Favorite airplanes

[Arashikage]

Alright guys, now's the time, I wanna see what you guys have in mind for favorite airplanes. Any era will do, whether you like the warbirds of WWII, or even further back, the bi-planes of WWI, or even modern jets, it doesn't even have to be military, civilian jets and planes are welcome as well!

Personally, my favorite will always be this baby:

The F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter

I love this jet because not only is it fast and nimble, but it's STOVL, which means Short Take Off and Vertical Landing. The F-35 is a jump jet. It has a Pratt and Whitney F-135 engine that vectors down so the jet can take off just in a short amount of space or even vertically with the help of a lift fan. It has a GAU-8 cannon on the front of it that will ruin your day, two internal weapon bays and external hardpoints for mounting weapons, capable of holding up to two AIM9X Sidewinders or AIM132 ASRAAMs, with any combination of AIM120 AMRAAMs, Storm Shadow/SCALP EG Long Range ASMs, AGM158 JASSMs, guided bombs, or 600 gallon fuel tanks.

TL/DR, the F-35 Lightning II is my favorite jet, capable of carrying many many weapons, and it can take off and land vertically, or in a short amount of space.

[ballisticwaffles]

The ones that fly

[Vy'drach]

The Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird. Honestly, my eyes get all teary when I watch a documentary on it.

Such a great design, the faster it flew, the less fuel it used, and it was capable of outrunning all munitions. Israel tried to shoot down one of ours, and the thing out flew everything they launched at it.

[CrypticQuery]

While I don't have a single favorite plane, I've always loved bi-planes and their aesthetics;

[Arashikage]

Ah, the Pitts S2S, I do love its style. Bi-Planes are very nice, and the one bi-plane pilot I will always respect is Sean D. Tucker. I saw him in an airshow a few years ago, that guy is crazy XD.

As for the SR-71, I love that jet as well, the fastest jet so far, besides the X-15, but technically the X-15 is a rocket. Jokingly, I'd always call the SR-71 a flying fuel tank, because of the amount of fuel it actually holds.

[Scourge]

:troll:

[CrypticQuery]

Come to think of it, I've always been quite partial to bombers; their sheer scale and destruction possibility make them nothing less than incredible!

The B-17 Flying Fortress has always been a staple in WWII documentaries for sure!

___

EDIT: I was wondering when someone was going to post an Arwing! :lol:

[Arashikage]

Lol, isn't that a spacecraft?

Anyway, yeah, bombers are awesome, my favorite bomber would have to be the B-52 Stratofortress, or the B2 Spirit.

[Vy'drach]

I'm also partial to the A-10 "Warthog" Thunderbolt II. The 30mm Vulcan cannon on that thing (Which the plane was designed around and to fit, as opposed to the gun being designed for the plane) can turn any tank out there into scrap metal, plus the aircraft is designed to fly with one engine, one tail, one elevator and half a wing torn off.

http://en.wikipedia....-10_Thunderbolt

Though another plane I love is the old "Puff the Magic Dragon" weapon system. The Douglas AC-47 "Spooky" plane. Fired three 7.62x51mm NATO miniguns out the left side of the plane, and they said it put a round per square inch. In a three second burst, it put a round per 2.2 meters, but the thing didn't fire a mere three seconds. It would fly in and circle an area, and fire for up to tens of seconds, and I'm sure after that thunderstorm of lead, there was a round per square inch. It turned villages into rubble and ruin, and any living thing inside of them into hamburger meat. It was eventually deemed "inhumane," which is stupid as things that came under fire from it did not live long.

http://en.wikipedia....as_AC-47_Spooky

[King of the Shrooms]

I LOVE stealth bombers, i love them so much

[FoxMcCloud]

MMMMMMMMM I love the smell of Howitzers and Vulcan miniguns in the morning!

The Spooky C-130 gunship. This baby will ruin your day if you see her in the Air. You may know it as the Spectre Gunship (AC-130H, the Spooky is the AC-130U)

The AC-130U is the most complex aircraft weapon system in the world today. It has more than 609,000 lines of software code in its mission computers and avionics systems. The newest addition to the command fleet, this heavily armed aircraft incorporates side-firing weapons integrated with sophisticated sensor, navigation and fire control systems to provide surgical firepower or area saturation during extended loiter periods, at night and in adverse weather. The sensor suite consists of an All Light Level Television system and an infrared detection set. A multi-mode strike radar provides extreme long-range target detection and identification. It is able to track 40mm and 105mm projectiles and return pinpoint impact locations to the crew for subsequent adjustment to the target. The fire control system offers a Dual Target Attack capability, whereby two targets up to one kilometer apart can be simultaneously engaged by two different sensors, using two different guns. No other air-ground attack platform in the world offers this capability.

Loadout of the Spooky

two M61 20mm Vulcan cannons

with 3,000 rounds

one L60 40mm Bofors cannon

with 256 rounds

one M102 105mm howitzer

with 100 rounds

One 25mm GAU-12 Gatling gun

(1,800 rounds per minute)

one L60 40mm Bofors cannon

(100 shots per minute)

one M102 105mm cannon

(6-10 rounds per minute)

[Asper Sarnoff]

Got several from which I can't chose one particular favorite. The SR-71 Blackbird, the AH-10 Thundebolt, the GD F-16 Fighting Falcon and the Grunnab F-14 Tomcat. They all have a special place in my heart.

[Gene Inari]

I'm also partial to the A-10 "Warthog" Thunderbolt II. The 30mm Vulcan cannon on that thing (Which the plane was designed around and to fit, as opposed to the gun being designed for the plane) can turn any tank out there into scrap metal, plus the aircraft is designed to fly with one engine, one tail, one elevator and half a wing torn off.

http://en.wikipedia....-10_Thunderbolt

Augh... You beat me to it! I wanted to bring that one up.

