by Patrick Boniface

Created on: January 18, 2011   Last Updated: January 19, 2011

Today the name Hornet and the designation of F/A18 are famous the world over and are recognised as a world leader in aviation design. The Boeing Hornet is a superb multi role military aircraft that deservedly has secured its place in aviation history, yet it could have been oh so different.

The history of the Hornet can be traced back to the demands of the Second World War and the requirement to fit as many naval aircraft onboard the comparatively tight confines of an aircraft carrier. In wartime an Essex class carrier could easily be expected to have on board as many as one hundred different aircraft. These aircraft were also of many different kinds ranging from dive bombers, torpedo bombers, fighters and recconnaisance aircraft. What was needed was an aircraft that could perform all of these wildly different tasks in one common airframe, but the demands were simply too much for technology at the time.

Indeed even in the postwar period many attempts were made to create the ultimate fighter/bomber/reconnaissance aircraft and various types such as the Grumman Cougars and Panthers, North American Furies and the McDonnell Banshees achieved some degree of success in bridging the technology gap. It was, however, the development of the McDonnell F-4H Phantom II that smashed it into touch. With the Phantom the US Navy had an all weather, attack and fighter aircraft that would become legendary, but even this aircraft had its limitations and was backed up by a new generation of types, such as the Intruder, Prowler, Corsair II and later the F-14 Tomcat.

The cost of the F-14 Tomcat led the US Navy into trying to develop a cheaper alternative and a program established in the second half of 1973. The following June requests for Proposals were submitted to industry for the new type. The US Congress at this point interfered with the program and told the Navy, in order to save time and costs to select one of the two current programs being investigated by the US Air Force. The two aircraft were the General Dynamics YF-16 or the Northrop YF-17. On 2 May 1975 the winner was selected as the YF-17 that had been enlarged and modified by Northrop and McDonnell Douglas jointly.

The aircraft was designed to fit into three neatly defined roles, a single seat F-18 to replace the F-4 Skyhawk in the fighter role, the single seat A-18 to follow the A-7 in the attack role and the two seat TF-18A combat trainer. Many changes had been necessary to make the F-18 suitable for US Navy use including

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