What Is Your All Time Favorite Fighter Airplane?

[Frank237]

F-105 Thunderchief. I worked on the weapons systems ,Way back in the early 70's. So have a soft spot in my heart for the Thud's.

 

[Gulfecho]

Cold War favorite:

The SR71 Blackbird. Flown faster than a 30.06 bullet. Incredible they retired it!

 

[rwsmith]

A4 Nimble little joker

T38/F5

P-80 Lord those things were beautiful against the sky

P-51 Ultimate prop plane

Any Grumman 'Cat'

Ok, F-106 is an interceptor, but I ha to mention it.

Fokker D VII

Honorable mention F4 Phantom. Great plane but misused being designed for nuclear delivery made a much better bomber than a fighter.

 

[mauser9]

Me-262. Awesome looks and quite the plane for the day.

 

[walkinghorse]

Cold War favorite:

I believe the fighter version was the A-12 and the SR -71was the recconissonance version. Wasn't the A-12 first and only around for a short while?

 

[cmort666]

Though im NO expert by any means of the imagination on stuff to do with jets etc--but-one thing I DO know--is lots of pilots died flying that particular bird. I think and the deaths go into the dozens--THAT alone negates any positives for this bird.

As I recall, a huge number of the deaths involved Luftwaffe pilots.

The Luftwaffe tried to turn the F-104 into a miniature F-105 with disastrous results.

 

[twodog max]

P 47 Thunderbolt

 

[cmort666]

I believe the fighter version was the A-12 and the SR -71was the recconissonance version. Wasn't the A-12 first and only around for a short while?

I don't believe that the fighter version went into service as by the time it was ready, it had no potential adversaries.

 

[cmort666]

Me-262. Awesome looks and quite the plane for the day.

A few modern copies have been built recently. I believe they use GE engines inside of nacelles sized accurately for the original Junkers Jumo engines.

 

[REM 3200]

As a former B-52 pilot during Linebacker II, we were always glad to see the F-4's.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk Pro

At altitude with you and down in the dirt with us. Great airplane!

 

[31FordA]

Probably because it wasn't a fighter.

Although the SBD wasn't a fighter, it did manage a handful of air to air kills during the war. It had two forward firing machine guns in addition to the tail gun. In the hands of a skilled and aggressive pilot it was capable of holding it's own.

 

[Will Carry]

What a fantastic time to be flying. In the 1930s planes were coming off the assembly line obsolete. So many great planes! No one has mentioned the ME-109, which Chuck Hawks believes has enough merit to be called the greatest fighter of all time. The early ME109s dominated the sky over Spain and the late war ME-109-K had a top speed of 447mph and could easily out run a P-51D and had big guns to boot. That is ten years of hard fighting. German fighter units would not allow Nazis in their groups until the very end. According to the book "A Higher Call" about an ME-109 ace who escorted a crippled B-17 out of Germany because he was answering to a higher calling. Buy it and read it, true stories are the best.

 

[Cardboard_killer]

Fokker Eindecker. Because it was the first.

 

[Kanewpadle]

Don't for get our allies

The Panavia Tornado is one mean son of a gun. At the time it was built the Tornado had the best terrain following radar ever developed.
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2OdtdPuqE4[/ame]

 

[Rockrivr1]

Another vote for the F4 Phantom. Worked on them for a few years before converting to the FA-18. For me nothing compares to an F4 in full burner being catapulted off the deck!

 

[wlewisiii]

Pre-WWII: Boeing P-12/F4B The best and most numerous of the biplane fighters in the Army. The Curtis up thread was pretty, but the were only 46 of them bought while Boeing built 533 for both the Army and Navy.

WWII: Easily the P-40. Fast enough, more manuverable than given credit for and sturdy, it held it's own till the P-47 & P-51 came along.

Post War: Douglas A-4 Skyhawk Perhaps technically not a fighter but Heinemann's Hot Rod was a nearly perfect little jet.

 

[vytoland]

Chance Vought F4U-4 Corsair...always liked its design.....

 

[cmort666]

Fokker Eindecker. Because it was the first.

A mediocre plane that created a concept.

It just needed to exist in order to be a dire threat.

 

[Chuck24]

The Sopwith Camel that's shaped like a doghouse. Curse you Red Baron!

 

[Bozz10mm]

Of the old WWII fighters, I like the P38 and P51. Modern day it's the F14 and F15.