What Is Your All Time Favorite Fighter Airplane?

[Gulfecho]

Rolan Garros was forced down behind enemy lines. He was faceting steel deflector plates to the inside edge of propellers so some bullets would pass between the blades. While he was captured by the Germans they quickly learned the secret of his success. Fokker scraped the deflector design in favor of the synchro gear. Although working with several well known engineers, he alone took full credit for the most significant advancement in early aviation history.

 

[mauser9]

Have to comment on the A-10 Warthog. Love to see those guns that spew out 3000 R.P.M. Simply awesome!!

 

[JohnRippert]

Soooo many. The first one to really capture my imagination as a lad was the F-104 Starfighter. So that would be the jet propelled pick. Prop driven would be the P-47.

What I really like are the ground pounders like the A-10 and Douglas Skyraider.

 

[Texas Star]

As a pilot, one in-flight separation is way to many, just bad for business, and no pilot should have to worry about his ride "coming apart", so just bad JU-JU bwana!

Now as to the very lovely Hawker Sea Fury with its contra-rotating props, now THAT is aero=nautic loveliness all rolled into a kool sounding ride. In the old days, the in-imitable Frank Saunders, with his Hawker Sea Fury, equipped with wing tip vortex smoke generators put on an airshow that made the whole of Oshkosh sit up and take notice. In fact, the Sea Fury gives the lovely Mustang a real challenge for first place in WW-II era aircraft, though I have a very soft spot in my heart for the Spitfire??

And at least one Sea Fury shot down a MiG-15 over Korea. The one in the pic is Australian, but the one that scored on the MiG was from the British Royal Navy.

 

[Texas Star]

Bf-109F series. But I must admit liking the P40 with the shark's teeth.

No. 112 Squadron, RAF, had those shark's mouths in North Africa, despite it being a desert environment. The Flying Tigers saw those and made them famous.


Not only P-40's had the shark's mouths, but the shape of the nose made it look best there.

 

[Texas Star]

"We heard the high speed run of an engine driven aircraft but could not see it until he came out of his dive and levelled off flying away from us. He came out of the sun, and after levelling off gave us a friendly wag of his wings flying off to parts unknown. It was unmistakably a P51 and one of the guys on the boat speculated that it could be Prime Minister Ki as he was an airforce pilot with a ton of money and influence. Its possible that we were one of the last military boats in a war zone to be buzzed by a P-51."

I don't think that the South Vietnamese Air Force ever operated the P-51. They had the Grumman F-8 Bearcat and then the Douglas A-1 Skyraider.

I think the inference was that Ki had his own P-51. ??

Did Vietnam operate any F-5's?

 

[forindooruseonly]

Hmm. I'll throw out some dark horse material...

How about the English Electric Lightning? It had incredible climb ability and the cool factor of its unique design.

I always thought the McDonnell F-101 was a great looking airplane.

Another good looker was the North American RA-5, even if it was a bomber turned reconnaissance mutt.

 

[Cyrano]

That's my second favorite American inter-war biplane.

The F4Bs are more attractive, lacking the excessively long headrest/fuselage hump of the P-12.

Here are another couple of my favorites:

Nakajima A4N1: Similar in concept to the Boeing F4B.

Polikarpov I-15:

Is this is a Polikarpov I-15? It's on display at the CAF msuuem in Midland, TX.

 

[Gulfecho]

Speaking of old school, back in 1989 I had the absolute privilege of interviewing the last three surviving WWI American Aces. Then all in their nineties they are all gone now. What so impressed me about these gentleman is they way in which they relived each experience as if it happened yesterday. So vivid was their description of events each seem to transcend black and white video reals and pictures of a distant past as if to give color to speech.

It's no Nova or Ken Burns caliber of film making but for those who might be interested it is my honor to present this to you. It runs just over 26 minutes. We cut out the commercials. If you can, just listen to the gentleman who flew these planes, made of cloth, wood, and wire. Truly brave men. The honor of my life.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GlcccNq_-cs[/ame]

 

[BUFF]

"Did Vietnam operate any F-5's?"

