Solid Knight wrote:Taxiing? I believe there are fighters ready to go at a moment's notice when within the theater of operations.
ready to go doesnt mean on the runway, even if not in hangars, they wait in the apron, and even real scramble it would take 5 minutes 15-20 if you include the pilots being pulled out of bed, be glad it only takes you a grand total of 2. Unless an aircraft is expecting to take off they are not fueled, same goes for weapons, when pilots are scrambled, so are the crew that arm and fuel the ship, while the pilots are getting shoved into their flight suits, they're busy fueling and loading munitions. pre flight check, await go signal from the tower, and everything in between.
in response to Feuerwaffen: yes, a scramble is when you need to be in the air ASAP unexpectedly for any given reason, hijacked planes? incoming bogey? ICBM? a really big bird that showed up on radar and scared the **** out of the operator? who knows, they'll tell you when you're halfway down the runway.