Your Favorite Real Aircraft and Why?

[kaze 0]

I'm french so....

 

Mirage 2000 :

 

 

I took this photo at Bourget 2007

 

I love his look, it's a good plane, and of course, it's french :p

It's more original than American aircraft =)

[Thog10 0]

A-10 first and foremost,

 

but I do have some leanings towards the early marks of the Spitfire and even Hurricane.

[EsPeKTr0 31]

For my part , in the first place i love the F-14 Tomcat. This multirole aircraft for me is the best and powerful fighter and in second place the tornado in a bomber and fighter is very beautiful too and the last and new fighter i like very much too the eurofighter typhoon.

 

Sorry for my english, im spanish and i try for everybody understand me :)

 

Thanks a lot for everybody.

[Apocal 0]

The bottom line, real men fly attack because they understand the most fundamental law of wartime negotiations; you negotiate with the enemy with your knee in his chest and your knife at his throat.

 

A-6 Intruder!

 

If you're not attack, you're support.

[Lamanai 0]

I love the F-4 Phantom II specially the J, K, M and S versions, it's a really magnificent aircraft that had left an indelieble mark in the history of the world. On the Russian side I really like the Su-27, it's a beautifull, gracefull bird

[Spinners 15,986]

Buccaneer - mega underrated and should still be in production!

Canberra - it might have been a modest performer but it was just so graceful.

Concorde - simply stunning. A visual tour de force.

Hurricane - it and it's pilot's were the real heroes of Britain's finest hour.

F-111 - but must be long-span C's or FB's!

Foxbat - all angular and jagged but with added 'Warp 9'!

F-4 Phantom - my first love. The bg-assed RAF versions are cool but I love the F-4E too!

Spitfires - especially those with symetrical radiators and without bubble hoods (PR19 in particular).

Tempest - especially the Mk.V with invasion stripes.

TSR.2 - it just wasn't to be though.

Vigilante - whould have been an interceptor in my 'what-if' world.

Vulcan - iconic in it's home country.*

 

 

 

* and it must have impressed some USAF fighter jocks looking up at it when it sailed into the USA during a NORAD exercise

[+pato poli 73]

I think the F-14...alone.

but i like do some kinds of mission when the F-14 not was used until get old.

in Argentina everybody love the mirage family, the III or Dagger, or the last Finger model...if you dont know too much you look all them like one.

And the A-4 is very loved by those pilot and ground crew.

[kesegy 5]

WWII: MiG-3 (it didn't have much of a combat record, but there's just something about it)

 

Cold War: MirageIII (cold blooded executioner with a french sense of style)

 

Modern: MiG-29 and F-15 (hands down, the greatest combat aircraft ever made)

 

 

p.s. I'm genuinely surprised I don't see that many hornets mentioned here

[+Nightshade/PR 7,949]

The Catalina.

 

Looks completely ungainly on the ground, but seems to glide through the air.

[+Stary 2,427]

THE Only and true fighter plane

 

Bf-109

 

dunno why. Just love it

 

modern? Grippen (shame Poland chosed F-16's, no offence anyone) and Flanker

[Apocal 0]

p.s. I'm genuinely surprised I don't see that many hornets mentioned here

 

The Hornet is probably my second favorite and only for personal reasons. I was raised in Washington state, home to NAS Whidbey Island, which was basically the Miramar for attack aircraft.

[Rambler 1-1 9]

Saab JA-37 Viggen.

all that wing, seems really at home in the air.

 

Grumman F-14A

the original 20 to megafighter with a wing that makes it feel like a 10 ton megafighter

 

I would say the Avro Arrow, but it never entered service, so i suppose it doesn't count.

[Caesar 305]

Tomcat. Both the reason I got into fighter planes at the age of 3 and the reason I went Air Force now (I think you can guess why.)

[Comrade Kalashnikov 0]

Sukhoi Su-47 Firkin

[Comrade Kalashnikov 0]

p.s. I'm genuinely surprised I don't see that many hornets mentioned here

 

 

Probably because Hornets are hands-down the worst plane ever created.

[Apocal 0]

Probably because Hornets are hands-down the worst plane ever created.

 

Speaking as someone who had to actually deal with the Tomcat's *ahem* idiosyncrasies ("Lost the radar, but we still have IFF!") on a somewhat regular basis, I'd pick the Hornet every day of the week and twice on Sunday. And going into the merge, quite a few Tomcat drivers would say the same thing, especially the ones pushing -As.

[Mannie 21]

If I had to pick one and only one to go to war with, it must be the F-4E Phantom II (Kurnas), hands down!!! :yes:

Its appearance says "GO ON, MAKE MY DAY!!!"

[PIGHUNTA69 0]

B-52 Stratofortress because look how long its been around and it will continue to be around for awhile more. Plus it can bring the pain.

[SayethWhaaaa 245]

B-52 Stratofortress because look how long its been around and it will continue to be around for awhile more. Plus it can bring the pain.

I'll pay that. I love the fact that something as ugly as the BUFF has persevered for so long and set new standards in capabilities and fugliness! It was one of my faves as a kid.

 

I've got a whole bunch that appeal to me, but the Herc is one outstanding piece of kit IMHO. 50 year old design, more uses than Lego, I've seen them land and take off from everything but water, carries your troops, ferries your cargo, delivers your pizza... I mean is there anything it can't do?? And now this sucka is going to be frying your enemies in the blink of an eye...

 

Think about it, designed around the time when jet engines were relatively new and still being perfected, now one of the first airborne platforms to carry a chemical laser...

[JediMaster 451]

Probably because Hornets are hands-down the worst plane ever created.

 

 

Funny how many countries like Finland and Switzerland bought them then.

[kesegy 5]

Probably because Hornets are hands-down the worst plane ever created.

 

would you care to elaborate on that, comrade? this is news to me

[+Soulfreak 6,524]

My favorite is the F-4F Phantom II.

[Longestpants 1]

Funny how many countries like Finland and Switzerland bought them then.

 

Now all we need is Grosse_Hosen to show up and launch into a tirade about Hornets, Super Hornets, and little MiG planes in general.

Edited February 7, 2008 by Longestpants

[gosquidgo 0]

My personal favorite is the F-5/F-20 series.

 

Not sure what you mean about the Hornet though, the F15/16 pilots that I've talked to don't think that they're a slouch in a dogfight, especially if they catch you with your speed down. Bleed off energy and the Hornet WILL get you, it excels at lower speed fights.

 

On another note, it's too bad that there is not more written about the YF-17, it was possibly the first aircraft capable of performing the cobra manuever. There was quite a bit of politics involved against aquiring the -17 as well as the -16's percieved advantage of using the same engine as the F15. With a little more development, it would have been interesting to see the -17 mature along the same lines as the -16.

[JediMaster 451]

The funny thing is the Hornet is a direct evolution of the F-5. It was done in stages switching to twin tails, increasing the engine size, moving wings from low to mid-mounted, adding LERXs, increasing nose size for a normal radar, altering stab shape, etc, but if you've ever seen the paper designs that preceded the YF-17 the lineage is plain as day.

 

I'd like to see a pic of the YF-17 next to an F/A-18E!