Fighter Jets both old and new - A picture thread...

Sopwith Camel

http://www.vintageaviation.net/_borders/Original_Sopwith_Camel2.jpg

http://www.strange-mecha.com/aircraft/Delta/fd1.JPG

Savage! What's that?

Hawker Hurricane
http://www.militaryaircraft.de/pictures/military/aircraft/Hurricane/Hawker-Hurricane_RIAT2006_007_800.jpg

YBOW!

Heinkel He 162

http://avions.legendaires.free.fr/Images/Ghe162.jpg

F-29 Retaliator!!!

http://f-19.hp.infoseek.co.jp/retal/f29.png

Some of these are real funny looking jets.

qf-106

http://www.dfrc.nasa.gov/gallery/photo/Eclipse/Small/EC97-43932-16.jpg

I thought jets had jet engines?

P47 Thunderbolt aka The Jug

http://www.puzzlehistory.com/p47.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/0/00/020930-O-9999G-011.jpg/800px-020930-O-9999G-011.jpg

(aye, should be "fighter planes" I suppose)

The F29 was real!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/91/Grumman-X29-InFlight.jpg/800px-Grumman-X29-InFlight.jpg

Grumman X29

Has anyone tried the hidden flight sim in Google Earth? My laptop's too slow to run in decently, but it's still really good fun.

http://www.zap16.com/ILA2006/ILA06-Me262-replica-01.jpg

Me-262

I thought jets had jet engines?

-- nate woolls, Thursday, 6 September 2007 15:09 (Thursday, 6 September 2007 15:09)

BOLLOCKS! Well that was a bad typo. Sorry all!

Starfighter

http://www.richard-seaman.com/Wallpaper/Aircraft/Fighters/Starfighter230.jpg

Venom

http://www.richard-seaman.com/Aircraft/AirShows/Oshkosh2001/SeaVenom/Flying/SeaVenom8oClockBanking-10.jpg

Mig 17

http://www.richard-seaman.com/Wallpaper/Aircraft/Fighters/SilverMig17.jpg

F-86 Sabre

http://haviland.org/images/f86lg1.jpg

haha ledge

ME262 is awesome. Is that one of the texas airplane company's replicas?

Gotha model 229:

http://www.kheichhorn.de/assets/images/Go229_2.jpg

Dornier 335, the most badass looking fighter plane ever invented:

http://afwing.top81.cn/combat/loo/images/do335.JPG
http://www.cnw.mk.ua/weapons/airforce/fighter/do335/image/flyin335.jpg

"fuck you, I have two engines"

High point of britisher fighter aircraft tech:

Uh Pash:

http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/harrier-swa.jpg

Joke. I know it was a US-GB thing!

I love the old WWII planes. This brings back a lot of memories of micro machines.

Actually off topic but speaking of ME 2_2s I've always loved the 232. Can't find a good pick unfortunately.

But F75 Tigercats are k-wrowr!

http://www.richard-seaman.com/Aircraft/AirShows/Chino2004/Sampler/F7fTigercats.jpg

Oh wait, two photos found:

http://www.aviationtrivia.homestead.com/files/me323_06.jpg
http://www.aviationtrivia.homestead.com/files/me323_3.jpg

Oh well if we're getting off the fighther plane thing, the JU287 r00lz all:

http://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft/imgs/ju287.jpg

That doesn't even look like it could fly.

Ha ha we weren't but YES to more planes that make me go WTF! (xpost)

Did it fly Pash?

B-24 Liberator

http://www.jetplanes.co.uk/vintageaircraft/liberator/liberator.jpg

No Elvis Telecom on the thread yet = this thread is not legit. Prepare for about 300 new answers in an hour when he sees this.

LOL @ crashed lego stuka

http://www.mocpages.com/user_images/307/1186381345_SPLASH.jpg

(xpost) Brilliant!