Mine is the F-15 Eagle.

The thing that got me loving that play was Ace Combat Zero. Your main wingman Solo-Wing Pixy flies this plane. His paint scheme consists of the standard metal gray with half of one of his wings painted red? Why? Because me managed to land his plane after half of his wing was blown to bits. The best part of that? It's a true story. A friendly plane crashed into a F-15 during training exercises and took the one wing clean off.

[Vulvokunvrii]

Hm.. favorate Ariplanes....

United States F4 Phantom Fighter bomber jet. It was pretty fast, and could drop a payload when you wanted it too. It was okay for killing MIGs, but yeah.....

B-52 StratoFortress! This baby is HUUUUUGE! It can drop a boat load of bombs and travel very far. It was actually supposed to originally drop NUKES! We still use this today, and it wont be replaced for a very, very long time.

This would have to be my number one favorite next to the B-52. The HArrier jet used by both USA and UK, and Oceania (Australia and company). Very fast, good for killing ground targets, and is VTOL to boot! I Fing love this thing!

[Vy'drach]

Oh man, the F4 Phantom. America's proof to the world, that with enough engine, even a brick will fly. I like the Phantom as well, but it is such a bad plane covered by the fact it had so much thrust that it overpowered all the poor aerodynamics. Veteran F4 pilots have no problem calling the thing a "turkey."

[Vulvokunvrii]

Oh man, the F4 Phantom. America's proof to the world, that with enough engine, even a brick will fly. I like the Phantom as well, but it is such a bad plane covered by the fact it had so much thrust that it overpowered all the poor aerodynamics. Veteran F4 pilots have no problem calling the thing a "turkey."

heheh, well its from the 60's, not everything was perfected yet :lol:

[Vy'drach]

Still was just a bad design, though I do remember another favourite plane of mine.

Junkers Ju 87 Sturzkampfflugzeug "Stuka" dive bomber. Thing first flew in 1935, and it had a rudimentary form of autopilot back then, as excessive dive force caused the pilot to black out usually, and it automatically pulled out of the dive in such an event. Plus it's "Jericho Trumpet" is nothing short of iconic for WWII aircraft, and especially dive bombers.

Beautiful planes, and highly effective for their roles (they weren't dog fighters, contrary to popular belief).

Also the most highly decorated German serviceman, Hans-Ulrich Rudel, was a Stuka pilot. He is the only person to earn the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Golden Oak Leaves, Swords, and Diamonds. Only German in the war to be awarded higher than him was Hermann Wilhelm Göring.

[Gene Inari]

Oh man, the F4 Phantom. America's proof to the world, that with enough engine, even a brick will fly. I like the Phantom as well, but it is such a bad plane covered by the fact it had so much thrust that it overpowered all the poor aerodynamics. Veteran F4 pilots have no problem calling the thing a "turkey."

And proof that even with all the missile tech in the world, you can't ditch the gun. :U

[Vy'drach]

And proof that even with all the missile tech in the world, you can't ditch the gun. :U

Well that didn't have to do with the plane itself, just idiots with no combat experience sitting back in some room and theorizing.

[Gene Inari]

Well that didn't have to do with the plane itself, just idiots with no combat experience sitting back in some room and theorizing.

Perhaps, but the whole debacle surrounds the plane. Hell, I give credit to the Phantom and its' pilots for making the best out of all the political sabotaging and related bone-headed moves made by people high up. Anything less would of been scrapped right out of the gate.

[Vy'drach]

Oh, and Reynard, the Harrier is actually rather slow for a jet, especially a fighter. It's a jack of all trades, master of none, and will generally lose compared to a pure fighter jet.

[Vulvokunvrii]

Oh, and Reynard, the Harrier is actually rather slow for a jet, especially a fighter. It's a jack of all trades, master of none, and will generally lose compared to a pure fighter jet.

I still like it though. Not ever jet needs to be lighting fast all the time.

[Gene Inari]

I still like it though. Not ever jet needs to be lighting fast all the time.

The problem with that though, a slow jet is a dead jet. Speed is life up there. Speed = Power. That's a major reason why early American fighters worked as well as they did. We strapped on as much engine as we could to whatever airframe we could make/get our hands on. And up until the F-15, that's how jet design was; get as much power moving through the jet as possible, everything else is secondary.

While, yes, VTOL is good for carrier operations, a Harrier is kind of a sitting duck when faced with dedicated fighters.

Not that I'm here to change your opinion on the jet, I'm just stating my two cents. :U

[Vulvokunvrii]

The problem with that though, a slow jet is a dead jet. Speed is life up there. Speed = Power. That's a major reason why early American fighters worked as well as they did. We strapped on as much engine as we could to whatever airframe we could make/get our hands on. And up until the F-15, that's how jet design was; get as much power moving through the jet as possible, everything else is secondary.

While, yes, VTOL is good for carrier operations, a Harrier is kind of a sitting duck when faced with dedicated fighters.

Not that I'm here to change your opinion on the jet, I'm just stating my two cents. :U

Thats fine ^^

I will admit im a bit old fashioned sometimes.

[Arashikage]

Well actually, there are times when slowing down is a good thing, even a lifesaver. I've been in simulations against pilots who were about as experienced as me, and flown against them in slower jets than they had, at times, they'd wizz right by me and I'd get a few shots off at them with my machinegun or be just able to get a missile off at them. And no, I don't mean Ace Combat, I mean real simulations.