Cmon, gotta be some fans of flying things How about this beauty..... Bloody shame it never made it into service, 1953-1959, From evolution to extinction in 6 years!
the avro arrow - once again the USA slapping down a foreign government to scrap something awesome edit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXdJxjvQZW4 TSR-2 faster than a lightning on reheat with just 1 afterburner lit! it used the same engines as concord - in a frame 1/3 of weight
or this (antonov 225, saw it a few years ago at East Midlands Airport, pictures do not do this thing justice it is F*****G HUGE ) although I still thing the 747-400 is the most beautiful of any aircraft aside from Concorde
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPJiOareZnA and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOdtWV-X3Hs I see your take off and raise you 2 (inc concorde) at Bournemouth edit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMCupanPgf8 check out just how quick she is moving after take off
See my sig. Only thing that sounds better than a merlin, or two merlins for that matter, are two Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasps
Always lived in its sisters shadow but a big favorite of mine. Can you imagine how mind blowing this was for random people seeing it for the first time in the 1950s. 10 years before the Lancaster was cutting edge! Another beast is the flying deathtrap, apparently the wings were just to provide hardpoints and it flew with mostly thrust. Mind bogglingly hard to land due to stall speed. Sad to see a f1 about to die but stunning pic (pilot survived)
There was a time in my life, before deciding to study Software Development, where I wanted nothing more than to fly. To quote Top Gun: "Mach 2 wit my hair on fire". Personally, I always had a hard-on for proper JETS, but this thread is about pic porn, so here goes: Every one of those is an icon. For all it's Top Gun Cliche, this was always one of my favourites, in spite of being HUGE compared to modern aircraft. And then there was that, which always had (still does, actually) in pure awe. The picture is the famous June 1966 accident which contributed to the cancellation of the project, but bomb deliver at Mach 3.1 is remarkable.
Ahh, yes the SR-71 - my fondest aircraft memory was actually watching one take off from the Mildenhall airbase in the 80's, a truely awesome sight. I just happened to be driving by the base when I instantly recognised what was rolling out onto the main runway and just had to stop and gawp like a slack jawed yokel.
For me, Can't really beat this: But from the time before i was born, this is the ultimate: It's soundtrack just add's to the amazing eye candy Sam
Ah yes... the SR71. It's the XB70's brother, but there's one thing it can't do: Deliver armaments at that speed. I have seen one standing on video once... the leaks are insane. As for the Spitfire, you can't really mention it without mentioning the German counterpart to it:
Got to be some love for the Lancer. During training we were shown a video of one suffering an engine fire, and it needed to dump all its weaponry before landing. That was one hell of a bang.