One of my favourite models to build, the Stuka was.

http://www.stukas.freeservers.com/Stuka1.jpg

It did actually fly, yes. The Russians captured the second prototype, built it up, and flew that, too:

http://tanks45.tripod.com/Jets45/Histories/Ju-287/Ju-287.htm

Holy shit like. Look at these people. THAT is real modelling:

http://www.wmwa.org/Gallery/F-15Dean.jpg

The bloody things fly as well.

http://www.boeing.com/companyoffices/aboutus/wonder_of_flight/images/p51mustang_500.jpg

The real battles of WWII were which nation -- US or Germany -- would build the baddest-looking fighters

Ooooh good one. My heart says Germany but my body says GB cos of this bad boy:

http://www.britishaircraft.co.uk/pictures/tempest.jpg

xp someone got happy with the motion blur tool there

Pah, forget the B-24, go for the supersize version, the B32!

http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/URG/images/b32-2.jpg

"baddest looking fighter" = easy victory for USAAF:

http://www.af.mil/shared/media/photodb/photos/021002-O-9999G-008.jpg

You don't want to mess w/that, do you. Look at the gun turret on top of the thing, it's like a flying tank!

That's straight out of starwars. Is that really a fighter?

It is! It's the P-61 Black Widow which I was looking for a good picture of :)

What a perfect name. Have a good day all!

http://www.ricsartshop.com/Merchant2/graphics/00000001/Black%20Widow%20P-61_053.jpg

Gotta rep Candialand here - our greatest (and possibly ONLY) contribution to the world of airborne military hardware. I present, from the 1950s, through scandal and mystery (Dan Akroyd was in a film about it), the AVRO ARROW:

http://gateway.uvic.ca/schoolnet/digicol/gp-images/gpdetail/d83-188.1.4.19.jpg
http://www.robertvanderhorst.com/artwork_images/The%20AVRO%20Arrow.jpg
http://www.wingweb.co.uk/img/aircraft/Avrow_arrow_rollout_top.jpg

yeeeeeah!

Looks nice man! Very like the Dassault Mirage. Was there some kind of tidal shift that said "Hey, let's make 'em all look like paper aeroplanes!"

http://www.histoiredumonde.net/images/20_eme_siecle/avions/mirage3/intro.jpg

This thread rules!

How bout some avro vulcan? http://quicklink.all.googlepages.com/avro_vulcan_04_04.jpg

goose, you are gone but not forgotten...
http://www.conservativethinking.com/files/f-14.jpg
f14 tomcat

-- Michael Dudikoff presents Action Adventure Theatre

Okay, best user name in a LONG while.

http://www.warbirdalley.com/images/mig21.jpg

Mig-21. Still my favourite.

As long as we're thinking in Russian:
Mig-31 FIREFOX!
http://www.brain-tuning.de/images/firefox1.jpg

That's from Gundam, dude.

??

you guys might like Jets'n'Guns

ha i'm gonna de-lurk for this one...

ACHTUNG!

http://www.richard-seaman.com/Aircraft/AirShows/YankeeAirMuseum2006/Highlights/SpitfireCloseup.jpg

http://www.mobygames.com/images/covers/large/935206089-00.jpg

http://www.przygodoskop.pl/024/inne/adventurer02.jpg

http://www.oldtimerfan.nl/wp-content/galerij/gloster/meteor-f8/024dbdaabdb020423cccc415f716ee20_n.jpg

if this were an animal it'd be in a specimen jar on some victorian amateur scientist's shelf...

http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Aerospace/NorthAmerican/Aero37G7.jpg

http://www.math.univ-montp2.fr/~mohamadi/dasilvaweb/A10.jpg
A-10

xpost-What is that? A De Havallend or sommat? Time to step it up with this bad boy:

http://robocat.users.btopenworld.com/Images/f117a.jpg

http://robocat.users.btopenworld.com/Images/f117a.jpg

xpost x2 even.

it's a canberra mr aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

this isn't:

http://www.spyflight.co.uk/images/jpgs/buccaneer/buccs%20in%20echelon.jpg

naw mine was a meteor. canberra is big plane.