Yes, 3 different models. Ky wanted F-4 Phantoms for the SVNAF but the U.S. didn't think that was a good idea. Gave them F-5's and AT-37's and prop jobs.

 

[Old TexMex]

Speaking of old school, back in 1989 I had the absolute privilege of interviewing the last three surviving WWI American Aces. Then all in their nineties they are all gone now. What so impressed me about these gentleman is they way in which they relived each experience as if it happened yesterday. So vivid was their description of events each seem to transcend black and white video reals and pictures of a distant past as if to give color to speech.

It's no Nova or Ken Burns caliber of film making but for those who might be interested it is my honor to present this to you. It runs just over 26 minutes. We cut out the commercials. If you can, just listen to the gentleman who flew these planes, made of cloth, wood, and wire. Truly brave men. The honor of my life.

WW1 American Aces Interviews/Documentary 1989: Ace's High - YouTube

Wonderful piece! Not to be missed. Thank you Gulfecho.

 

[Texas Star]

Speaking of old school, back in 1989 I had the absolute privilege of interviewing the last three surviving WWI American Aces. Then all in their nineties they are all gone now. What so impressed me about these gentleman is they way in which they relived each experience as if it happened yesterday. So vivid was their description of events each seem to transcend black and white video reals and pictures of a distant past as if to give color to speech.

It's no Nova or Ken Burns caliber of film making but for those who might be interested it is my honor to present this to you. It runs just over 26 minutes. We cut out the commercials. If you can, just listen to the gentleman who flew these planes, made of cloth, wood, and wire. Truly brave men. The honor of my life.

WW1 American Aces Interviews/Documentary 1989: Ace's High - YouTube

What a terrific little movie! I enjoyed it a great deal.

 

[Gulfecho]

Wonderful piece! Not to be missed. Thank you Gulfecho.

Thanks Old TexMex!

 

[Old TexMex]

Is this is a Polikarpov I-15? It's on display at the CAF msuuem in Midland, TX.

I believe that one is the I-16 Polikarpov

 

[Gulfecho]

What a terrific little movie! I enjoyed it a great deal.

Thank you Texas Star!

 

[YogiBear]

Aloha,

I have several favorites, in the Grumman line up:

The F3F, F4F, F6F, F7F.

The Republic P47.

Lockheed P38.

Somewhere I saw a photo of a Marine fighter squadron flying next to the island of Molokai.

They were doing what was called a "razzle dazzle" formation.

If anyone has that photo, could you please post it.

 

[OLDSTER]

Best fighter

P-39 Bell Aircobra Uncle flew one in the Pacific, and the Russians loved it on the eastern front to pound the Germans. Unique; rear engine with drive shaft (pilot sat on it ) to the prop, nose cannon, tricycle gear, "car door", nearly 400 MPH, over built for incredible strength, etc.

 

[LAA]

The North American P-51 has always been my favorite. A friend (since passed away) owned a 1944 Mustang. I did get the chance to go up in it for about 45 mins. Had the Cavalier conversion with the rear fuselage fuel tank replaced with a seat. He said "remove your headset for the takeoff, you have to hear this". It sounded like continuous shot gun blasts! That was back in '93. My own aircraft (sliding canopy), was painted like a P-51 with invasion stripes.

 

[cmort666]

Is this is a Polikarpov I-15? It's on display at the CAF msuuem in Midland, TX.

It's an I-16, at the time of introduction, the most techologically advanced fighter in the world.

Back in the '90s, a company in New Zealand(?) built several replica I-15s, I-16s, and I-153s.

I-153:

 

[Kernel Crittenden]

As a pilot, one in-flight separation is way to many, just bad for business, and no pilot should have to worry about his ride "coming apart"....

Then you should stay away from all high performance fighters, since virtually everyone had teething problems in the beginning resulting in the loss of airframes and life. Especially, those hurriedly developed, rushed to production, and built entirely during war time.