Most beautiful planes of all time...

[Snake45]

And the absolute pinnacle of delta-winged beauty, the Dassault Mirage 2000: 

Now THAT's what a jet fighter should look like! 

[Ironman63]

I think the B-17 is #1.  Second is the SR-71 Blackbird and my 3rd would be the AC-130 Spectre.  The last 2 I'll mention are the Concorde and the P-61 Black Widow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Gramps46]

This is my first pick,  Convair B-58 Hustler.  I may be bias because my first USAF assignment was at Grissom AFB IN, one of only 2 bases with Hustlers.

[DonW]

1 hour ago, Snake45 said:

I think that's the DeHavilland Comet. 

It is! The Dh-88. They re-used the name later for a very different aeroplane.

[DonW]

[DonW]

1 hour ago, Snake45 said:

I think that's the DeHavilland Comet. 

It is! The DH-88. They re-used the name later for a very different aeroplane...

[Classicgas]

Four of my favorites.

[cobraman]

Love that Airacobra.

[Matt Bacon]

3 hours ago, Snake45 said:

I think that's the DeHavilland Comet. 

It is, but the De Havilland DH.88 Comet air racer, as opposed to the DH 106 Comet jet airliner from several years later.

Talking of De Havilland, the stunning 1938 DH 91 Albatross pre-dated the Constellation by 5 years:

clearly, there's a "right" shape for a four engined prop airliner...

best,

M.

[Matt Bacon]

I have to agree on the Blackbird, but I'm surprised no one has posted this angle, which IMHO is the best of all.... cool, alien and spectacular at the same time:

best,

M.

[Snake45]

1 hour ago, Classicgas said:

Four of my favorites.

Apparently a big fan of Bell products. 

[Snake45]

The Spitfire on my Most Beautiful list would be the Spit 24. Or at least a bubbletop XIV or 18. 

[LDO]

5 hours ago, iamsuperdan said:

Top three for me...

 

 

But for me, hands down, it has to be the Avro Arrow. So much potential that never came to be because of politics and kowtowing to other governments. 

 

 

There was also a Soviet spy at Avro. 

[LDO]

5 hours ago, iamsuperdan said:

Top three for me...

 

 

But for me, hands down, it has to be the Avro Arrow. So much potential that never came to be because of politics and kowtowing to other governments. 

 

 

There was also a Soviet spy at Avro. 

[LDO]

BAC TSR-2 

Another could-have-been. British tactical strike/reconnaissance prototype canceled before production. 

 

One more vote for the P-51D also. I also like it as a racer.

And for elegance, the Concord. What I would give for the chance to fly on one. 

[GLMFAA1]

Well might as well give my opinion on planes:

I agree with the XB 70, the B 58 Hustler, The P 51

Some what amused at the C 130 because I remember the original nose on the plane

My two together planes are the B52 mother plane and the X 15

to go along with the P51 the Vought F4U Corsair for prop plane

and last but not least is the Candair CL 415

greg

 

[Mike999]

I like aviation what-ifs, almosts and never-was'es.  Here are a couple of faves.  The Hughes XF-11 and the very first Bell design, the XFM-1 Airacuda.  I think the Airacuda is beautiful, in its own brutal, all-business way.  The clear nacelles in front of the pusher props held gunners, armed with 37-mm cannon:

 

[Ace-Garageguy]

Along with several of the others, I think these deserve mention: B-47 Stratojet

F-100 Super Saber

Howard Hughes H-1

[Snake45]

1 hour ago, GLMFAA1 said:

to go along with the P51 the Vought F4U Corsair for prop plane

 

 

Can't argue with the Corsair. My vote for Most Beautiful variant goes to the R4360-powered F2G. Just pure badass!

Edited July 8, 2019 by Snake45

[Ace-Garageguy]

32 minutes ago, Snake45 said:

...Just pure badass!

For pure badass in my book, nothing beats the P-47 Thunderbolt...

      

And its namesake A-10 Thunderbolt "Warthog"...

[Snake45]

35 minutes ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

For pure badass in my book, nothing beats the P-47 Thunderbolt...

       

 

And you just happened to pick the Most Beautiful variant of it there, the late-war N model. Sweet! 

N-Bolt, Bearcat, late Corsair, Sea Fury: They're all beautiful to me. They were also the ULTIMATE prop-driven fighters. Fully mature technology. End of the line. 

[Pete J.]

12 hours ago, SfanGoch said:

Did you ever pull a Tex Johnson?

 

Oh god no!  First off Tex had the best hands of any pilot I ever saw except maybe for Bob Hoover. Second the aircraft he did that in was the prototype AKA the Dash 80.  Dimensionally is was smaller by a significant factor(12" narrower fuselage than the KC-135 and 16" narrower than the production 707).  There were several unverified stories of crews that died when they tried and the centripetal force caused the outboard engines to depart the aircraft mid roll.   Most extreme we ever did were steep turns with 60 degrees of bank which is a 2 g maneuver.  I love the old saying, " There are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots"  with the exception of the two mentioned prior.   

[peteski]

My top pick is SR-71, then Concorde and "Concordski" (Tu-144).  But I also like the looks of the original Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet. I love the hump, and its overall proportions!

Most airplanes, but design, are beautiful. I think we will eventually see most airplanes ever produced listed here.  I think a more manageable thread would have been "What is the ugliest airplane?".  There are few out there.

[Deuces]

I like hotrods.... ??

[TarheelRick]

6 hours ago, Pete J. said:

Oh god no!  First off Tex had the best hands of any pilot I ever saw except maybe for Bob Hoover. Second the aircraft he did that in was the prototype AKA the Dash 80.  Dimensionally is was smaller by a significant factor(12" narrower fuselage than the KC-135 and 16" narrower than the production 707).  There were several unverified stories of crews that died when they tried and the centripetal force caused the outboard engines to depart the aircraft mid roll.   Most extreme we ever did were steep turns with 60 degrees of bank which is a 2 g maneuver.  I love the old saying, " There are old pilots and there are bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots"  with the exception of the two mentioned prior.   

The difference between a fairy tale and a war story is the fairy tale begins "Once upon a time", and the war story begins "No BLAH this really happened".  There is a war story of a B-52 doing a barrel roll over Viet Nam in order to miss a SAM.  It purportedly made the return trip to Guam where it was disassembled, put on a ship and returned to the states.  I am not trying to say this video is a war story, just taking the opportunity to share this "war story".  And I have spent several hours crawling all over the KC-135 fixing radios/communications equipment, also got a hop on one to Hawaii.  It and I was heading to Korea, but the crew bumped everyone off in Hawaii.