As a kid during WWII, my buddies liked the P-51 but to me, the P-38 Lightning was my bird. USAF after Korea, but in Japan (Itazuki) and the F-86F was my favorite and the F-86D (interceptor with rocket pod) was a great bird (had an afterburner). The "Fs" came back from patrol with smoked gun ports from time to time. Helped phase in the F-100s before I was transferred to SAC and saw the last B-36 leave Carswell and the first B-52 come in. In today's world, the Warthog, is the equivalent of the old Timex - "takes a licking and keeps on ticking". So many winners - so many great pilots.
What Is Your All Time Favorite Fighter Airplane?
- Thread starter Gulfecho
- Start date
Still remember my dad's buddy, who was a tail gunner in a B17, talk about the run over Berlin in Jan. 1945 and the first time he saw one of these.
The ME262, the one that started the jet age.
The ME262, the one that started the jet age.
Kernel Crittenden
US Veteran, Absent Comrade
The post-war Westland Wyvern was a beautiful fighter plane. A 3,560 hp Armstrong Siddeley Python turboprop engine, two 4-blade Rotol contra-rotating propellers, designed with a British sense of proportion.....
Snapping Twig
Member
Yes, of course, and I stand corrected.
F4 Phantom. My dad used to build them a MD when I was a kid.
They were one of the first Mach 2 fighters and were in active service from '58 all the way up until '96. 38 years is a hell of a run for a fighter.
They were one of the first Mach 2 fighters and were in active service from '58 all the way up until '96. 38 years is a hell of a run for a fighter.
Yep, the A-7 was a gunfighter, and had best safety record of any Vietnam era Fighter Aircraft, the F-8 with the variable incidence wing from which it was derived had one of the worst?
Lots of great answers, and great airplanes, (you guys went "far afield"), but there is only one Queen, the F-22 Raptor, nothing else, past, present, or future even comes close.
Someone mentioned the competition, they are working on the T-50 and the J-20, and while those aircraft have been designed to meet the Raptor, they are each far below the performance level of the F-22.
Very L/O, very fast, (Mach 1.8) supercrise, and very high altitude, as the outgoing Air Force Chief of Staff put it?? nothing else on the Planet can pull 6Gs at 50,000, That's all that LockMart Goodness along with those PW F-119s with thrust vectoring for "supermaneuvering". the Raptor has it all, you'll be dead, and won't find out about it until until you read your name in the OBITs
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ContinentalOp
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I guess I'm the only one who likes the AV-8B...?
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VFZaKowFNs[/ame]
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VFZaKowFNs[/ame]
JavierLaurido
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After watching "Wings of the Luftwaffe" on the Discovery channel (available on youtube), you realise that german planes where years ahead of all other allied nation aircrafts. The Me 262, the Arado, the Me 163 komet, the Heinkel jet, the FW 190T etc. Dident even have comparable counterparts on the allied side.
First time I saw one was an "other worldly" experience. In the jungle near Punta Gorda, Belize. RAF support back in '75.
When I ws a kid in WW II making model airplanes, the one I made more of was the P 39. Performance at altitude was dismal, but the Russians found out what they were good at: tank killing. I guess they were the concept aircraft for the A-10.
Kernel Crittenden
US Veteran, Absent Comrade
A favorite from the WWII era, the Hawker Typhoon. A 2,260 hp Napier Sabre liquid-cooled H-24 sleeve value piston engine, and four 20 mm Hispano Mk II cannons. Its engine's excessive raw power was it's only downside. I wouldn't call the Typhoon beautiful, but it had that purposeful menacing look the British were so good at achieving. Like an angry animal, powerful, coiled and ready to strike....
click to enlarge
Ahhhhh????
Can it air fight? More of a ground support role. I did hear something that it can hover and wait for a plane to go by, then shoot it down.
Can it air fight? More of a ground support role. I did hear something that it can hover and wait for a plane to go by, then shoot it down.
BUFF
SWCA Member, Absent Comrade
Turkey still flies the F-4, and so does Japan or Korea, although all are phasing them out as they buy replacement aircraft.
Most of the remaining USAF and USN Phantoms were/are being used as target drones. Started to use them to shoot at when they ran out of F-106's.
I didn't see anyone pick the Supermarine Spitfire. I think it was the most beautiful, graceful looking prop fighter of all time.
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It was one bad......
It was one bad ground attack aircraft (see the doc 'Thunderbolt') and flyers like Gabby Gabreski liked it just fine for air to air. I do believe the ground attack capability was why the A-10 got its name.
It was one bad ground attack aircraft (see the doc 'Thunderbolt') and flyers like Gabby Gabreski liked it just fine for air to air. I do believe the ground attack capability was why the A-10 got its name.
Hawker800
Member
The Westland Wyvern and Hawker Typhoon were about as good as it gets.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro
BUFF
SWCA Member, Absent Comrade
British Harriers shot down some Argentine aircraft during the Falklands Island War.
It kinda depends on which war doesn't it?
WWII I would take the P51
Korean War the F86
Viet Nam the F4
WWII I would take the P51
Korean War the F86
Viet Nam the F4
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