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A 10 warthog and the ah64 Apache for me. Sod graceful flying just go in, blow crap up, shoot again to make sure then go home happy.

Live in the same place the Apache is made in the U.K. and when I see one going for a flight, I just have to stop and watch that mean sob. Lol.

And a couple on my shopping list:

As cliche as it is, the North American P-51D:



Runner-ups would be:
Boeing B-29 Superfortress
Grumman F6F Hellcat
Republic P-47 Thunderbolt
General Dynamics F-19 Fighting Falcon
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

Got to be the mustangs classic rival.

In my opinion, the most beautiful aircraft to ever exist. The image is of the C variant, but I was always a bigger fan of the E.

 djones520 wrote:
In my opinion, the most beautiful aircraft to ever exist. The image is of the C variant, but I was always a bigger fan of the E.

That thing was surprisingly huge when I saw one in person.

As others have said, my favourite is the one I get to fly.



We just retired the old girl after over 50 years of outstanding service in the RCAF. The new Cyclone is amazing to fly too, but there's something to be said about analog controls over new digital fly by wire systems. The Sea King was a tank that would fly in any weather, off pitching and rolling ships, and did it all 12 hours a day, for weeks on end. She will be missed.

P38 Lightning.

Most beautiful plane ever.

*ahem*



The DeHavilland Mosquito. Faster than any fighter in service when it began operations, with a higher ceiling, also capable of operating at roof top level (or even below roof top in some operations; look up the video from Operation Jericho) Precision strike capability, with fighter, fighter-bomber, anti-tank and reconnaissance variants. It’s the original multi-role combat aircraft.

Wish we still had one flying in the UK

The P47 does not approve of having been left out.

 AndrewGPaul wrote:
Oh, and you were doing so well. :( The correct answer is, of course, the Spitfire:

I almost went with the Spitfire. Hands down the best looking plane, I have no idea what the elliptical wings achieved but they look great. And of course the Spitfire was a great plane.

I'm just in more of a mood for ruthless domination now. It's why I went for the Nimitz class in the warship thread, and why I'm going for the P51 here. The Spitfire gave excellent service, and played a decisive role in very tight combat. The latter, high altitude P51 was the plane the US used when it decided that actually, you know what, lets just not have any more Nazi planes in the sky. Just no more planes. Forget escorting the bombers, lets just fly off and shoot down Nazis wherever they are in the sky. And then they did it.

Next week I'll probably be in more of a derring-do mood, then I'll pick the Spitfire.


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 soundwave591 wrote:
the B-17 easily, I've been in love with that thing since first seeing the movie memphis belle as a kid(next time a flight is in town I'm riding that thing 100%)

The B-17 looks great, and is such an icon of WW2 (I guess the Lancaster as well, but that thing is just so ugly).

But it's the move to the B-29 that really says something about how the war ended. It doesn't look like it belongs in WW2, it looks like future tech. It kind of was.

djones520 wrote:In my opinion, the most beautiful aircraft to ever exist. The image is of the C variant, but I was always a bigger fan of the E.

I'm expecting it to transform into Starscream.

Of course we all know the reason the P-51 was so good was because of it's Rolls Royce Merlin Engine

 Mozzyfuzzy wrote:
Of course we all know the reason the P-51 was so good was because of it's Rolls Royce Merlin Engine

It was hot trash before they upgraded it with liscense built Merlins.

Great aircraft, just had a lousy engine.

Then UK had thr Griffin, 37L V12, upsized merlins..


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 sebster wrote:

 AndrewGPaul wrote:
Oh, and you were doing so well. :( The correct answer is, of course, the Spitfire:

I almost went with the Spitfire. Hands down the best looking plane, I have no idea what the elliptical wings achieved but they look great. And of course the Spitfire was a great plane.

I'm just in more of a mood for ruthless domination now. It's why I went for the Nimitz class in the warship thread, and why I'm going for the P51 here. The Spitfire gave excellent service, and played a decisive role in very tight combat. The latter, high altitude P51 was the plane the US used when it decided that actually, you know what, lets just not have any more Nazi planes in the sky. Just no more planes. Forget escorting the bombers, lets just fly off and shoot down Nazis wherever they are in the sky. And then they did it.

