F-117 Nighthawk retired

[Cryomaniac]

TMy favorite fighter of all time though has to be the P-[img]51D Mustang. The and I do mean THE sexiest fighter ever to be built IMO. It's still one impressive war bird on the ground or in the air. A real classic piece of perfection.

P51's are all well and good, but my favourite WW2 plane is the Swordfish Torpedo Bomber. Just something cool about biplane torpedo bombers.

Of modern planes, Eurofighters look cool, although I think F-22's are probably better.

F-18s look cool too.

I know it's not strictly an F-18, but this:



Is the coolest looking thing ever to fly.

[Jack8631]

Haha, small world. I betcha Havelock has grown a LOT since you were here back then...we even have a Wal-Mart now! The Harriers still fly though, until the JSF completely phases them out =( My mom worked on OV-10's at New River Air Station for a couple years.

A Wal-Mart! No way!

As for sexy aircraft, it's hard to omit the Habu.

[mf_dolphin]

Did you know that the SR-71 was originally designed as a fighter/bomber? Some day we may actually find out how fast it could really fly. It's still highly classified what the top speed on the SR-71 was/is, but it's a fact that everytime they set out to break a world speed record they did just that. It was kind of like, "How much do you want me to break the existing record by this time..."

How could anyone that likes airplanes not love the P-51D?

http://www.mustangsmustangs.com/p-51/p51shows/

[Jack8631]

Nice site, Marshall!

I have heard so many speed and altitude stories about the Blackbird, that it's hard to distinguish fact from fiction. This is impressive..and you have to wonder how hard Colonel Yielding was pushing the bird on it's final flight (over CONUS, none the less).

When the SR-71 was retired in 1990, one was flown from its birthplace at United States Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale, California to go on exhibit at what is now the Smithsonian Institution's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center (an annex of the National Air & Space Museum) in Chantilly, Virginia. The Blackbird, piloted by Colonel Ed Yielding and Lt. Col. J.T. Vida, set a coast-to-coast speed record at an average 2,124 mph (3,418 km/h). The entire trip was reported as 68 minutes and 17 seconds. Three additional records were set within segments of the flight, including a new absolute top speed of 2,242 mph measured between the radar gates set up in St. Louis and Cincinnati.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sr-71#Records

[mf_dolphin]

I saw one reference to the SR-71 engines attaining MACH 3.6 on a static test bed. I actually collected patches while I was in the Air Force and I had one SR-71 pilot give me one that was simply an outline of the SR-71 with the simple text 3+ overlaid on it.

[x-y-no]

I know it's not strictly an F-18, but this:



Is the coolest looking thing ever to fly.

One of my favorite F-18 photos:

[x-y-no]

And here's an interesting piece of aviation history I knew nothing about but stumbled on because of the SR-71 discussion in this thread:


The D-21 unmanned reconnaissance drone mounted on the M-21.

[mf_dolphin]

Here's a page that lists the SR-71's records:

http://www.wvi.com/~sr71webmaster/srrcd~1.htm

Truly an awesome aircraft...