The thread title specified jets, but screw that...

Sopwith Camel

http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/images/sopwith_camel_original_500.jpg

Fokker Triplane

http://www.airtoair.net/store/cw2/Assets/product_full/10sport-fokkera.jpg

Fokker D.VII

http://www.centennialofflight.gov/essay/Air_Power/WWI_Combat/AP4G6.jpg

So many choices for WWII (personal faves - the P-47, F6F Hellcat, and the Mark V. Spitfire) but this may be the overall best:

The Mitsubishi Zero

http://www.orgsites.com/ca/cafsocalphoto/zero.jpg

Northrop XP-79

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1c/P79-1.jpg

Fighter version of the Flying Wing. Wasn't designed with any armaments, but with a magnesium leading edge. The idea was to ram through the tail section of your opponent with the fortified wing.

So much of my childhood was devoted to fighter plane lust. I love the A-10. Hands down my favorite airplane ever. I was also big into WWII ones, but never really liked the early US / Soviet cold war planes - all those 50's and 60's jets never really did it for me.

Other favorites:

P-38 Lighting:
http://www.kelleycows.com/images/p38.jpg

Messerschmitt ME 109:
http://www.zap16.com/images/ME_109.jpg

B-25 Mitchell:
http://www.richard-seaman.com/Aircraft/AirShows/Nellis2005/Highlights/NellisB25From2oClock.jpg

And not a plane, but the most awesome helicopter ever = The Mi-24 Hind:

Oops

http://www.isra.org/drawing_a_bead/mi24-hind-helicopter.jpg

F-100

http://home.worldonline.nl/~hsc/F100/F-100%20ThB.jpg

I believe this was the first operational supersonic fighter.

P-26. One of the only fighters built by Boeing.

http://www.air-and-space.com/19780903%20Chino/31%20P-26A%20N3378G%20left%20front%20l.jpg

These fockes were Messerschmitts! </stan boardman>

Messerschmitt Bf 109
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/91/BF109BLACK6.jpg

(bah xpost, duplicate Messerschmitt)

Northrop built some wacky stuff. Here's the XP-56

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5d/Northrop_XP-56_238353.jpg

These Fockes aren't Messerschmitts!

Focke-Wulf Fw 190
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/2a/Fw_190As_in_flight.jpg

high-altitude phallic symbol

http://www.espionageinfo.com/images/eeis_03_img0989.jpg

http://lynchmob.freeyellow.com/02-john-h-p-51.jpg

p-51 mustang

http://www.airforce-technology.com/projects/s-3b/images/S3Viking_1.jpg

S-3 Viking, AKA the plane Dubya got to play soldier on. Mission accomplished, indeed.

F7F Tigercat

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/75/F7F-3P_Tigercat.jpg/250px-F7F-3P_Tigercat.jpg

F8F. About as badass as you can get.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e7/F8F1boxeroversf.jpg

http://www.discogs.com/image/R-189588-1165803100.jpeg

f-111

skua

http://www.jaapteeuwen.com/ww2aircraft/pictures/jpg/blackburn%20b24%20skua%20I.jpg

XB-70. Everything else can fuck off.

http://www.kheichhorn.de/assets/images/north_American_XB70_Valkyrie.jpg

P-40 with the Flying Tigers

http://www.walnutridge-aaf.com/P40a.jpg

scratch one Italian battleship

http://www.aviation-news.co.uk/media/July-2.jpg

Oh man, I spent countless hours as a kid reading about military aircraft. Here's Romania's lone WWII fighter, the IAR-80:

http://www.casusbelli.com.ar/aire/2gm/otrasnaciones/IAR_80.jpg

ripped from today's headlines

http://www.jetfly.hu/rovatok/repules/katonai/hirek/topten_bombers_070518/Tu95_V.jpg

