http://www.forceaerienne.forces.gc.ca/site/equip/images/historic_gallery/wallpaper/arrow.jpg
CF-105 Avro Arrow
oops , double post
Both of them are gorgeous.
That sounds dangerous! And painful! :eek:
Don’t get me started on patches! I have a box approximately 18" square and 5" deep stuffed with patches. Most of them are Navy, and many or most of those are from F-14 squadrons. There’s the ‘Anytime, Baby’, a squadron-specific variants or two, an F-18 ‘Now, baby!’… Plus Shuttle flights from when I worked at Edwards and a few years after, sets of Apollo, Gemini, and Mercury patches, some USAF patches, General aviation patches… It all started when my mother’s friend’s husband, who was an Ordnance officer on Enterprise gave me a set of CVAN-65, VF-1, VF-2, and VA-196 patches when I was 12.
You know, I almost posted the P-40. I couldn’t put my finger on what makes it cool, though. The AVG paint scheme? That though it was obsolete it was used to good effect by pilots who knew how to use it? That my mom knew someone who had one?
The F-105 was pretty wicked too. When I was a kid I liked the unusual shape of its inlets. I also liked the B-58, and it inspired a question in GQ. (Not really airplane-related; just about voice alerts.)
45 posts, and still no mention of the X-Wing? Internet geeks, hang your heads in shame.
Another vote for the Spitfire.
i kinda like the sr-71 blakcbird it may not be a fighter but it can go faster than any of them
I too vote for the YF-12A.
Where were they supposed to intercept Russian bombers with nuclear missiles? I’ve always thought the Canadians might be kind of upset over that. 
I love this thread.
I LOVE me some jet-fighters, but am so pitifully ignorant to them.
KEEP EM COMING! (with pics!)
Speaking of which, my two were mentioned, but not linked.
Harrier Middle of the page.
It’s ugliness combined with the awesome hum from its huge cannon makes the A-10 the manliest aircraft that ever flew. Simply looking at a picture of one will grow chest hairs and lower your voice by four octaves.
Runner up: P-38 Lightning.
Glad to oblige… Though this list is only a small sample.
Messerschmitt ME-262
Gloster Meteor
de Havilland Vampire
Lockheed P-80 Shooting Star
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 ‘Fagot’
Mikoyan-Gurevich Mig-17 ‘Fresco’
Republic F-84 Thunderjet
Republic F-84F Thunderstreak
North American F-86 Sabre
Northrop F-89 Scorpion
North American FJ-1 Fury and North American FJ-2/3/4 Fury
McDonnell FH2 Banshee
McDonnell F3H Demon
Douglas F3D (later, F-10) Skyknight
Douglas F4D Skyray
Vought F7U Cutlass
Grumman F9F Panther
Dassault Mirage III
Saab 35 Draken
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19 ‘Farmer’
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21 ‘Fishbed’
English Electric Lightning
Gloster Javelin
Hawker Hunter
Chance-Vought F-8 Crusader
Grumman F-9 Cougar
Grumman F-11 Tiger
North American F-100 Super Sabre
McDonnell F-101 Voodoo
Convair F-102 Delta Dagger
Lockheed F-104 Starfighter
Republic F-105 Thunderchief
Convair F-106 Delta Dart
Dassault Mirage F1
IAI Kfir
Saab 37 Viggen
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-23 ‘Flogger’
Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25
Sukhoi Su-17 ‘Fitter’
McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II
Northrop F-5 Freedom Fighter
Mikoyan MiG-29 ‘Fulcrum’
Sukhoi Su-27 ‘Flanker’
Panavia Tornado
Grumman F-14 Tomcat
McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle
General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon
McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet
As I said, this list is far from complete; but it will give you an idea of general designs over the last 60 years.
Fixed link.
:o
My vote, The Albatross from WW1.
The F-16’s chin intake is one of the coolest-looking features on any fighter ever.
The Warthog isn’t really ugly, though. Like a pickup truck with big knobbly tyres and a bull bar (brush guard), it’s purposeful. It’s certainly not pretty.
If we’re including planes that never actually entered service, the Sukhoi Su-47 is by far the coolest fighter concept ever.
Is ‘Berkut’ the official Russian ‘popular name’ for the Su-47? Because NATO code names for fighters start with ‘F’.
Johnny
I think most of us got our aviation bug from the old WW2 movies, predominantly because it was the first conflict that has lots of combat and test footage from probably about 1935 onwards. In the opening stages of the war, the p-40’s combat record was not one that I would call distinguished, with probably the exception of the AVG in china.
Both the philipines and Hawaii were disasters, actually hawaii was a disaster, the philipines was criminal, wake and midway were mostly naval affairs and the canal was fought with wildcats and aircobras. In Europe, they did not seem to get much press in the battle of France, and I think I only seen one movie regarding north Africa, some nutzo tank general chasing the p-40 all over the desert.
A bit windy way of saying that we never really got to see the warhawk in it’s element, and other newer and more sexy airplanes had started to appear, and it sort becomes a contest of who you want to drool over the old pin up, or megan fox.
Declan
We had our own nuclear missiles on board the F-101 voodoo for the same norad mission,plus the bomarc surface to air missile. If it was a choice of losing Toronto or Montreal or any of the other big cities or some tundra village, then it was obvious what choice we would have made.
Then came ICBM’s and the deck got reshuffled again.
Declan
Berkut is the Russian name. Its NATO reporting name is/was “Firkin”.
I see in the WIKI articles that a group of guys stood under the only test launch without injury.
Looking over the list I posted at the top of this page, I think the Northrop F-5 Freedom Fighter/Tiger II has a pretty high Coefficient of Coolness (‘Coolness Factor’). It’s certainly a pretty aircraft. It’s also small, which I like. And I like that it’s a simple, relatively inexpensive aircraft. I also like the F-20 Tigershark derivative, though it never saw production. I used to drive by where they were parked when I was taking the flightline route to the LTV hangar.
The coolest thing about the F-5 is that it comes from the same design as the T-38 Talon (which I’m not linking, since it’s not a fighter). If I had an extra two megabucks that needed spending, I’d seriously consider getting a T-38.