livinghistory.ie

Salvete Omnes!

This question is inspired by duchess, who say's the SR-71 is her favourite aircraft. If I had to pick just one, just in terms of visual aesthetics, it would have to be the North American Aircraft Corporation RA-5C Vigilante.




My favourite all round would have to be the F-4 Phantom - all versions but especially the F-4J.



And yours?

Thanks to my dad's WW2 interest and my personal enjoyment of Catch-22, I've always loved the B-25.

So chunky yet so useful

Hey, this is quite a good topic to get involved in. I had a rummage around the net, and I couldn't get or find any good pics.
But I have to say the best aircraft or should I say fighter jet lol for me has to be the f 16 eagle. I'll sit in the cockpit of one sometime in my life time I hope .

Its got to be the Mk. IX Spitefire or its derivitive the Mk. I Seafire (Esp in No. 1 Fighter Sqn. livery)

But there are others like the Boulton Paul fighter with the Roll-Royce power egg and the Martin-Baker Sabre engined fighters which never made it to production despite being marginall better than other aircraft.

What about this though...



Or for prop driven...



But my favorite cold war bird...

@Nerva
Thank you for lifting the three most unknown secrets of the Roman Empire. So the Circus Maximus was a runway for these birds??

Cathal wrote:@Nerva
Thank you for lifting the three most unknown secrets of the Roman Empire. So the Circus Maximus was a runway for these birds??

Dam, the secrets out

While I still stand by my love of the SR-71, it is hard not to admire the design of so many others, particularly the Electric Lightning, to tie in with one of your other posts "If I had a magic wand" I would in Thunder City, Cape Town going for a little sortie in an Electric Lightning, 50,000ft in 1 minute hitting Mach 2.2, now that's magic. If I were to pick an Aircraft for its beauty in flight, then it would now have to be without a doubt the F22-Raptor, while the jury is still out on the overall look of the aircraft, watching it fly is amazing.

This shot was taken at RAF Fairford the day before R.I.A.T was due to start this July, the aircraft were training.

duchess wrote: If I were to pick an Aircraft for its beauty in flight, then it would now have to be without a doubt the F22-Raptor, while the jury is still out on the overall look of the aircraft, watching it fly is amazing.

I still can't make up my mind about it's looks but I do agree, it's bloody marvelous looking in the air.

I watched the Vulcan fly over Farnborough in July and what an experience that was but I will always have to choose the Lancaster as my favourite combat aircraft.