The most beautiful jet fighter ever made

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Spent 19 of my 20 years on the Eagle so I'm a little biased. She's got it all! [FONT=&quot]My E-model 87-191, loaded for static display at the Dayton Air Show. The F-14 jock next to us thought we were lying but the jet can take off carrying 20,000 pounds of "warheads for foreheads". The second pic is the notorious 1 wing landing by a Saudi pilot! Try dat one on for size...[/FONT]

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My favorite part was the >1 T:W VERTICAL acceleration capability. Oh yeah ... AND it could shoot down satellites!
 
Most beautiful aircraft ... that’s kinda’ a fools errand. Like saying whom is the most beautiful woman. Too many to pick from.

Anyway the X-3 Stiletto, F-20 Tigershark and the XB-70 Valkyrie should have been on the list here somewhere.
 
My favorite part was the >1 T:W VERTICAL acceleration capability. Oh yeah ... AND it could shoot down satellites!

Oh some of my quick 2 cents worth....
17 years old, AFROTC freshman in colleges, base visit to Nellis, crashed the F-111 simulator and had a nice briefing on one. Built a museum quality model when I got home!
F-15 eagle - indeed a beautiful and capable aircraft. My pastor's son piloted one over Afgahnistan, I reassurred him that Chuck Yeager said it was by far the best aircraft one could be in for capabilty and survivability (as I recall).
BD-5J - the pusher-prop version came out when I was in my late teens. I wanted one SOOO BAD! Back then, they were here and there building "air park" neighborhoods - a pair of streets with a runway in between. Houses faced the streets,, garage opened to the streets, hangars opened to the runway. It was thought back then that soon most everyone could afford their family aircraft. I had my eye on a Cessna Skymaster as a good family hauler!
 
I’ve noticed several mentions about crashing the F-111 simulator. Brings up the question of just how many here got fly it.
I will admit the first time I flew it we were thrown a double engine fire. We crashed. I think the 4th or 5th time was actually uneventful. To this day I would still love to take another ride in one.
 
I’ve noticed several mentions about crashing the F-111 simulator. Brings up the question of just how many here got fly it.
I will admit the first time I flew it we were thrown a double engine fire. We crashed. I think the 4th or 5th time was actually uneventful. To this day I would still love to take another ride in one.

You a pilot or wizzo? How much time you get? It appears it was a great ship once they got the bugs out of it and hardened it up so it wasn't so easy to take it down with the "magic BB" (gun).
Kurt
 
Why is this even a discussion? The most beautiful jet fighter ever made was the North American FJ-4.



No further discussion on this topic is required.
 
You a pilot or wizzo? How much time you get? It appears it was a great ship once they got the bugs out of it and hardened it up so it wasn't so easy to take it down with the "magic BB" (gun).
Kurt
Kurt, I was neither. I was just fortunate enough to that I grew up as an AirForce Brat. My dad was a mobility Sgt and was stationed at Mtn Home from 1966 to 1974. In 74 he received orders and went to Utapo, Thailand. Mom and us kids remained in Idaho. When I was 15 I joined the Civil Air Patrol. All of our meetings and activities were conducted on the base. Some of those activities was being allowed time on the F-111 simulator. I can still feel that sensation of almost being weightless when you walked into the control room. My total time in the simulator was probably around 10 hours both as pilot and ’wizzo’. (iPad doesn’t like the word wizzo.)
Turning 16 I began working on getting my pilots license. Still in the CAP, we got to do lots of things I think that a troop not on an Air Force base would be allowed. One such thing was a ride around Idaho on a C-118A. Everyone was allowed a turn on the wheel. I was the last up, The pilot knew I was flying and told me “go where you want to go”. I took us up around Sun Valley and back. I controlled that airplane all the way back to the final approach. He wouldn’t let me land though!
 
As a freshman AFROTC Cadet, we flew from Pittsburgh to Las Vegas on an ancient, rumbling old KC-97. But it was my good fortune to have my turn in the cockpit when we flew over the Grand Canyon! That's what them seniors get for making us freshmen wait! :D

My buddy had his private pilot's license, so the pilot allowed him to make a pretty significant course correction. It is quite a different matter, turning a KC-97 vs. a cessna 150! I was headed back to my seat from somewhere and he nearly threw me off my feet! Engines digging in and roaring, it was hilarious.

But I envy you @TSMILLER, my mother did not allow me to join CAP and I darn sure wanted to. Long story... you don't wanna hear it.