Next week I'll probably be in more of a derring-do mood, then I'll pick the Spitfire.


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 soundwave591 wrote:
the B-17 easily, I've been in love with that thing since first seeing the movie memphis belle as a kid(next time a flight is in town I'm riding that thing 100%)

The B-17 looks great, and is such an icon of WW2 (I guess the Lancaster as well, but that thing is just so ugly).

But it's the move to the B-29 that really says something about how the war ended. It doesn't look like it belongs in WW2, it looks like future tech. It kind of was.

Lancaster was not pretty, sure its somewhat less visually pleasing the the B29, but 4 merlin engines roaring low overhead, you can hear one coming for a good few miles.

VictorVonTzeentch wrote:The P47 does not approve of having been left out.

To be fair, I listed it as one of my runner-ups. The P-47 was an awesome aircraft... so awesome, that one of the other most awesomest aircraft borrowed its name.

sebster wrote:But it's the move to the B-29 that really says something about how the war ended. It doesn't look like it belongs in WW2, it looks like future tech. It kind of was.

Pressurized cabin? Check. Computer controlled machine gun turrets? Check. Long post-war service history? Check. Capable of delivering the most lethal weapon ever developed? Check mate.

 jhe90 wrote:

It was hot trash before they upgraded it with liscense built Merlins.

Great aircraft, just had a lousy engine.

Apart from them being licence built you could say the same thing about the Avro Manchester.

Lancaster was not pretty, sure its somewhat less visually pleasing the the B29, but 4 merlin engines roaring low overhead, you can hear one coming for a good few miles.

I think the Lancaster has a kind of rugged charm myself, but there's no denying the B-29 was leagues ahead of any other bomber of the second world war. Stripped down Lancasters could carry a single Grand Slam, stripped down Boeing Washingtons could carry two.

Personally though it's so difficult to pick a favourite. The Wellington is a definite candidate because it was seeing the Loch Ness R-Robert being raised which first sparked an interest in aviation for me.

Other contenders, probably the Hurricane over the Spitfire, with a nod to the Westland Whirlwind a potential great that just never quite made it.

Edit: Regarding the Lancaster, I had the great fortune to have two fly low over my home in Kent when Canada's airworthy Lancaster was over here a couple of years back. 8 Merlins roaring low overhead was something else.

I'm not that keen on the Mustang personally though, whilst there's no denying its effectiveness it's always looked a bit pot-belied or pregnant with that radiator sticking out under the fuselage the way it does.

Post war, I've always liked the Hawker Hunter.

Late cold war, the F-14. No, not because of Top Gun which I only got round to watching a few years ago, looking at 3-views side by side F-14s always put me in the mind of what an F-15 would like if it hit the gym hard and took protein supplements. Probably with runners up being the F-4 and Panavia Tornado.


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 sebster wrote:

But it's the move to the B-29 that really says something about how the war ended. It doesn't look like it belongs in WW2, it looks like future tech. It kind of was.

I've always thought the Messerschmitt 264 looked remarkably similar to the Superfortress.

Here we go.

Propellers:



and of course:


Jets:


[img]
https://tse2.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.wTknyZbM7gZn0SVFezRGqgHaF5&pid=Api[/img]

and the original Yaeger Meister:



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 Mozzyfuzzy wrote:
Of course we all know the reason the P-51 was so good was because of it's Rolls Royce Merlin Engine

Merlin engines are so sweet. I was standing next to one warming up. The sweetest engine sound I
ve ever heard.

Growing up, for some reason I was partial to the Phantom:


Luuuurve the Spooky!

AIRBORNE ARTILLERY FOR THE WINZ!!!!

So glad to see this thread hasn't derailed before I got to it.

It always comes down to Brrrtt. My Three year old decided that it was his favorite and after approximately 20 youtube videos I'm agreeing with him:



As a kid myself I was fond of the Lighting Fighter. It's just a gorgeous plane:

Has to be the Spitfire. One of the most beautiful machines ever built, but what really makes it utterly glorious is the sound. The engine it shares with the Lancaster and the oft-underrated Hawker Hurricane makes a flypast by the Battle of Britain memorial flight one of the most stirring and awe-inspiring sounds you can ever hope to hear. I've seen/heard it a few times, it never stops being just awesome!