The incredibly ungainly-looking Saab Tunnan:
http://avions.legendaires.free.fr/Images/Gj29.jpg

Messerschmitt Me-163. Scary scary scary. Five minutes of rocket fuel and a 50% chance of exploding on you.

http://www.kheichhorn.de/assets/images/me163b-1a_takeoff.jpg

I see your Bear, and raise you one Peacemaker

http://www.globalaircraft.org/photos/planephotos/b-36_1.jpg

(always a favorite of mine, due to stories about them from my grandpa)

scratch one Italian battleship

HAI, I SUNK YR BISMARCK TOO

http://www.vectorsite.net/avsword_1.jpg

(always a favorite of mine, due to stories about them from my grandpa)

Same here. When my parents first moved to California, my dad got a job at Convair working on the jet engine retrofits to the initial prop-only B-36s. Best thing I like about the B-36s is the unusual sound they made - it's like the worlds largest drone symphony. (I've got a recording of a B-36 flyby - it's wonderful)

Here's another B-36

http://people.virginia.edu/~rjr/engines/b36.jpg

oops erm 'my bad'

THIS is a canberra (or 3):

http://www.aeroplaneart.com.au/Images/JSJ_PC_English_Electric_Canberras_B_Mk_2.jpg

The Junkers Ju-390, designed to fly transatlantic missions and bomb the east coast of America:

http://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft/imgs/ju390_2.jpg

Smile for the camera!

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/staff/simongray/u2.jpg

http://www.diggerhistory.info/images/air-ww2/beaufighterattack.jpg

I remember my grandpa talking about testing the B-36s with the jet engines (and maybe JATO as well?) and counting the times he almost died (at least a dozen).

B-47 with full RATO packs going.

http://www.tayyareci.com/amerikanucak/postww2/b-47.jpg

Always liked the B-47 because it was the first model kit I ever built.

The second model kit I built was a B-58 Hustler

http://www.globalaircraft.org/photos/planephotos/b-58_1.jpg

Mig-25 Foxbat

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/MiG-25_fig2agrau_USAF.jpg

I didn't realize until years later that the NATO codenames all began with the same letter (Foxbat, Fiddler, Flogger, etc.)

Mig-29

http://lankapage.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/air_mig-29_lg.jpg

F4F Wildcat

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/55/F4F-3_new_pitot_tube_of_later_model.jpg

I love the old-style AAC insignia.

Blohm und Voss wins the WWII WTF contest. Here's the BV-141. Yes the cockpit is on the wing

http://aeroweb.brooklyn.cuny.edu/database/aircraft/showimage.php?id=7108

OK what?

BV-142

http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/LRG/images/bv142-2.jpg

http://www.richard-seaman.com/Wallpaper/Aircraft/Attack/Ov10From2oClock.jpg

OK what?

The idea was that the asymmetrical layout would give better visibility (and it did) and that the added drag on one side would be offset by the torque from the motor (it was). However the initial engine wasn't powerful enough and by the time a better engine was outfitted, the FW-189 was on the scene.

Here's a FW-189

http://www.afwing.com/combat/Normandie%20Nieman/fw189.jpg

F-107

http://www.globalaircraft.org/photos/planephotos/f-107_1.jpg

I see Ned was right!

The B58 is hands down the best-looking warplane the US has ever designed.

I used to have the Monogram 1/72 scale B36, I never did finish building & painting it, it was too big!

That Junkers 390 IIRC did a one-off test flight and got pretty close to the US coast. The other "Amerika-Bomber", the ME-264 was a sinister looking machine:

http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/LRG/images/lrg0067.jpg

XP-67 Bat. Looked great, but not much of a performer

http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/shared/media/photodb/photos/061024-F-1234P-031.jpg

Weird and fucked-up looking the old bv141 might have been, I'd still put the JU287 up at the top of the luftwaffe WTF league:

http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/LRG/images/ju287-1.jpg

http://www.oscars.org/press/pressreleases/images/021230.jpg

The Jets are gonna win...TONIGHT!

