Planes

[76ChevyTrucker]

But what about planes? Any of youse guys aircraft fans. I know that I am, Fly is, and Bob is with his love of 747s. How about the rest of y'all. Anyone got a favorite bird, be it civilian, military, warbird, whatever. I've actually got several favorites, too bad I have to classify them down for people to understand.

Favorite bomber: Boeing B-52 Stratofortress

Favorite fighter:Boeing F-15C Eagle

Favorite attack aircraft:Republic A-10 Thunderbolt II (or more affectionately known, the Warthog!)

Favorite recon aircraft: Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird

Favorite cargo aircraft: Lockheed C-130 Hercules

Favorite general aviation aircraft: Piper PA-28 Cherokee 140 (or the 160)

Favorite warbird: Republic P-47 Thunderbolt (or the Lockheed P-38 Lightning)

Favorite commercial aircraft: Boeing 747, or the Douglas DC-3, its really a close tie, I guess you could say it depends on the era you're speaking from

But those are my favorites, I guess I got hooked on planes because in the neighborhood where I grew up was under the traffic pattern of Maxwell Air Force Base, so I got to see lots of different airplanes, in particular, C-130s flying nice and low and slow over the house and yard. I remember my first airshow, it was 1992 and I went to see the Thunderbirds perform and I think that's what hooked me. I've gone to every air show held at Maxwell since then and I still turn into a little kid at them. I've also got my grandparent's house where I can sometimes catch a pretty rare sight. Low altitude refuelings, be it from KC-135s, or even KC-130s refueling helicopters, its awesome to watch.

Anyway, maybe youse guys have got some favorites, or maybe you've got some of the same as me, so how's about telling me about 'em.

[Oracle of Delphi]

F4 Wildcat and Phantom, along with the FA 22 Raptor! Commercial I still love the Concorde which I flew on once from the UK to New York.

[Camino LS6]

SR-71 Blackbird

[Farkas]

I always wanted to fly on the Concorde.

From a stylistic standpoint, my favorite jetliner is the Lockheed Constellation.

I also like the de Havilland Comet, when it remains in the air.

Edited August 4, 2007 by Farkas

[Camino LS6]

I will never forget the sight of a B-2 cresting a hill right in front of me as I drove down the highway. The plane was moving low and slow and popped up over the hill very suddenly.

Truly awesome sight.

Most intimidating.

[76ChevyTrucker]

yeah the comet did have some intial problems remaining airborne, but once they fixed the whole rounded windows debacle they turned into good birds. The Connie is a beautiful aircraft also.

[Flybrian]

You get extra points for the Cherokee mention.

I'm extrodinarily impressed by Soviet/Russian aircraft, especially since they're arguably more 'operationally capable' than any other aircraft in the world, including our fighters. SU-25s are exceptional in rough-field capabilities. The classic Il-2 is a tough one to beat for sure and many now-obsolete Cold War medium jet bombers such as the Il-28 Beagle and Tu-22 Blinder are impressively sleek and classic in proportions.

My favorite WWII fighter is one of the lesser-knowns - the Bell P-39 Airacobra and its successor, the P-63 Kingcobra. Midengined and very capable at low altitude ground attack, its an underappreciated design.

My all-time favorite bomber is the B-36 Peacemaker. In its later variants (Six turnin' and four burnin'), it shook the hell out of the windows of my father's house in California when he was a teenager. I love the classical look of the -36, with the heavily-framed cockpit glazing, gargantuan proprotions, and ridiculous powerplants - six pusher turboprops and four jets slung under the wings in twined pods.

The F/A-22 is a great bird, but I will always love the Northrop/MDD YF-23 Black Widow more. I remember reading about the ATF competition back in grade school and the YF-23 was so graceful and sleek. By many accounts, it was faster and more stealthy than the F-22, but the latter was cheaper and less ambitious.

My favorite GA plane is the PA-180 and all its variations. I learned in a Cadet, soloed in a PA-160, and regularly fly a 180 Archer II. My favorite dream GA plane, however, is the Beriev Be-103 twin-engine amphibian. I would really love to own one someday.

The Super Constellation is my favorite commercial aircraft. A true icon from an era when airline travel was glamorous. As I pack tonight to fly to Philly tomorrow onboard a 737, I dream and wish it was a smoke-belching piston-engined TWA Connie.

[76ChevyTrucker]

Actually the biggest complaint about the YF-23 was that it gave a harsher ride at low altitude high speed, than the F-22 did (sorry I don't use the A, the F-22 has almost NO attack capability that won't destroy its stealth atributes). Well, the reason I mentioned the PA-28 was that I split most of my flight traning between it and a C152, and I'm sorry, the 152 was great for doing ground reference stuff, but for everything else, I MUCH preferred the Piper.