If I gotta pick just one, probably the Northrop Gamma. That was back in the day when the science of aircraft design was “if it looks right, it will fly right.” Of course, I’ve never flown one, but it looks so very right.
Also considered: Beechcraft Model 17 Staggerwing, and de Havilland DHC-2 Beaver.
Will have to give some thought to rotary wing.
Spitfire, all the way.
Hey, why pick fixed OR rotary? http://www.cartercopters.com/
A few years ago I got to ride in a Staggerwing. It was awesome. That radial engine has some serious power.
Just one?
Per-WWII
Stagger Beach or DC-3. Both awesome
WWII
P-38 or P-51. Fork tailed devil or Chuck Yeager’s ride.
Postwar
B-1 Saw one at an air show. OG what a sexy shape.
In the rotary wing category I will go with a gyro copter. The ads for them when I was young really lit the imagination.
Fixed Military: XB-70 Valkyrie
Fixed Non-Military: Scaled Composites ARES
Rotary: Aerospatiale Gazelle
Tomorrow I may convince myself of the H-64 Tarhe (Skycrane) and the F-104 Starfighter, but for now those are my choices.
Hard to pick, and ask me again in a week and I’ll give a different answer. But I like these new and next generation stealth fighters.
F-22 from USA. F-22 Supermanouverability - YouTube
J-20 from China. Sorry for the music - YouTube
PAK-FA from Russia. - YouTube
As for rotary wing. Got to say Apache. - YouTube
Another vote for the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II and the Bell UH-1 Iroquois “Huey”.
This was my vote, too. Damn pretty, and a brilliant concept. Shame that it doesn’t live up to our expectations, but, wow, what a lovely, elegant, classy design!
I can’t pick just one. How about one from a few different categories?
Business jet Gulfstream GV
Business tubo prop Beech Starship
Cargo AN124
Military fixed wing B1
Rotary wing - there are more beautiful machines, but it’s hard not to appreciate the Apache
Fixed wing: Spitfire.
Rotary: BK117, the first helicopter I saw doing a loop.
Fixed: Spitfire - partly out of aesthetics, and partly because they were invented/devloped very locally to my home.
Rotary: Chinook; instantly recognisable by ear, even before they’re visible - and when they come into sight, they’re scary.
I’ve always loved the AH-1 Cobra ever since I first saw one fly by my house as a kid. Visually, they’re perfect vehicles - sleek and deadly, like flying knives.
I have to agree with this. The RAF kept finding roles that the Mosquito was capable of, and it was up to the task. Also it is a very good looking aircraft.
For fixed wing, I don’t think there’s a prettier plane than the Lockheed Constellation.
For rotary wing, I love the Bell 47 - it just looks fun to ride in.
Just a bout impossible to name just one of each, but:
Fixed-wing – P-51D Mustang
Rotary wing – UH-1 Iroqouis
Both on the basis of sight and sound combined: Merlin music for the former, that unmistakeable, menacing “Whop Whop” for the latter.
I was always partial to the Corsair. Really sharp looking little beast. I also dig on the Spitfire, the Hawker Harrier, and the F-14 Tomcat (I was a fan of that plane years before Top Gun).
But my all-time favorite fixed wing plane is the AVRO Arrow. Doomed before it even got off the drawing board because it was too ambitious in too many different ways (not to mention the politics), it was still, IMHO, the most beautiful aircraft ever devised and made for pure, raw, magnificent speed.
Another vote for the Corsair. Anything that earns the nickname Whistling Death is right up there.
Saab has always made the most stylish aircraft, IMO, appealing to the Flash Gordon aesthetic. The Draken has always been my favorite.
For rotary, I like this cute little tyke.
I want an Me-262 so bad I can taste it, modern engines though please
Rotary an auto gyro