Vultee XP-54 "Swoose Goose" (yes, that was the official nickname)

http://www.personal.kent.edu/~ccarey/pages/images/p54-5.jpg

I think the idea was for a pusher-prop/canard airframe that could handle a pile of guns in the front.

Curtiss' version: The XP-55

http://www.daveswarbirds.com/usplanes/photos/xp-55_2.jpg

I'd still put the JU287 up at the top of the luftwaffe WTF league

Yeah, the only way to beat that is with the Luftwaffe's Antarctic Saucer Squadron or that Horten bomber that never made it off the drawing boards.

Sukhoi Su-100/T-4

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/13/SU-100_T4.JPG/800px-SU-100_T4.JPG

http://fotodj.com/wallpaper/images/B-17G%20Flying%20Fortress%20-%20Willow%20Run%202004.jpg

B-17

XF-85 Goblin. Designed to be carried inside a B-36

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0c/McDonnell_XF-85_Goblin_USAF.jpg/800px-McDonnell_XF-85_Goblin_USAF.jpg

Ha, luftwaffe saucer squadron, wthe rubbish you have to sift through in order to find the actual real Luftwaffe flying disc, the Sack AS6:

http://www.luft46.com/misc/as6-1.jpg
http://www.luft46.com/misc/as6-6.jpg

I don't think it actually got off the ground. Unlike the American equivalent:

http://home.cinci.rr.com/estople/weirdair/v-173.jpg!!!

Heinkel He-111Z "Zwilling" Two He-111s put together to tow gliders.

http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/LRG/images/he111z-2.jpg

http://www.globalaircraft.org/photos/planephotos/x-15_3.jpg

x-15. not so much a plane as a manned missile.

Convair Sea Dart. Supersonic sea plane

http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/performance/speed-record/sea-dart1.jpg

You used to be able to get a 1/72 model of that!

USAAF wtf equivalent of the JU287, the Cornelius XFG1:

http://www.aerofiles.com/corn-xfg1.jpg

What was that weird-looking delta-winged US navy carrier fighter from the '50's? Google is not helping.

Not the skyray

The Republic XF-84H "Thunderscreech"

Potentially the fastest propeller-driven plane, but quite possibly the loudest airplane ever built. On engine warm up, the propeller blades traveled at supersonic speed creating a complex spiral of rapidfire shock waves that were, er, detrimental to ground crews. Normal ear protection made no difference and an unprotected person even at a distance was subjected to a battery of shock waves that caused spasms, vomiting, and spontaneous bowel loosening.

The Edwards guys demanded that Republic test the plane on the opposite side of the lake bed and no USAF pilot ever flew it. Two were built, but only one flew (and that was for only ten hours.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4b/XF-84H.jpg/800px-XF-84H.jpg

woah

What was that weird-looking delta-winged US navy carrier fighter from the '50's? Google is not helping.

The F7U Cutlass?

http://avia.russian.ee/pictures/usa/chance_cutlass.jpg

The F7 "cutlass"!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b3/F7UCutlass.jpg/741px-F7UCutlass.jpg

Wikipedia is good for something....

I really like all these '50's and '60's planes, there's a real sense of anything-goes about the designs.

haha, xpost.

The Sea Dart makes me think of the EKRANOPLAN

http://www.intrepidearth.com/tour/07/01/24/images/antishipping.jpeg

Ye old PB-Y

http://www.uscg.mil/History/WEBAIRCRAFT/AC_PBY_V189overSanDiego_300.jpg

I really like all these '50's and '60's planes, there's a real sense of anything-goes about the designs.

I heart the little Korean War-era jets. There's such a great simplicity to them and the WWII-era dogfighting tactics when nothing was bogged down with missiles, anti-missile systems, etc. etc.

