Kick Ass Aircraft

[Shawn@PRS]

I live near Dover Air Force Base and they have C5 Galaxies fly out from there. The first time I saw one in the air I was sitting in the back yard with my wife enjoying a glass of wine. She looked up and "Oh my, what is that?" I said, "I don't know, but I sure as hell hope it's friendly". Those C5's are just huge, I can't believe the get off the ground. I believe they are made by Lockheed

What are some of your favorite planes?


C5 Galaxy

Other planes shown for scale

 

[geese_com]

That is one massive plane!

Used to live by the Air Force base in Saudi. Hearing planes take off and seeing them fly around was pretty much a regular part of life.

 

[Herr Squid]

Always thought the XB-70 Valkyrie was a heck of a plane!

 

[AP515]

Always thought the XB-70 Valkyrie was a heck of a plane!

It's great to see others talking about the XB70. My dad was one of the workers that built it. Just a worker on the assembly line, but I've got two photos and a 8mm film of it flying in storage somewhere. He used to talk about the time the F-104 crashed into one of them during a test flight and both planes were lost. He said it would fly Mach 3 and they would turn off three of the engines. One of the pioneers of supersonic flight!

 

[Serious Poo]

I'm a huge fan of the C17. If you really take a look at the specs, you'll see it's obviously much more than a simple cargo plane.

 

[sergiodeblanc]

 

[Goldtop]

I have always loved the F-117 A NightHawk...

Same here! I'm really into military aircraft, especially the Stealth planes. I like the A-10 Warthog too, as well as a lot of the WWII planes.

Lloyd

 

[cwhenke]

Stealth bombers

I used to live about an hour from their home base, so I would occassionally see them flying around. They used to do fly-overs at special events, which was amazing. You could see a little line in the sky coming toward you, then you would se this plane just sitting overhead. By the time you heard it,, it was already gone.

 

[sleary]

Spitfire and P51

 

[RichardJ]

Being the 40 something child I am, I love any fast jets, always thought the B1 Lancer was cool, absolute favourite however is the DeHavilland Mosquito. We have the French Airforce getting up close and personal at the moment, regular sub 500 feet passes in their Mirages and Jaguars, cool to watch but the horses aren't too impressed!

 

[andy474x]

I used to go camping at a place on a river in NW Michigan (lower peninsula) and the National Guard 110th air wing from Battle Creek regularly flew their A10's over the area. They liked to fly low and hug the river - nothing like sitting in your boat and looking up to see two of those bad boys go screaming over. Can't imagine how screwed the enemy must feel when they see A10's on the horizon!

We also used to have a fantastic air show in Muskegon for many years. I wanted to be a pilot when I was young and my dad took me every year. Saw a lot of kick ass planes.

 

[veinbuster]

I'm a sucker for just about any bi-plane, especially yellow.

The modern plane I find most interesting is the Harrier -that vertical takeoff thing is a nice bit of engineering.

 

[Shawn@PRS]

The P38, P40 and P51 were all amazing planes as was the F4U Corsair

P38

F4U Corsair

P51 on top, P40 Warhawk on bottom

 

[Rodicus]

My dad as was an air traffic controller in the Canadian military. So we moved around all over Canada to the different air force bases. We occasionally used to catch free flights on the C-130 Herc's.

Another aircraft I like is the CT-114 Tutor. It's flown by an aerial acrobatics group known as the snowbirds. Seen them a bunch of times at different airshows. Pretty cool!!

 

[TDPRS1]

A-10's (Warthog), F4-Phantoms & F-15 Strike Eagles

 

[Boogie]

Me too, Bob. One of the most surreal moments of my life was at Wright Patterson AFB museum and I was able to reach out and touch one...without being shot dead on sight! Laid hands on a ghostly legend.

Another sentimental fav is the F-14 Tomcat. Obviously, my oldest son Drew (now almost 23) didn't have the same feelings. :laugh:

 

[JustRob]

As part of my job I got to visit a Lockheed Martin facility and fly flight simulators for the F-22 and F-35. Both amazing and formidable aircraft, and that was just the unclassified stuff.

F-35

F-22

 

[sergiodeblanc]

Man, I used to love making models of all these planes as a kid... The P-38 was a favorite.

 

[cjmwrx]

A10 baby. Anything that has a gun powerful enough to slow the plane down when firing is a winner!!!

 

[lgk1208]

A10 baby. Anything that has a gun powerful enough to slow the plane down when firing is a winner!!!

I agree. I was a mortar man in the marines for a light armored reconnaissance unit and we marked targets for A-10's from time to time. They are so cool. And that gatling gun is WICKED.