Most beautiful planes of all time...

[Snake45]

Two more What Jet Fighters Should Look Like:

Lockheed XF-90:

 

Douglas F4D Skyray: 

[Ace-Garageguy]

3 hours ago, Vince Nemanic said:

Mam that Dh88 is pretty. And I really appreciate you guys putting in the identifications. Actually, I was surprised by how many I did know.  Keep them coming! 

Two more notables from DeHavilland...The fantastic DH.98 Mosquito, mostly wood structure, mahogany veneers laminated over end-grain balsa cores (concepts carried forward from the DH.88 Comet racing plane and DH.91 Albatross) and the forerunner of all of today's foam or honeycomb-cored composite airframes:

And the DH.88's namesake, the post-war (1949) DH.106 Comet, the first jet-powered airliner. Another pioneering design that taught the aviation engineering world valuable lessons regarding metal fatigue in pressurized alloy aircraft structures, and necessary design and construction considerations. Though the first production aircraft had several catastrophic mid-air structural failures, the redesigned aircraft flew millions of miles, and several militarized Nimrod versions flew until 2011:

 

[Jantrix]

I may be kinda predjudiced cuz I worked on them, but the F15 always stuck me as a very cool design. 

Here's one from my old unit. FANG 125th Fighter Wing, Jacksonville Florida.

 

[Snake45]

23 minutes ago, Jantrix said:

Here's one from my old unit. FANG 125th Fighter Wing, Jacksonville Florida.

Did they used to fly 106s? Always thought their blue tail marking was cool. I have a pic of a T-33 with the same thing on it, and always thought it would be cool to build models of both of them. (I HAVE the kits, just haven't gotten around to doing it.) 

Edited July 9, 2019 by Snake45

[Earl Marischal]

On 07/07/2019 at 7:23 PM, Snake45 said:

I think that's the DeHavilland Comet. 

Spot on Snake, De Havilland DH88 Comet

steve

[Jantrix]

1 hour ago, Snake45 said:

Did they used to fly 106s? Always thought their blue tail marking was cool. I have a pic of a T-33 with the same thing on it, and always thought it would be cool to build models of both of them. (I HAVE the kits, just haven't gotten around to doing it.) 

 

Yep. Before my time though. A terrific unit. 

[Classicgas]

On July 7, 2019 at 5:42 PM, Snake45 said:

Apparently a big fan of Bell products. 

Yep.

[SSNJim]

23 hours ago, SfanGoch said:

You're being polite, aren't you?

Can't be too careful around here. There are quite a few variations of the FF in the acronym, none really appropriate for a family website. That was one of the least offensive...  

[SfanGoch]

Hey, wingnuts are family and they use the expression in front of mixed company (enlisted, NCO's and Officers of all pay grades) all the time. After all, it is a term of endearment and respect. Heck, we had a Supply Sergeant in C/1/506 INF named Goodman. His nickname was "B.F.", as in B.F. Goodrich, because he was shaped like a stack of semi tires.

[Deuces]

On 7/8/2019 at 4:02 PM, High octane said:

I kinda like these planes...............................................................

 

Noce

 

Nice curves also....??

[ATHU]

Love the P47 Thunderbolt. I've got the Hasegawa 1/32 version of "Tarheel Hal" in my stash.

Focke Wulf FW 190A8

F16A MLU RDAF livery

Sukhoi SU 27 "Flanker" Ukrainian Air force livery

[iamsuperdan]

For Canada's 150th birthday, the RCAF dressed up one of their CF-18s. Good looking plane. I don't typically build planes, but I have one of these in the stash with the correct markings and decals.

 

 

[ChrisBcritter]

(Snake is probably wondering where I am!) This one has always been a favorite of mine: The Convair XB-46.

Beautifully simple, graceful lines, but an also-ran in real life, outperformed by the B-45 Tornado (which had its own batch of problems) and the way-more-successful B-47.

[Snake45]

55 minutes ago, ChrisBcritter said:

(Snake is probably wondering where I am!) This one has always been a favorite of mine: The Convair XB-46.

Beautifully simple, graceful lines, but an also-ran in real life, outperformed by the B-45 Tornado (which had its own batch of problems) and the way-more-successful B-47.

All three of them were pretty airplanes, especially for the late '40s-early '50s timeframe. 

[Pete J.]

18 hours ago, ChrisBcritter said:

(Snake is probably wondering where I am!) This one has always been a favorite of mine: The Convair XB-46.

Beautifully simple, graceful lines, but an also-ran in real life, outperformed by the B-45 Tornado (which had its own batch of problems) and the way-more-successful B-47.

I always enjoy seeing these early jets and the imaginative ways that they worked through airflow issues on the engines.  My guess is that judging from the intake size for two engines, this thing was a pig to get airborne.  Those are tiny inlets and the turbulence in the inlet had to be horrible. Still a very nice looking aircraft. 

Edited July 14, 2019 by Pete J.

[Snake45]

All Douglas A/B-26 Invaders are beautiful IMHO, but the most beautiful of all of them is the On Mark B-26K Counter Invader in the early COIN Green/Coin Gray scheme: 

Edited July 14, 2019 by Snake45

[ranma]

 in Either Military or civ use the DC-3 C-47 , And there still being used in some countries to this very day!