F9F Cougar

http://www.lemoore.navy.mil/vfa-146/Images/F9F-8.jpg

Mig-15

http://www.globalaircraft.org/photos/planephotos/mig-15_1.jpg

P-80

http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/thumb/e/eb/250px-P80.600pix.jpg

Bell P-39. American pilots didn't really go for it (they didn't like the car-style doors, the mid-engine, and it's squirrelly behavior) so they gave them away cheap to the Soviet Air Force who loved it and used them with great effect as a tank buster.

http://www.globalaircraft.org/photos/planephotos/p-39_1.jpg

http://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft/imgs/a6.jpg

There was a film about these things starring Willem Dafoe. I was somewhat obssesed with it as an eight year old.

xpost-What is that? A De Havallend or sommat? Time to step it up with this bad boy:

Okay this thread took off (v bad pun. Sorry)

I love the Tunnan!

I've got a recording of a B-36 flyby - it's wonderful

YSI?

I see Ned was right!

Re. Elvis Telecom? OTM. Seriously Elvis, loving it!

I think that this is a pretty cool pic:

F18

http://www.grahamowen.com/images8/C-F18-sonic.jpg

LOLZ @ Accidental misfire:

http://www.grahamowen.com/images8/D-wrongbutton1-2.jpg

http://www.grahamowen.com/images8/D-wrongbutton2-2.jpg

Tu-22 Blinder. One of the first Soviet supersonic bombers, it was a pain to fly, maintain, and use operationally. The Soviet Union ended up selling them to Iraq and Libya.

http://www.enemyforces.com/aircraft/tu22_2.jpg

<img src="http://www.heritageflight.org/images/Aircraft%20Photos/A_10_burning_tank.jpg";>

NEED MOAR WARTHOGS

http://www.heritageflight.org/images/Aircraft%20Photos/A_10_burning_tank.jpg

NEED MOAR WARTHOGS

AGREED

http://jetpix.com/wingsoffreedom/A-10_800.jpg

The Jaguar

http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20031207/spectrum/flight3.jpg

F5E (Swiss Airforce)

http://www.airshowaction.com/axalp/axalp159.jpg

I can just see the accidental misfire pilot being dressed down by a bald headed squadron captain. And then him buzzing the tower after his next successful mission.

Cheating a bit but the Bristol 'Fighter'

http://www.carpages.co.uk/bristol/bristol_images/bristol_fighter_t_08_11_06.jpg

To make up for it the F16

http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:sQkK6WAzzlMWgM:http://www.usu.edu/afrotc/images/f16%2520loaded.jpg

Hope this is bigger:

http://www.usu.edu/afrotc/images/f16%20loaded.jpg

Blohm und Voss wins the WWII WTF contest. Here's the BV-141. Yes the cockpit is on the wing

http://aeroweb.brooklyn.cuny.edu/database/aircraft/showimage.php?id=7108

― Elvis Telecom, Thursday, 6 September 2007 20:34 (1 year ago) Bookmark

Footage of the weird thing actually flying:

wow millenium falcon plane

Yeah, the Germans (Blohm und Voss in particular) worked on some really crazy asymmetrical designs during the war.

Personal faves:

http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/6741/ta152h138wx.jpg
Focke-Wulf Ta 152H, WW2's premiere high-altitude fighter

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y6/akadaver/AIR_MiG_144_Display_Top_lg.jpg
MiG 1.44 flight test prototype from the now-abandoned MFI program

OK, I somehow seriously messed that one up.

http://img130.imageshack.us/img130/6741/ta152h138wx.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y6/akadaver/AIR_MiG_144_Display_Top_lg.jpg

Saunders-Roe SR.53. Equipped with both jet and rocket motors. Hit the rockets to quickly get up to bomber interception altitude and then return with the jets. The SR.177 was going to follow on from this but was scrapped as new SAMs came on-line.

