What is your all time favorite military fighter jet?

[mbliss57]

F22 Raptor: Mainly because I was on the prototype team for the engine builds back in the late 1990s when I worked for Pratt & Whitney. And because it is way cool.
MY 2nd is the F15 then the F14 Tomcat...heck I like them all.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

F-86. Here's the one that's in the hanger over at Pima.
It polished and looks like new money!

 

[cballman]

Ok guys I will have to side with williamlayton. The F4U Corsair is the most awesome aircraft to have flown. But since you wanted jets. I will have to say the SR-71 Blackbird is tops on that list.

 

[sheepdawg]

I like the lines of the ME 262.

 

[jackvs1]

I went to college in upstate (really upstate) NY; Plattsburgh State and they has the Air Force base there in 1980. They used to fly the FB-111 Aardvark, a real neat fighter bomber, They also flew the KC 135 tanker refueling jets. I was always at awe watching them fly, so close and so real. This was very often, like several times a day.

 

[David LaPell]

I have always loved the look of the ME-262 for some reason, right after that the rarely seen F-89D Scorpion with the wingtip pods with the Mighty Mouse rockets.

 

[David LaPell]

I went to college in upstate (really upstate); Plattsburgh State and they has the Air Force base there in 1980. They used to fly the FB-111 Aardvark, a real neat fighter bomber, They also flew the KC 135 tanker refueling jets. I was always at awe watching them fly, so close and so real. This was very often, like several times a day.

I used to live north of Plattsburgh as a kid and often remember coming out of the old Pyramid Mall and seeing a B-52 or something else flying overhead on take off. Sure was something for a 7-8 year old kid to see.

 

[Donn]

F-100 Super Saber. Not the prettiest bird in the inventory, but it's versatility kept it in service a long time.

 

[NZshooter]

Not a fighter jet but I always liked the B-58 Hustler

 

[Straightshooter2]

Far and away it would be the McDonnel-Douglas F-4 Phantom II. This is the only aircraft I have ever seen that, even tied down to the deck, looks like it is saying "I will kill you." Second place would be the Convair F-106 Delta Dart. That's what the Air Guard at the Jacksonville Airport flew. Always loved watching them kick in the afterburner for takeoff, especially when they flew at night.

CW

 

[BigCityChief]

F/A - 18 Super Hornet


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[bullmack]

I think without doubt we owe a little bit to the Germans, They were the innovators of jet flight.

I think the Horton HO229 is just an incredible design and years ahead of its time.... Although it was still in its prototype stages, just imagine if they were in full production?

Without computers back then how would they have ever flown that? Aren't they inherently unstable?

 

[M3Stuart]

F-86. Here's the one that's in the hanger over at Pima.
It polished and looks like new money!

Here's another (the other?) F-86 at Pima;

 

[Aticus]

A question for the F-4 guys. Wasn't the F-4 originally a single seat aircraft? Seems I remember that from when Mrs. Mac couldn't break the champiagn over the strip of metal at the christening when they gave the F-4 its name.

Sorry about the double post. Made a change and hit the wrong button in the wrong place.

 

[Aticus]

A question for the F-4 guys. Wasn't the F-4 originally a single seat aircraft? Seems I remember that from when Mrs. Mac couldn't break the champiagn over the strip of metal at the christening when they gave the F-4 its name.

I like all the fighter jets. Some were good, some were not so good and some were great but I like them all.

 

[M3Stuart]

What about this high altitude, long range air superiority fighter?

When this thing rolled onto your tail you KNEW there'd be TROUBLE!

 

[11B Lifer]

F104 Starfighter-"buzzed" by one at the Airforce Academy

 

[vt_shooter]

I have to say the F16. Amazing capability. The Thunderbirds did a show in Syracuse in the early 80's where one of the F16's did a 720 (two 360 degree turns) using 90 degrees of bank (or very very close to 90 degrees), he held the plane at a constant altitude no higher than about 100 feet AGL, and he did it between two taxiways that are 2,100 feet apart. Those of us who fly know what a feat that is, and there can't be many other planes that can do that. A plane that maintains altitude at 90 degrees of bank is getting all the lift that's keeping it aloft from the fuselage and not the wings. The burner was lit throughout the maneuver. They no longer do that maneuver at airshows - they probably figured if something went wrong there's no guarantee the airplane wouldn't head off in the wrong direction.

 

[Quick10]

F-15 for me but I have over 20 years as avionics on them now.

 

[mbliss57]

Based just on the posts...It's amazing how many jet fighters the US has produced over the decades..any/ all of them could still fly missions if kept up to date... and would be the envy of probably 95 % of all countries if they could just have 1 or 2 of these models in their inventory.

 

[Bkreutz]

None of them, nothing sounds like a Merlin at combat power.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5rGyP6SSYM

 

[smithman 10]

F-86

Simple and elegant win the day.
I give you (to my eye) the sexiest jet fighter.
The second pic is for Hillbilly.

F-86 - That's the jet my brother and I grew up hearing about in the mid 1950s after the Korean War. We wouuld build plastic models of all kinds of planes and when we got tired of them tried to blow them up with homemade black powder made from his chemistry set! (But it always just burned!)

 

[M E Morrison]

F-8 Crusader; because they saved my personal bacon!!!

 

[Smith357]

I am pretty uneducated in the individual abilities of fighter jets, but I have always like the lines of the F-16.

 

[mg357]

A-10 Warthog i love that gatling gun in the planes nose

The P-51 Mustang

 

[MasterTech1960]

The coolest plane ever:

Love this plane. At one time I did some reloading for one. . It was hard to find a die set for that sucker. OK , truth be told, This round is a dummy with a spring loaded primer pin. I was told they use it to check the cycling of the gun.

 

[HOUSTON RICK]

Another vote for the yeoman service of the F-4. Not only what it did in US hands, but also the Isreali Defense Forces used it to magnificent effect in several wars against the Soviet supplied Arab nations.

 

[Philadelphia Patriot]

A-10 thunderbolt.

2nd favorite is a P-47 thunderbolt

 

[jinx]

Hard to get past the F-86. And the A-10 is in a class all by itself as it is a flying machine gun.
For the money, only needs one man to run it, and pretty sexy, I have to agree with the posters that said F-16.

I want one.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

This is my favorite plane that my favorite plane- F-86 loved to shoot at.
It's so cute! And all I want to do is shoot at it!