Another beast, the Sea Harrier The aircraft responsible for crippling the Bismark after it destoryed HMS Hood (Fairey Swordfish)
F4 phantom At the Army Barracks near me I noticed an old one just sitting there...maybe they use it for training or it's just on display? There's no runway round here.
Always had a soft spot for the Su-35. Move aside the F-22 with its fancy stealth and horrendous reliability record!
Amusingly that's very accurate since the entire aircraft was designed around the gun and it's ground attack role. Engine placement, wing design, cockpit placement, tail design, literally everything to make it a ground obliterating monster. No mention of the Vulcan yet? The plane which makes, what I would argue is, the single greatest noise ever created by mankind. That. Damn. Howl.
Bodkin - teasin tina took off 2 years back (by accident) at bruntingthorpe..... put it back down but the pilot actually thought he might have to fly a circuit. as for SR-71 I call you and raise you the M-21 with D-21 M3 DRONE http://www.museumofflight.org/aircraft/lockheed-m-21-blackbird
Sorry, no. The F4 is what got the TSR2 and the Hawker Siddley P1154 (a supersonic Harrier) cancelled mid development.
and how can ANY list of cool aircraft be complete without the COOLEST AIRCRAFT EVER!!! and who flys this thing ?? the lead singer himself
it was the F1-11 which got the TSR2 cancelled - the UK was then going to buy the F1-11K version , which then got binned and we got the AFVG , which then was built as the MRCA , and finally in service as the Tornado GR1; to replace the Buccaneer the RAF `nicked` from the royal navy when they ran out of carriers to fly them from
Haha, fair Still a freaking cool bird. The F-4 isn't what nixed the P1154 and TSR2 anyway, it was short-sighted stupid politicians (might be a tautology there). And guess what? They did it again when they axed the Harrier and sold the Ark Royal for scrap. Don't blame a perfectly competent fighter for idiocy. For sure! I don't shoot much civil stuff, but it's my dream to catch the EF1 charter and John Travolta's retro-styled 707.
SU-27 is quite nice, doesn't float my boat like the weird planes though! Radar signature of a ball-bearing. Not the fastest, but an interesting bit of kit!
Have you read Skunk Works by Ben Rich and Leo Janos? Early in the book they talk about radar-testing the F-117's precursor, Have Blue, on a test stand (basically a radar-invisible pole on which the craft was mounted) out in the desert. Flat plain, no radar clutter, perfect for the job. On an early test, after millions of dollars had been spent in development, they assembled some USAF brass down to the control centre to look at the radar return. So everything is in place and they turn the radars on... only to find a target on the scope. It was small but it was there. The Lockheed guys paled, thinking that all their time and money had been wasted, and the USAF guys were not too pleased to have come to the middle of nowhere to witness a dud test. Then one of the range technicians radios in to say "hang on, there's a bird sitting on the plane." They tell him to scare the bird off, he toots the horn of his truck, the bird flies away and BAM! the scopes go dead. Also interesting is the fact that the math for the radar-scattering faceted design was done largely based on an academic paper released by a Soviet scientist!
I haven't, but that book and one of Graham's books on the SR-71 are both on my to-read list. Anything technical like that is right up my street - I had a nerdgasm yesterday from reading the flight manual for the SR-71.
Gizmodo did a piece a few months ago on one of the pilots that flew the SR-71 and the prototypes.... hold on... http://www.gizmodo.in/news/What-Its...-With-A-Badass-Pilot/articleshow/19167995.cms There it is... A worthy read.
I met one of the guys that was on the SR-71 design team in 2010. Really old, but mind as sharp as a razor. I talked to him for HOURS about the Sled and pretty much every radar-related thing under the sun (he worked with radars, wouldn't say exactly what).
I saw the Russian Knights display team at Finningley in 1991, it was the first time I'd seen an SU-27 in the flesh and I've been hooked ever since. Elegant, effective design and Pugachev's Cobra is still one of the most insane and awe inspiring manouvres I've ever seen performed - the pointy end goes forward or you crash, everyone knows this except those crazy Russians Another aircraft that ahjsn't been mentioned but that I adore is the Handley Page Victor (B1 rather than B2 though). From the crescent wing profile which was years ahead of it's time to the fantastic head on view I love it.
