For me it’s a toss-up between the Acro Lancaster and the Boeing B-17E. But I think the Lancaster edges out the Flying Fortress for a few reasons. It was the first bomber model I build as a kid (the ‘Dam Busters’ version by Revell). My dad was stationed in Lancaster, CA with the FAA when I was a kid. I think it’s a prettier airplane. I like Merlins.
What’s yours?
I just knew that someone would post a person!
B-58 Hustler. Great name, sexy lines, fast as hell.
All-weather, nape-of-the-earth, twice the armament capacity of the Lancaster or the B-17, plus carrier operation.
No contest. Grumman A-6E Intruder
Duke of Rat: I had a model of that one too. In the GQ thread, I wondered about them. (Didn’t post though, because it’s a jet.) You rarely see them in films, and it seems to be a bit of a ‘forgotten’ aircraft.
Danalan: That’s another of my faves. My mom’s friend’s ex-husband was an Ordnance Officer on Enterprise. We got a personal tour of the ship when I was in the low-double-digits. He gave me a CVAN-65 patch, and patches from VF-1, VF-2, and the A-6 squadron VA-196 ‘Main Battery’. I have the patches on a WEP jacket that I got from an F-4 pilot at NAS Miramar. I’ve always liked the Intruder because it’s a little ugly.
My favorite is a tie between the B-1B and the B-58. The B-1 is just a sexy as hell plane that looks like it’s going Mach 2 just sitting still. The Hustler is just bad-ass all around.
B-17. I made both the Revelle and Airfix models in my youth. For my 12th birthday, I got a copy of Flying Fortress by Edward Jablonski. I still have it in my collection. I always make a point of seeing them when I’m on my travels. Just last year, I made it to the Bomber Gas Station outside of Portland. When I was in Phoenix, I drove down to Mesa to see “Sentimental Journey”–I got a nice tour of the machine shop from one of the guys doing some restoration/repair work on a wing spar with a hairline crack. I tried to see “The Memphis Belle”, but Mud Island was closed when I was there.
My second choice would be the B-36, just for it’s hugeness. There’s one at the SAC Museum–I’d really like to be able to check out the inside of that monster!
I’ve always like the B-25 Liberator.
I like the B-17 of course. It has such history and could take a lot damage, but I just like the B-25. The bombadiers canaopy, the twin tails, just the overall look of it.
I was a flight simulator technician for the A6-E. I’ve got hundreds of hours in the cockpit – all simulated. Great fun. We would ‘fly’ up the Columbia river canyon & take out dams.
Once I assigned a ‘mission’ to a crew from VA-196 – to bomb the Hoquiam TACAN station, over on the coast past the Olympic mountains. This was a crew that had just returned from a long cruise, and was using the simulator time to lazily book some hours and keep current.
They expected an easy flight, but asked me to give them a few emergencies. Hah! On the trip out, every 10 minutes or so I would trip the Right Generator – they would reset it, and everything would be fine. I also dipped the hydraulics pressure indicator once in a while, which, surprisingly, they noticed. Other than that, uneventful on the way out.
Then they got over the target, and decided to do a high-loft attack. Their bomb hit within 20 feet of the target (!), so I shut down the TACAN station. At the top of their loop, just before the Immelmann, I failed both generators, and the Right engine. Things started happening pretty fast at that point!
First, they pulled the RAT (Ram Air Turbine – a propellor-driven alternator that pops out of the fuselage for emergency power) then tried re-lighting the Right engine, and resetting the generators. The Engine wouldn’t start, and the Right generator would reset, but the left generator wouldn’t.
So, they have minimal electronics, they’ve lost the navigation data from the computer, they’re operating on one generator, the Right one, and it’s being driven by the Left engine, their only power source. On top of that, they can’t get the Hoquiam TACAN station to come up – because they blew it up. There isn’t another TACAN station that side of the mountains, so they’re lost.
About that time, they realize that they’re below 8000 feet, and there’s a mountain bigger than that somewhere nearby. 4G climb, anyone?
Great fun. They came out of the simulator drenched in sweat. So much for lazy trainer hours… 
Sorry - the B-24 Liberator or the B-25 Mitchell?
I kind of like the lines of the B-24 better, but I can’t say that I really have a favorite bomber (at least not in the aircraft sense). I am quite entertained by the Evil Mad Bomber What Bombs At Midnight, though.
Blimey. Lancaster, Mosquito, Canberra, A4 Skyraider, Intruder. . .
Or the.
Saw action in the Falklands conflict.
A4 Skyhawk. Though the Skyraider’s cool too.
They came into service just about the time missles did, and were considered redundant IIRC. The pilots seemed to really enjoy flying them.
If you can catch the Discovery Flight Channel (or I think it’s changed to just The Military Channel) series on different aircraft, check out the B-58. It set so many records right after it came into service, it was dubbed 'The Champion of Champions".
More info Here
Being a peacetime kinda guy, I’m drawn to the bright shiny pre-WW2 bombers, such as the original YB-17s that used to deliver disaster aid and soar through the movie newsreels of the late '30s.
First B-17 delivered to the Air Corps, with the 2nd Bomb Group at Barksdale Field, Louisiana, in 1937.
Rendezvous with the Italian liner Rex, 700 miles out to sea, 1938. (This pissed the Navy off something fierce.)
The B-52, of course. It’s a plane AND a hairdo!
Germany’s Stuka dive bomber from WWII was pretty awesome, although The Bomber from Joe Walsh & The James Gang was nothing to sneeze at either.
I always mix those up.
The B-24 Liberator is my fav.
Beg pardon. The 2nd BG was at Langley, Virginia, in 1937. They’re at Barksdale now, and have since become a Bomb Wing.
But I prefer the nose of the B-25 but I like the higher set wings of the B-24.
Maybe someone should give me one of each so I can decide.
But it is B-25s in Catch 22 so I think that gives them the edge.
