yes. Dorsal turret, wing mounted engines, tilt wings for VTOL ability and a third tail engine. Alot of GI Joe stuff is loosely based on DOD conceptual artwork, I wonder if this was an early draft version of the A-10 that didn't make it past the drawing stage....
Never even thought about it, to be honest. Then a again I was more interested in the rattlers and more fanciful vehicles than the stuff that looked real world based.
LOL! True! But to do it right you need two people, and I was sure someone would chime in with the second half! BTW: the GI Joe stealth fighter I mentioned was the X-19 "Phantom"...nice design but about 50 years ahead of even where we are NOW and this was '88...