[Codi]

So many fantastic posts here.  Even though on the wrong side of the war, this one caught my attention when I visited the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum next to the Dulles airport in D.C.  The Horton 229 was an experimental craft and I think only 3 examples were built near the end of the war.  We captured them and brought them back to the U.S.  This example is actually at the museum awaiting restoration. Pics of it flying are very rare.  I consider it the true ancestor to today's stealth aircraft.  Considering  it was build in 1944 /45, it's amazing the cutting edge engineering.  Jack Northrop saw the potential and exploited it with our own new designs.  Here's a pic with its wings removed and it's interesting to see how small it was with the men standing next to it.  cheers, tim

a pic of it with the wings on...this was a 1:1 mock up that the U.S. made to test the radar cross section of the craft.  It was deemed very effective in comparison to most other craft flying at the time.

last pic of the one at the Smithsonian. 

[Pete J.]

9 minutes ago, Codi said:

So many fantastic posts here.  Even though on the wrong side of the war, this one caught my attention when I visited the Smithsonian Air & Space Museum next to the Dulles airport in D.C.  The Horton 229 was an experimental craft and I think only 3 examples were built near the end of the war.  We captured them and brought them back to the U.S.  This example is actually at the museum awaiting restoration. Pics of it flying are very rare.  I consider it the true ancestor to today's stealth aircraft.  Considering  it was build in 1944 /45, it's amazing the cutting edge engineering.  Jack Northrop saw the potential and exploited it with our own new designs.  Here's a pic with its wings removed and it's interesting to see how small it was with the men standing next to it.  cheers, tim

a pic of it with the wings on...this was a 1:1 mock up that the U.S. made to test the radar cross section of the craft.  It was deemed very effective in comparison to most other craft flying at the time.

last pic of the one at the Smithsonian. 

This would have been a bit scary to fly even without the odd aerodynamics.  Pilot is sitting between two jet engines that didn't have a long life.  Pilot didn't stand much of a chance if one of the engines granaded(and the did) and started throwing shrapnel.  At the end of the war, the germans weren't to concerned about pilot safety.  

[Agent G]

[dimaxion]

On 7/15/2019 at 12:20 AM, Agent G said:

To the Japanese these were Whistling Death . Top Aircraft in my Book . The white outlines forward the canopy were the show the Pilot where he was in relation to the Flight Deck  or Airfield . With a 9' Prop , the Pilot's View is severely  obstructed on while on the the Landing Gear .   

The Japanese called the F4U Corsair in its many versions the "Whistling Death" during World War II. For VF-17 this aircraft and the pilots who flew it were responsible for shooting down 154 enemy aircraft in 76 days. By doing this they surpassed the record set by VMF-214 "Black Sheep" under the command of Maj. Greg "Pappy" Boyington.

VF-17 had an unusual unit symbol painted on the noses of their Corsairs. The skull and crossbones, or Jolly Roger. This symbol was once associated with the pirates and pirate ships that once sailed the ocean looking for treasure fighting for fun. Also this was the last flag/symbol that many sailors saw before they died in battle. This was also the case of the Japanese pilots who came under the guns of "Fighting 17" during their combat tour from October 1943 to March 1944. It has been said, that VF-17 so utterly demoralized the once proud Japanese Air Force in their operating area. That upon seeing the approaching Corsairs, one Japanese pilot wrote in his diary after an encounter, "here come the wolves again".

The Japanese called the F4U Corsair in its many versions the "Whistling Death" during World War II. For VF-17 this aircraft and the pilots who flew it were responsible for shooting down 154 enemy aircraft in 76 days. By doing this they surpassed the record set by VMF-214 "Black Sheep" under the command of Maj. Greg "Pappy" Boyington.

VF-17 had an unusual unit symbol painted on the noses of their Corsairs. The skull and crossbones, or Jolly Roger. This symbol was once associated with the pirates and pirate ships that once sailed the ocean looking for treasure fighting for fun. Also this was the last flag/symbol that many sailors saw before they died in battle. This was also the case of the Japanese pilots who came under the guns of "Fighting 17" during their combat tour from October 1943 to March 1944. It has been said, that VF-17 so utterly demoralized the once proud Japanese Air Force in their operating area. That upon seeing the approaching Corsairs, one Japanese pilot wrote in his diary after an encounter, "here come the wolves again".

   Thanx 

Edited July 16, 2019 by dimaxion

[dimaxion]

On 7/7/2019 at 4:54 PM, Classicgas said:

Four of my favorites.

The only one I recognize this the Bell P39 Aircobra .. Thanx .. 

[Luc Janssens]

 

Great topic, here's my favorite plane

 

[FordRodnKustom]

On 7/9/2019 at 1:05 PM, Jantrix said:

I may be kinda predjudiced cuz I worked on them, but the F15 always stuck me as a very cool design. 

Here's one from my old unit. FANG 125th Fighter Wing, Jacksonville Florida.

 

Agreed. F15 for me too. I never worked on them but I was stationed @ Eglin AFB when the 33rd Fighter Wing resided there. The sky was full of these bad boys.

An early A model from the day.

 

Edited July 16, 2019 by FordRodnKustom

[Classicgas]

2 hours ago, dimaxion said:

The only one I recognize this the Bell P39 Aircobra .. Thanx .. 

Really? Surely you recognize the Huey. If you've ever seen footage of the war in Vietnam you've seen it. And the Bell 47G, one of the most iconic choppers built?