@SkyFire, Jimmy Stewart flew and narrated a video about the B-58 Hustler over at Zeno's Warbirds... Quite a machine!
 
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For me, it has always been and always will be the Mc Donnell F-3 D Demon, ( the predecessor to the ALMOST as beautiful F-4 B Phantom II )!
I never heard of the F3 before now, looks like a nice little aircraft.
I will always have a soft spot in my heart for the F4s.
Mtn Home had the F4s Then Boise (Idaho National Guard) had them.
Working at the end of the flight line on helicopters, it was a real joy to see (and feel) them take off in the early mornings. If I was in the right place at the time I could see the blue rings from the afterburners when they lit up.
 
I love the Phantom F-4 only because I was visiting in Cheyenne,Wyoming during Frontier Days in 1971 with my family, aunt Peggy, uncle Cecil and cousins. Uncle Cec was retired Air Force. Worked on the nuclear Minute Man missiles out there at the Warren airbase and no he didn't say anything about them as they were all sworn to secrecy. Aunt Peg use to laugh if World War III started, they'd be the first to go as the Russians would be targeting all the missile silos that were buried out there.
The Thunderbirds would always show up during Frontier Days and oh my gosh, they really tore up the town.
My uncle had an "in" to the local airport and we stood about 200 feet from the runway that the Thunderbirds in the Phantom F-4 were going to use for practice.
Oh man, you want to hear a rumble? In practice they go nuts! I saw them in Phantoms at airshows but out in the open in Wyoming they really cut loose. The roar of the two engines in "burner" on a straight up vertical climb was unbelievable. They were really "loose" in the wide open spaces and consider being blessed I got to see their practice flights.
I went to the A.F Thunderbird site some years ago and in one of the "human interest" pieces, they asked the current pilots if they could fly an airplane from the past in display what would they choose? The current guys from then replied, "The Phantom F-4." Was so impressive of a display fighter but probably cost a butt load of fuel to fly. A Mack truck with wings as the saying goes.
Unloaded of ordnance could really fly like hell!!!

Kurt Savegnago
 

When I was a kid, all the other kids pretended their bicycles were some sort of sports or race car. My bicycle was a P51-D Mustang! When I got older, I still appreciated the beautiful bird; but I also learned that the Pittsburgh area contributed a disproportionately large number of pilots for the "Redtails", the Tuskeegee Airmen. There is a memorial nearby in the Sewickley Cemetery; and a friend of mine was present as an 8 year old n 1946 when one of the Tuskeegee pilots, now flying B-24's, buzzed the town at near steeple-top. He scared the wits out of half the town! Before the war, he had to go to the "colored" YMCA, and he could not caddy at the local (and very exclusive) country club, due to the amount of melanin in his skin. Now every year, the local Air Force Reserve or Air National Guard does a re-enactment flyover for the Memorial day parade. For my memorial, this one sits on my desk (quality isn't so hot, sorry).
DSCN3404_cr.jpg
 
Most beautiful aircraft ... that’s kinda’ a fools errand. Like saying whom is the most beautiful woman. Too many to pick from.

Anyway the X-3 Stiletto, F-20 Tigershark and the XB-70 Valkyrie should have been on the list here somewhere.
 

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Looks like the folks on the left saw what was coming, and knew the results of the passing. The dust in the background is telling.
I’ve not had this happen to me with an F-4, but have had it happen to me with a Bell L3. Scared the living c**p outa me. Not many times the pilots pulled one over me, but occasionally they did.
 
The F4 not be the prettiest jet, or the most capable, but it sure looks menacing and yet graceful at low altitude in the air. When I was in the Navy flying club on North Island, I'd sometimes be #2 for takeoff: what a noise they make on full AB from a hundred ft away! But the best was when I was in the approach pattern in my Cessna 150 coming up from the South bay of San Diego harbor, and one of the F4s buzzed me from behind and about 100 ft below going the same direction: it's the only time I've heard another airplane while flying one. It really startled me, but was great to see him blast by (gear down, coming in to land on a different runway at the same base). It later turned out I knew the pilot personally: he was the chief check pilot for the flying club. The only time I've flown under ACTUAL IFR conditions was with him on a progress check when I was a student; the day was socked in with low thin stratus when we returned and he called for a GCR approach. Much easier than watching the glideslope/localizer, just do what the controller tells you to do. I passed that check, and got my Private ticket a few weeks later...
 
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