ElvisL1ves, too cruel. The final judge of aircraft designs is the air, and the air loves a beautiful airplane. Generally, the more aestetic an aircraft the better it flies. On those lines, thank God Boeing lost the JSF competition. It would have been a loss for aestetes everywhere.
I have to say I am not a big fan of early post WWII aircraft. It seems designers hit a clumsy stage in their evolution. There is something to make the spirit rise in a Spitfire, Mustang, or Lightning. I don’t see anything matching the pure sexiness of the Blackbird. My heart races when I see it. I just don’t see anything that gives me that kind of visceral charge in the time frame of the OP.
A little off-track, but I still it was wrong that the YF-22 beat out the YF-23. Apparently I am not alone. Aside from the fact that the YF-23 was a better plane, it was more beautiful, at least IMO.
That’s fine, flight. Post any plane that grabs you.
I just happen to be partial to that particular era. Probably has more than a little to do with Grandpa’s influence, as we were quite the pair in my early days. I ate up everything he had to say and show about the late 40s aircraft he knew and loved.
Great pics and choices, everyone.
Does anyone know the name of the asymetrical German airplane? I think it’s very late 30s to early 40s, could be wrong. I saw a photo once, and it’s intrigued me ever since.
I’ve always been partial to the Caravelle rear-mounted twin-jet airliners of the early 1960’s. Lately I’ve occasionally noticed similar jets at LAX during my daily drive to work. Planewatching is getting interesting again as they don’t all look the same anymore.
I have to remain true to the Spitfire, my first true love among planes and the one that I’d still travel far to see fly.
The Mosquito, of course, is exquisitely beautiful - plus, it took part in some downright amazing raids over occupied Europe. One unit specialized in precision bombing to a degree that they would fly in at rooftop height, find their target (typically one building in a major city) by Mk. 1 eyeball, annihilate their target with time-delayed bombs and fly under the radar back to England.
The de HavillandChipmunk was a popular trainer, especially in British Commonwealth countries, and Portugal. One of the guys I fly with has one in old RCAF colours.
I am going to take lessons in the MiG 15, T-28, and Mustang someday soon. The Mustang within the next year, definitely. I’ve already flown a Yak-52 - very cool!
Maybe not so cute as the ME-262, the Gloster Meteor still had some lines. I’ll say that the De Havilland Vampire was a solid contender for looks. The Avro “Clunk” reminds me a lot of the Lockheed “Shooting Star.”
The ME-163 Comet was ‘pretty,’ as in pretty weird. Legend has it that the pilots jokingly claimed its name came not from its careering flight but its (often) fiery skid landing. The Heinkel 162 was an odd ‘bird.’ Nowhere near as graceful compared to the ME-262. And speaking of odd birds, there’s the Shinden.
HEY! The XB-70 was nicknamed “Cecil.” Sadly, after Cecil the Seasick Serpent and not our Patron Saint.
A tid bit from the XB-70 site:
… An SR-71 operating at Mach 2.2 heats up to about 275 degrees, but at Mach 3.2, skin temperatures rise to almost 900 degrees! …
This confirms what I’ve always heard:
1.) Without refrigeration the pilot would roast in the cockpit.
2.) If the plane was painted white, it would go out of control at high speeds.
Okay, NoClueBoy, here she is. She seems to be missing her propeller, though… It’s a cool looking plane, and sorry if I got your hopes up, the picture isn’t great.
Nope, I excrete you not. Supposedly, if the SR-71 had a white fuselage, the inability (due to the reflective nature of white paints) to transport air friction’s heat (as witnessed by the aforementioned tidbit) into the plane’s skin would superheat the boundary layer envelope and degrade performance of the craft’s control surfaces. In other words, it is only the craft’s ready absorption of heat that kept its boundary layer stable.
Although, I can only imagine this happening at the very uppermost speeds of the SR-71’s flight envelope. The YB-70 was painted white and flew at triple-sonic speeds. This notion is also borne out by the fact that the SR-71’s wing tanks leaked atrociously while on the ground. (Needless to say, there was no smoking around the craft.) Once the bird was aloft, heat expansion would tighten up all of the fittings and the fuel system would regain leak integrity. For this reason, the craft was only filled with enough fuel to take off and rendezvous with an air tanker (or land again).
Actually, this fits in rather well with all the other astonishing facts about this exquisite bird. Supposedly, when in full afterburner ‘dash’ mode, ring injectors dump massive quantities of fuel into the engine out takes. This causes an insanely high combustion rate that, in reality, pulls the plane forward. According to legend, 75% of the plane’s forward motion at top speed comes from suction. I’d love to see verification of this.