I am partial to the Eurofighter, mainly as it was the 'cool new shiny thing' when my interest in aircraft was at its height. Certainly still a very cool look. This one in the classic RAF camo is really nice.


That said, all of these pale in comparison to the greatest fighter in fiction, the T-65 X-wing!

For bombers, I have always been intrigued by the B-36 Peacemaker.



The combination of props and jet engines is just wild to me.

Lots of love given to all the greatest hits here already: The Spitfire, The P-51, the P-38, the Mosquito, all the F-series.

I'll give my love to the plane that did all the heavy lifting during the Battle of Britian



I got to see one of these fly when I visited Duxford in the 90s. It was awesome.

So many really, and there are some great ones posted here already. Absolutely love ChargerIIC@s pic of the A10!

One of my personal faves is the B-1B Lancer (or Bone) ...

The B1 is probably one of the loudest aircraft I've ever seen in the flesh, never seen anything set off so many car alarms.

 whembly wrote:
Growing up, for some reason I was partial to the Phantom:

Ah nice one, that was the one I was about to post. It's definitely got something about it

A couple of my pics of favourite aircraft from the UK Fairford air show



Couldn't find a pic I've taken of a Flanker, and sadly you get a lot less Russian stuff at the UK shows these days since relations have soured (think this was from the Czech airforce), but the Mig-29 is pretty iconic.


For something this big, the moves that the A400 makes are genuinely frightening. It can practically do a loop

That's a Polish MiG, I think.

As for Snoopy's doghouse,


Oh, and:




Players of Crimson Skies might recognise this (and some other aircraft on the www.luft46.com site):
http://www.luft46.com/henschel/hsp75.html



The weird thing that the Red Skull flew in Captain America (as well as the big bomber, for that matter) is on there too:
http://www.luft46.com/fw/fwtrieb.html

For me, I gotta go with the AC-130 Spectre Gunship:

Basically a modified military transport plane that carries plenty of whoopass to throw at the enemy. When I saw the first Transformers movie and this thing was on screen, I nearly went "SQUEE!" with excitement.

 ScootyPuffJunior wrote:
As cliche as it is, the North American P-51D:



Runner-ups would be:
Boeing B-29 Superfortress
Grumman F6F Hellcat
Republic P-47 Thunderbolt
General Dynamics F-19 Fighting Falcon
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

I have to go P51-D also.

It's just the complete package of awesomeness. It accomplished great things - looks great - and it was the best of an age of iconic fighters (all of them really good designs themselves). It makes me really sad I didn't live in these days. All you had to do was volunteer and you could fly the most BA plane ever made (all you had to to was risk your life!). It also is a great example of what can happen when two nations combine their ideas. When they put the British engine in the p-51 it went from being just a good low altitude fighter - to the best fighter at literally everything.

Always been a huge fan of the Eurofighter Typhoon as well.




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Funny how no one votes for the BF109 - It was a pretty impressive airplane for it's time.

Way too many excellent designs to choose just one.

But if you twist my arm out of joint I'd go with the XB-70.

Some of my faves have already been listed, so I'll post up one that hasn't been mentioned yet:

 Ensis Ferrae wrote:
Some of my faves have already been listed, so I'll post up one that hasn't been mentioned yet:

Steve Steveson already beat you to it.

 Steve steveson wrote:

B52 or BUFF. The shear presence of the B52 is something to behold. They have one at Duxford and it totally dominates the hall. It's huge... It is war incarnate. It is such a symbol of US power, strength and shear destructive ability at the height of US power in the world. It is an icon of the jet age, of the US self confidence in the 1950's, of the cold war and the Vietnam war. It is 60 years old and still going strong, and still valid today.

For a couple that haven't been mentioned yet I'd like to additionally nominate the English Electric Canberra. Such a good aircraft in its time that the US produced it for themselves as the Martin B-57 Canberra and despite first flying in 1949 was still in service with the RAF into this century.

Also stepping away from combat planes (For the most part) for now, the humble Douglas Dakota. The unglamourous air transport workhorse of the Allies which saw service in every part of the globe, even serving as the original transport-gunship conversion in Vietnam as the AC-47.