Favorite Fighter Planes?

[FordPrefect]

F/A-18 Hornet (A to D models, also known as Baby or Legacy Hornets)
F-104 Starfighter

Love both designs.

 

[ghostrunner01]

A-10 for complete destruction. They were designed to fly with a wing ripped off and only one engine working!

:headbang:

F-22 for total awesomeness.

:headbang:

 

[Spike Spiegel]

From WWII my favorite is the P-38... I just like the way it looks. I also like the looks of the F-18. The A-10 is probably one of my favorite planes, just for its pure utility and toughness. I also like the new F-35B. I hope it can do a good job like the Harrier.

 

[PeterRoss]

My absolute favorite is Su-25. It's just everything to get the job done and to bring me home in one piece afterwards. I love especially the basic version before the Su-25T modification. Judging by 'Lock On: Flaming Cliffs' the latter is way too clumsy. I know it's a bad tone to judge about aircraft by a computer game, but then how else could I?

 

[Quick_Nick]

Any good modern fighter jet. (F/A-18 perhaps)
It's my dream to fly one. Not for the weapons or being in the military, just to privately own for the ride.

 

[Stevodoran]

Spitfire by far.

 

[yagni01]

In no particular order. . .
P-38
Fw-190
F-86
F-104
F-20 ( I don't think you said in production. . .)

 

[Mantis]

The Avro Arrow is my favorite. It was built in the 50s but was said to be 50 years ahead of it's time. Sadly, the program was cancelled before it became operational.

It was designed to be a high speed interceptor that could intercept Soviet bombers coming in over the north pole. The design requirements were astounding given that most contemprary aircrafter were only just barely supersonic. It was desinged to fly at speeds in excess of Mach 2 at altitudes above 55,000 feet. It could pull 2gs with no loss of speed or altitude and it had to be able to operate independent of ground control. It ended up being the first aircraft to carry it's own navigation and targeting computer, it was also the first aircraft to feature electronic fly-by-wire controls. It's weapons carrying capabilities were enormous and featured an internal weapons bay larger than the bomb bay of a B17 bomber. In test flights, it achieved speeds just below mach 2 with American made J75 engines which were 30% less powerful and 20% heavier than the Canadian designed and built Iroquois engines that it would carry operationally. Sadly, on the very morning that the first Iroquois eqipped Arrow was to take to the sky (and break all speed and altitude records of the day), the program was terminated and eventually all prototypes were destroyed.

 

[Urwumpe]

Yeah, the Arrow was too good for Canadian spineless politicians. :lol:

 

[Star Voyager]

...the program was terminated and eventually all prototypes were destroyed.

ALMOST all were destroyed (RL-206 ).

 

[Wonderer]

XB-70 Valkyrie It reminds me of a swan.

 

[Urwumpe]

The performance of the Arrow was not that special though, the EE lightning was already operational when the Arrow was canceled. Similar in the USA, the SAGE fighters had already been active back then.

The only real difference between both had been the armament ...the Arrow was able to carry more longer ranged missiles.

 

[Sunhillow]

From WW2 era, I like the Horten Ho-IX (aka Go-229) most - although only one prototype flew under jet power. Among piston engine planes, the P38 and Do 335 are my preferred ones.

Among newer designs my favourites are XB 70 Valkyrie, Su-34, Su-47

 

[yagni01]

XB-70 Valkyrie It reminds me of a swan.

No points for XB-70 as it was a bomber. I think YF-12/SR-71 should also be disqualified as, although an interceptor, no way to dogfight in that beast.

 

[Urwumpe]

No points for XB-70 as it was a bomber. I think YF-12/SR-71 should also be disqualified as, although an interceptor, no way to dogfight in that beast.

Why? You only need the enemy to draw numbers and be punctual on the appointments, because once you missed him, you need to fly a long turn until you are back...

 

[Evil_Onyx]

No points for XB-70 as it was a bomber. I think YF-12/SR-71 should also be disqualified as, although an interceptor, no way to dogfight in that beast.

YF-12 would have been a shoot and scoot type engagement, where the YF-12 would launch its missiles at max range and then run like hell, it would never have got into a dogfight situation to begin with.

 

[DanM]

F-16 for me, probably because my uncle helped design part of it. I've always loved the appearance of it, too. I'm also a pretty big fan of the Spitfire and P-51.

 

[N_Molson]

Speaking of the Harrier...

The Yak-38 was another VTOL attempt... Too bad the ejection system was buggy (often triggered without warning, see the end of the video) !

 

[Orbinaut Pete]

Gotta be the EF-2000 Eurofighter Typhoon, which is currently in service with the RAF. I plan to join the RAF soon, and I hope to fly this thing one day (I may not be able to do so for a while, as there will now be a backlog of RAF pilots without jets due to the recent retirement of the Harrier).

As for future jets, it's the F-35 Lightning II. The UK has recently changed their order of these following the Strategic Defence Review (SDR). It was planned that the Royal Navy would order the F-35B, which is the STOVL variant. However, the UK's new Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carrier will now be built to CATOBAR configuration, and so the Navy will now order the F-35C, which is the CTOL variant. This new carrier won't come online until 2020 however, and so following the recent retirement of the Harrier, the Navy won't have any jets for the next 10 years. A very bad decision.

 

[kid gagarin]

Definitely the F-15E Strike Eagle. It can do anything!