http://www.aviastar.org/pictures/england/saunders_sr-53_1.jpg

It was Air Force Los Angeles day last week and I took these on the way to work

B-1

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3221/3030588154_dab1ac1604.jpg

B-52

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3250/3029753725_9040c15168.jpg

And coolest of all... A U-2

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3056/3030590034_47e828f2be.jpg

Took the pictures I mean. Can't quite take a U-2 to work yet.

hehe

Can't believe I forgot this one... Saab 37 Viggen

http://www.xplanefreeware.net/barry/X-Plane%208.0/Viggen%20AJ_screenshot%20815.jpg

A Saab Viggen and it's replacement. The Gripen.

http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/aircraft-pictures/viggrip.jpg

http://www.dreamlandresort.com/aircraft/F-104.jpg

Prefer the Draken...
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e5/Saab_Draken.jpg/800px-Saab_Draken.jpg

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4c/SAAB_DRAKEN.png

Seeing that pic of the B-1 reminded me of its Russian big brother, the Tu-160:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y6/akadaver/tupolev_tu160_blackjack_l3.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y6/akadaver/Tu-160_57.jpg

And yeah, Drakens are great! I always loved the look of those intakes and the compound delta wing. The steeply raked tail just screams "I go fast".

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y6/akadaver/dkntps1l30a1b40wi6.jpg

on a similar design tip...
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c9/F-16XL_afg-041110-016.jpg/300px-F-16XL_afg-041110-016.jpg
F-16XL

Totally badass: Vought XF8U-3 Crusader III. Capable of Mach 2.9, but the windscreen would have melted had it actually gone that fast.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y6/akadaver/db_4501_07.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y6/akadaver/f8u-3_12.jpg

Not forgetting the crusader's younger brother, the corsair, I used to love these when I was making shedloads of model planes:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/61/A-7E_Corsair_II.JPEG/300px-A-7E_Corsair_II.JPEG

speaking of model planes, I had one of these...
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/42/Jaguar.sideon.arp.jpg/800px-Jaguar.sideon.arp.jpg

When I was eight/nine I planned to make a full squadron of these
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/ce/Red.arrows.single.arp.750pix.jpg
using a rather excellent Japanese import kit, but lost interest after two.

One of the first models I remember building as a kid was of an F-4J I got for my 8th birthday, with markings just like this one:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y6/akadaver/c182.jpg

A favourite later on was a Bf 109G-10. Sitting next to the other planes on my shelf, you really got an appreciation for how sleek and deadly it looked compared to, say, a P-40.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y6/akadaver/1278951.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y6/akadaver/071017-F-1234S-032.jpg

let's try the F-104 again

http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/usa/airdef/f-104-E-5071.jpg

Nice picture of some Drakens on FlightGlobal today

http://www.flightglobal.com/blogs/aircraft-pictures/2008/08/29/drakkensmall.jpg

i'm here to hurt you
http://www.air-attack.com/MIL/eurofighter/eurofighter_paveway.jpg

Eurofighter Typhoon IPA3 carrying 4 x Paveway II, 4 x AMRAAM air-to-air missiles, 2 x IRIS-T air-to-air missiles, and 3 x 1,000l external fuel tanks

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c0/Two_F-22_Raptor_in_flying.jpg/763px-Two_F-22_Raptor_in_flying.jpg

One crashed in California the other day. Pilot killed and $140 million up in smoke.

$140 million, you sure?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c0/Two_F-22_Raptor_in_flying.jpg/763px-Two_F-22_Raptor_in_flying.jpg

Well, CNN says $150 million, but I saw $140 million in other reports. There are two of them in that picture, so I that's actually closer to $300 million. But what's 10 million here or there when we're talking about AIR SUPREMACY.

$65 billion project, which is more than the GDP of 2/3 of the countries in the world.

