# Your Favorite Airplane
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-airplane/972280
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [September 26, 2022, 7:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-airplane/972280 "2022-09-26T19:43:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 17
**Page:** 5
### Author:  [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2022, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-airplane/972280/81 "2022-09-29T00:10:20Z")
[Sopwith Triplane](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sopwith_Triplane).
Boeing B-17G.
Messerschmitt Bf 109G.
[Boeing 314](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_314_Clipper)
Not that I’d be able to qualify on any of them, with my depth perception.
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### Author:  [@gnarator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnarator)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2022, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-airplane/972280/82 "2022-09-29T00:18:27Z")
Hmmm…favorite plane that **I’d** have to fly? That rules out the F-86 or F-106.
I like yellow, so it would have to be the Piper Cub.
[ ](https://www.jaair.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/DSC_0010.jpg)
An Aeronca C-3 is also an option:
[ ](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5d/Aeronca_C-3_RSC.jpg)
The Chief or Champ would also work:
[ ](https://worldwarwings.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/11ac-plane.jpg)
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### Author:  [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)
#### Post date: [September 29, 2022, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-airplane/972280/83 "2022-09-29T03:25:08Z")
My dad flew F-86 and F-100 (not the truck). I have his ‘Mach Buster’ card and his ‘Super-sonic Shoes’. They are now old, twisted up leather boots, dry rotted, on the top shelf of my broken beer fridge.
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### Author:  [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2022, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-airplane/972280/84 "2022-10-02T00:38:27Z")
Favourite plane is a toss-up between the bright yellow biplane that dusted crops when I was a kid 55 years ago and Snoopy’s Sopwith Camel. Root beers all around as we sing
So, stand to your glasses, steady!
This world is a world of lies.
Here’s a toast to the dead already—
Hurrah for the next man who dies!
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### Author:  [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2022, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-airplane/972280/85 "2022-10-02T01:09:42Z")
The Gee Bee Super Sportster R-1:
[ ](https://i.stack.imgur.com/AaprL.jpg)
I had a toy of one when I was a kid. Looks like a lot of fun to fly around in.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2022, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-airplane/972280/86 "2022-10-02T14:42:15Z")
Maybe fast, butb probably not fun.
It killed a lot of darn good pilots. Keeping it flying front end first was apparently a nonstop battle of wits & will.
Though I had the same kit as a kid and, like you, thought it was cool as shit. 🙂
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### Author:  [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2022, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-airplane/972280/87 "2022-10-02T15:32:40Z")
That thing doesn’t look like it could possibly fly, and from what I’ve read, apparently a lot of the time it didn’t.
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### Author:  [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)
#### Post date: [October 2, 2022, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-airplane/972280/88 "2022-10-02T22:43:24Z")
Fast, though.
> **[In 1932, Jimmy Doolittle won the Thompson Trophy race (part of the Clevelend...](https://www.pinterest.com/pin/331929435029952279/)**
>
> Dec 29, 2012 - In 1932, Jimmy Doolittle won the Thompson Trophy race (part of the Clevelend National Air Races), averaging 252.7mph. The aircraft he flew was the Gee Bee (Granville Brothers) Model R-1, one of the...
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### Author:  [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2022, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-airplane/972280/89 "2022-10-03T00:52:42Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#):
>
> It killed a lot of darn good pilots. Keeping it flying front end first was apparently a nonstop battle of wits & will.
It’s frequently described as a “stunt plane.” I suppose that’s not necessarily intentional. Maybe the “stunt” was simply getting in the thing and trying to fly it. 😁
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### Author:  [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2022, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-airplane/972280/90 "2022-10-03T01:10:56Z")
Well, if we’re going that route…
[ ](https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1vSauOFXXXXaUXFXXq6xXFXXXM/Living-room-home-wall-decoration-fabric-poster-Cowboy-Bebop-Swordfish-II-anime.jpg)
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### Author:  [@Mr.Duality](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Duality)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2022, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-airplane/972280/91 "2022-10-03T10:35:38Z")
The A-6 Intruder. [Penetrates deeper, lingers longer and drops a bigger load.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grumman_A-6_Intruder)
I’m biased because I used to be a radar tech specializing in A-6 Search Radar. It had some cool features for the time, including the Automatic Moving Target Indicator.
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### Author:  [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)
#### Post date: [October 3, 2022, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-airplane/972280/92 "2022-10-03T21:07:18Z")
My brother flew A-6s. Ugly, slow, and a strafe rag for fighters.
But I’d hate to be on the ground sitting at the spot their mission was aimed at. They got the job done in spades when most of their contemporaries could not.
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### Author:  [@Mr.Duality](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Duality)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2022, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-airplane/972280/93 "2022-10-04T13:57:19Z")
They definitely needed fighter cover.
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### Author:  [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2022, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-airplane/972280/95 "2022-10-04T18:51:08Z")
Back to the OP: hard to decide, but any of the WWII Allied fighters or light bombers would do for me. I’ve had a special place in my heart for the Corsair, thanks to the TV show Baa Baa Blacksheep.
But jut for difference’s sake, I might go with the [Douglas A-20 Havoc](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_A-20_Havoc). Small enough and simple enough to maintain and fly by myself, while retaining some of the performance of the lighter single-engine fighters. Plus, there’s not many left flying, so the Magic Money Genie that allows me to own an airplane at all might also be able to magically resurrect an intact and fully operational one from somewhere.
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### Author:  [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)
#### Post date: [October 4, 2022, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-airplane/972280/96 "2022-10-04T20:08:38Z")
It’s hard to beat the SR-71\* for overall awesomeness but doesn’t seem to realistically fit OP’s intent. I’d probably have the best chances of learning to fly in and maintaining the Honda plane already mentioned upthread.
\*A cool thing about the SR-71 is that much of the manual has been declassified. There are some redactions, of course, but still damned interesting to page through.
[https://www.sr-71.org/blackbird/manual/](https://www.sr-71.org/blackbird/manual/)
> [@ExTank](#):
>
> I’ve had a special place in my heart for the Corsair …
This jogged a memory.
I made scale model kits when I was a kid and remember the inverted full wings. They were difficult for me to put together at the time but looked. So. Cool.
(Wikipedia photo has a good shot but Discourse doesn’t like the link)[[Gull wing - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gull_wing#/media/File%3AF4U-1_Corsair_of_VF-17_bouncing_during_landing_aboard_USS_Bunker_Hill_(CV-17)%2C_in_1943.jpg)]
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### Author:  [@MikeF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MikeF)
#### Post date: [October 5, 2022, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-airplane/972280/97 "2022-10-05T18:20:54Z")
Complete fantasy? A4 Skyhawk. Pilot accounts are glowing. “quick, nimble, strap it on versus getting into it, most fun airplane I ever flew” etc. It sounds like a blast. P-38 is also one of my favorites.
I’m a glider pilot and am quite happy flying at less-than-blistering speeds. As a matter of fact, I know many former fighter pilots who say flying a modern glider is the closest thing to flying a fighter. I guess they are talking about the cockpit seating and view, not performance. If I had to pick a power plane, give me an Aircam or J3. But that would mean learning about engines, etc.
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### Author:  [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)
#### Post date: [October 22, 2022, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/your-favorite-airplane/972280/98 "2022-10-22T02:01:17Z")
> [@Mr.E](#):
>
> Bell V-280 Valor
That is wild. I had no idea.
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