Your Favorite Aircraft?

[tbzep]

After looking at everybody else's favorites, I'm beginning to think that there has never been a plane I didn't like.

 

[jpaw33]

I REALLY LIKE THE GERMAN FW-190 FOCKE WOLF
:eyepop:

 

[privateer]

Yes, all good choices!

I have to concur on the DC10, though. Douglas built 'em tough, and they will be missed when they are gone.

 

[Bunsen Honeydew]

For me:

Favorite bomber B-17
Favorite fighter F4U

https://www.airliners.net/photo/Boeing-B-17G-Flying/1403220/L/&sid=bbea96584c98df37eed4148009f0dc61

 

[genimijim]

What's your favorite airplane?

Mine is the DC-10, hands down.
QUOTE]

WOW this is hard............:confused2:

First plane I got a ride is was a Piper Cub then a De Haviland Tiger Moth.

Still love the sound and smell of a huge radial......F4U Corsair
The sweet sound of a Merlin.......P51 Mustang
The deafing roar of a B36 Peacemaker:y:
The scream of a F86 Sabre & F100 Super Saber:eyepop:
The sight & sound of a B58 Hustler, makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck.:shock:
I was fortunate to see these aircraft fly at airshows during the early and mid 60's.

It would have to be the Piper Cub.

I would of loved to see a ME 262 fly, love WWII aircraft but there are a lot of good aircraft from different era's.

 

[als57]

A couple Cold warriors top my list:

The B-58 Hustler

The XB-70 Valkarie

Honorable mention:

The A-10 Warthog

Al

 

[Huge Blues]

Jack Northrup's Flying Wings.

Also quite fond of B-29's and MiG 15's

 

[Sailorbill]

Consolidated B-24 Liberator. My best friends dad was a crew chief on one and he still had all of the maintenance manuals. We read those from cover to cover. More B-24s were built than B-17 yet so few survive.
Next Hawker Hurricane, one of the first Weekly Reader Book Club books I purchased was about the Hurricane. I still have the book.
B-58 Hustler was cool too. I saw one while visiting my aunt and Uncle in Fort Worth, TX.
SR-71 Blackbird (Habu). When the ship I was on would on load or offload supplies in Okinawa they would make their final approach directly above us.
Fast and effective at what they did. I still think they should be flying.
B-52, the aircraft just will not quit.
I could go on and on. Aircraft are like women, you can find something to like in all of them.

 

[MKP]

I don't think they make 'um much prettier than the Supermarine Spitfire.

https://www.flightglobal.com/airspace/photos/berniec/images/23306/supermarine-spitfire.jpg

 

[WAC_Hal]

Staggerwing Beech

Real airplanes have round engines and two wings!

I see one of these fly around my area about every two or three weeks.

About five miles from where I live is the Beechcraft Heritage Museum. They have most every model of aircraft Beech made. Some real beauties!

 

[MaxQ]

Sometimes when it's so ugly - it's cool...the Wilga utility tow plane.

On the other hand, ... I like what aerobatic champion Svetlana Kapanina flies.

What the plane (Sukhoi 26) looks like is almost irrelevant.

[

 

[Serenity]

As others have said, it's difficult to pick just one. The P51, P38, F4U, C5, F104, B70, the Vulcan, B36, B58, SR-71.....

One that has always fascinated me is the TU-95 Bear. Swept wings with props - 4 contra-rotating props - how cool is that?

What would you like to see flying together in formation? I'd like to see a B36 Peacemaker with a TU-95 Bear.

 

[Kaycee]

I don't think they make 'um much prettier than the Supermarine Spitfire.

https://www.flightglobal.com/airspace/photos/berniec/images/23306/supermarine-spitfire.jpg

A man after my own heart, for sure.


My ALL-TIME Favorites:

#1 Supermarine Spitfire--sexy and fast!

And a great movie is The Battle of Britain.


#2 DeHavilland Mosquito--double sexy and even faster!

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057811/ 633 Squadron is a not-so-good movie, but it's about the Mossie, so what's not to like?



My ancestry cannot be denied...

 

[bobkrech]

Like Lays potato chips, no one can eat just one. Haven't seen a plane I didn't like, but some are more memorable than others.

First flight: A Northeast Airlines Connie shuttle from Boston to NYC when I was 10.

Favorite Airliner: Lockheed L-1011. Not the best interior design but rock stable in flight. Safest airliner ever built.

Best ride: Upper deck of a BA 747-400 from Tokyo to London.

First non-commercial: Grumman AA1B. Hot little plane. Too fast for some, poor rate of climb if you follow the book, but really nice.

WWII Bomber: B-24 Liberator. Longer range and greater bomb load than a B-17. A real work horse.

WWII Fighters: Too hard to choose. Spitfire, Lightning, Mustang, Thunderbolt, Zero, ME-109, ME-262. All performed their missions well.

Cold War Bomber: B-58 Hustler. Fast and sleek, but a maintenance nightmare.

Cold War Fighter: F-4 Phantom. Last successful Tri-Service fighter. Performance figures still impressive but technology marches on.

Pilots Fighter: F-16 Falcon. The plane every fighter pilot wants to fly. Best visibility ever from a cockpit. Nimble and fast.