Sukhoi's new T-50 PAK-FA flew this morning. Looks like the lovechild of a Su-27 and YF-23:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y6/akadaver/pak.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y6/akadaver/201001291030avisnapshot.jpg

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y6/akadaver/60867473.jpg

http://www.airplane-pictures.net/images/uploaded-images/2007-11/28/8237.jpg

It does not really need saying that this aircraft was painted in the seemingly outrageous very pale pink (nearly white) colour all over. However there were very sound reasons for this: (1) the aircraft were supposed normally to operate just below the cloud base and, when seen from the ground, this colour merges well with the cloud, however, from above it was highly visible to enemy fighters; (2) the main reason for it was to carry out operations at sunrise and sunset when the sun is low in the sky, and the pink colour made the aircraft all but invisible at low altitude to ground forces.

The greatest drawback of the pink camouflage was that this colour made the pilots feel very vulnerable even though this was not the case. The pink colour was only ever used on Spitfires and was still being used on the F.R. Mk. IXC's of 16 Sqn after D-Day when based in continental Europe (complete with D-Day stripes). There are some excellent colour photos of the latter taken on "captured" German Agfa 35 mm film by a 16 Sqn pilot. Copies are available in the RAF Museum collection and they have been published in a number of books.

Some nice photos from the Edwards AFB air show last year. I love fly-bys with both current and vintage planes in them...

http://home.comcast.net/~bzee1a/Edwards09/DBZ_8599.jpg

the f22 is so good that the f35 just looks like a malformed pygmy
pak-fa rly nice too, although more classicist with hints of the b2 and various 4th gen aircraft
nothing beyond aesthetic considerations naturally

First person view of everything required to fly the P-51
http://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/this-amazing-first-person-view-shows-every-move-it-take-1698638721

Neither fighters nor jets but I was out walking yesterday and a B-17, a B-25, and a C-47 all flew overhead.

Were you somewhere in... the past ??
I may have said it already but the opening picture of this threas is great.
I've always found the F4 so cool and massive.
As for the Mig21, I remember a few years ago at Hanoi international airport : parked on the side they still had Mig21s !
Surely they're not in service anymore but then why were they in their individual hangars and seemingly operational...

I live not far from what was a huge bomber plant in WWII (where apparently none of these were actually produced) and it was VJ Day so I’m guessing the historical plane nerds got together for a ride.

They were LOUD in a way I’m not used to hearing

Really ? not louder than modern jets, surely ?
I've always wondered how loud/impressive those WWII bomber operations including hundreds of planes must have been...

I literally can't imagine what this must have looked/sounded like !

"On the morning of March 18, 1,329 bombers and 733 fighters of the US Eighth Air Force formed up over England and set a course for northern Germany. The target for 1,221 of the bombers was Berlin. This mission, the largest wartime raid on Berlin, was intended to support the Russian advance by attacking rail stations and tank factories in the city."

I have friends who live close to the Minneapolis airport and definitely not as loud as jets right overhead.

But they were flying kind of low and I don’t know if I’ve ever heard a prop plane with more than one engine before - they were sort of buzzing in and out of tune with each other so very droney

Speaking of F4s, due to the situation between Greece and Turkey , I've learned that the Greek AF still has around 30 F4s in service !

As for the sound of modern jets, since my parents live near the Bourget airport, near Paris, where there's an international air show every two years, I'm quite used to see/hear them fly over and they're noisy af !

TOMBOT to thread, kinda curious about his take on the f-35 debacle, where the money went, and if it's a good plane

I don't have a lot of good insight into how the F-35 went so wrong, other than collusion between parts of the Pentagon and Lockheed Martin to force the DoD to put all its eggs in one basket.

Here's a decent piece on what might ought to happen to avoid repeating those mistakes in the future: https://nationalinterest.org/blog/buzz/how-air-force-could-avoid-f-35-trap-47737

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/35947/navy-f-a-18-squadron-commanders-take-on-ai-repeatedly-beating-real-pilot-in-dogfight

Fun read.