Adversary Fighter: SU-27 Flanker. Unbelievable, stomach wrenching maneuverability.

Pure Firepower: A-10 Warthog. Name says it all. Ugly but deadly. Most maneuverable ground attack A/C ever. My favorite purpose built A/C.

Bomb Bus: B-52 Stratofortress. 50+ and still going strong. Does everything and more.

Cargo Bus: Lockheed C-130. Also 50+ and counting. Go anywhere, any time cargo bus.

Untouchable: SR-71 Blackbird and F-117 Nighthawk. Different eras, different missions. Both were the best.

Bob

 

[tbzep]

I had to edit mine to add the B-47 to my list. I don't know why I forgot it. It had a short service life, but it was sleek, faster than fighters of its time, led the cold war charge for the USAF, and was the springboard for the Dash 80/707 and B-52.

 

[Bravo52]

Sometimes when it's so ugly - it's cool...the Wilga utility tow plane.

I have to agree.....the uglier the better.... My favorite 3 are:

1. Westland Wyvern
2. A6 Intruder
3. B-52.......kinda have to

 

[RocketT.Coyote]

Although I love the B-70, SR-71, F-4, F-15 and F-16, I gotta say that my all time favorite airplane is the T-38 Talon (and the F-5 fighter version). There's just something about that wasp-waist.

I was lucky to have seen the T-38 Thunderbirds perform at MBS International Airport in the mid-1970s.

My oldball prop favorite is the XF-84H Thunderscreech.
Favorite oddball jet is the German VJ-101C

 

[Uncrichie]

Like others I'd have to choose the A-10. Theres just something about a close quarters aircraft that belches depeated uranium rounds, oh yea! I live close (within 40 minutes) to the now closed Willow Grove Naval Air Station that housed an A-10 group. I would park in the visitor area during guard weekends and dream.

 

[MarkII]

Bell X-1.

MarkII

 

[andytherocketeer]

Concorde. Functional and pretty. Was good working at Filton, and living right under the final approach. Even better when Concorde taking off/landing, although that was rare due to noise concerns - doesn't half rattle the windows!

Been in Konkordski too

Or the Antonov An124. Our aircraft of choice for shipping sizeable hardware.

 

[BR549]

Gotta be the A10 for me. When I graduated tech school after joining the Air Force (in 1984), four Warthogs did a flyby of our formation. Been my favorite ever since.

 

[Pantherjon]

So ugly it is kind of cute! The McDonnell XF-85 Goblin..

 

[BAR_Daddy]

Mine would be the C-124 Globemaster.

(my dad was a load-master in Vietnam)

 

[dwmzmm]

Back in 1999 I had the chance to work on a few commercial cargo airlines; some of my favorites were the 747's, 727's, MD-11's and the DC-8's (got to work on all of them). We also worked on the Russian built AN-124's. A few pics below (the pic of the Air China 747, I'm "somewhere" in there....); oh, the airport I worked on these aircrafts was at Houston's IAH...

 

[brianc]

This photo accompanied an article about the F-22 program cancellation
in today's Orlando Sentinel. Too cool not to share!


The original, large image (suitable for desktop background) is available here-
https://www.af.mil/shared/media/photodb/photos/090622-N-7780S-914.jpg

 

[Delta-IV]

Like so many, its tough to choose...

Photo 1: My favorite plane that I actually flew in. A modified A26 that we used to test TurboProp engines. 18 flights 1985-1986 with Garrett Turbine Engine Co. I operated all of the flight test instrumentation on the test engine....on flight #17 the RH recip caught fire...came real close to making my 1st (still haven't done it) parachute jump out of a plane.

Photo 2: The plane I worked on until Dick Cheney cancelled it..we had 4 almost ready to fly.

Photo 3: The ATF that should had been choosen IMHO, The F23 was better looking than a F22 and guarenteed that McDonnell Douglas/Northrop wouldn't have taken upteen years for it to be operational. F22 -- 1st Flight: 1990, 1st production flight: 1997, entered service: 2005, cancelled 2009.

Photo 4: My favorite fighter of course. I worked on the program off and on from 1979 to 2000.

Photo 5: My favorite Space Plane.

 

[roadkill]

Wright 'The Flyer'

It took innovation to build it,
guts to get it airborne and
instinct to keep it flying...

 

[Dr.Zooch]

Okay- as a career pilot and former airline captain- I have to put in a bid here...

The aircraft that treated me the best are my picks starting with...

1- Falcon 10
2- Cessna T-303 Crusader
3 DHC Dash 7
4- Falcon 20
5 Beech 18, (just for not killing me)
6 King Air 200

I once was jump-seating with a NWA captain who was a few days from retirement- he said that after he retired he was gonna go to the desert and buy a 727, have it taken apart and shipped to his home and reassembled in his back yard. That way he could get up too early every morning, go out back and pi&& on it, then go crawl back into bed and sleep in. In keeping with that thought, my two LEAST favorite airplanes are:

1- 727
2- Saab 340 (both A and B models)

 

[user 13]

Obviously you have never flown a 727.

 

[MarkII]

Like so many, its tough to choose...
Photo 5: My favorite Space Plane.

This one wasn't too shabby, either.

MarkII