What was the most beautiful fighter aircraft of the Cold War Era?

[TheMightyFavog]

I'd go with the English Electric Lightning.



Could do supercruise decades before the F-22. I loved it when I finally got to see one up close at the RAF Museum in Hendon over the summer. (Where I got a picture of one of two airworthy Lancaster Bombers in flight.) One bad thing about the RAF Museum: That place is an absolute bear to take pictures in without some serious professional grade equipment due to the crappy lighting.

[Pierre.Suave]

1. nothing else needs to be said...

[jberryhill]

2. That is a Rocket Powered Brick...

...These are aircraft:

[cwydro]

3. beautiful!

more pics please

[Hand]

23. ...

The F86 was mighty purty...



...but I've got to say the MiG 15 wins with its snazzy nose and tail!



(Check out the cool air brake action, too!)

[Pierre.Suave]

6. Maybe, but...

it is one hell of a cool brick.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5LM0e6YUmI

[jberryhill]

10. No doubt

I'm just addressing aesthetics.

Dunno what the dates on "cold war" are, or I'd go with an F4U Corsair.

[Kutjara]

34. Looks like a potentially interesting tv series.

I love how, in movies like "Top Gun," all the pilots have cool badboy callsigns like "Maverick" and "Iceman," while real fighter jocks end up with stuff like "Pencil Dick" and "Mr. Craptacular."

[Pierre.Suave]

40. yeah...

movies are not real.

[Kutjara]

41. ya don't say.

[Swede]

4. I've always liked the profile of the F4 Phantom.

[BlueCollar]

9. I liked watching them

when I was in the Navy....

I was in P-3s but occasionally we'd get transit flights come through and the F-4 jockeys always gave a good show as they took off.

[rockymountaindem]

5. The F-104 Starfighter

Aptly named:

[Redstone]

31. We saw the private team that flies two F-104s at an airshow a few years ago;

I had not realized until then how pretty those airplanes are.

Redstone

[cloudbase]

7. This bad boy.

Because nothing sounds better than a big honkin' radial engine.

[flvegan]

8. I always liked the Harrier Jump Jet

I forget the actual number/letter classification (and I think there were 2 or 3 generations of them). AV8B from the pic below.

The Harrier was cool because of it's vertical take off capabilities.

[DS1]

11. I always liked the curve of the F14

feminine and badass at the same time

[Inchworm]

22. I like the power of one

The vapor shots are cool, but I thought this pic was unique.



:hi:

[bluedigger]

32. I'm with DS1

The F-14 has it!

[Rabrrrrrr]

12. This one

The Fantasticar:

[JCMach1]

13. F-4 Phantom

[jberryhill]

14. My all-around favorite in Ace Combat 4 for PlayStation

(although the A-10 is the more versatile non fighter plane)

[ironflange]

15. This one, no doubt about it

Avro CF-105 Arrow, ahead of its time but killed by dull-witted politicians. Rolled out October 7, 1957.

[Oeditpus Rex]

16. Aesthetically beautiful?

It ain't the Lightning, or any other British aircraft. Except for the Spitfire, they were utterly incapable of building a pretty plane until the '70s. In WWII, I think they intentionally made their bombers uglier'n a herd of leprosy-riddled gnus to scare the Germans.

Anyway, just to be different, I'm gonna go with the multi-role McDonnell F-101 Voodoo.

[kwassa]

17. Sopwith Camel

[rug]

18. This is war porn.

[Fire Walk With Me]

19. Not a single SR71 fan in the lot of you?

[DS1]

20. "fighter"

[Fire Walk With Me]

21. Just saw that and was about to edit my post.

I have no contribution in that case.

[Drum]

24. I absolutely am!

Was tempted to weigh in, but thought this was "fighters" only.

Nevertheless, I love the Blackbird, and it's even more impressive up close! Thanks for mentioning it.

[TrogL]

25. It's not a fighter jet

[ironflange]

36. Leave it in

It underwent some development as an interceptor. That's good enough for me.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_YF-12

[Hand]

26. Not really a fighter, but...

You've gotta love the cool retro styling of the OV-10 Bronco!



Or the A10 Warthog (Thunderbolt, hell!). So ugly it's beautiful.

[Pierre.Suave]

43. I know this game too

Do we got some flight simmers here?

[Oeditpus Rex]

27. Oooo, I know!

:rofl:

[Throd]

28. Anybody have a photo of the Saab 37 Viggen?

[GOPisEvil]

29. How's about the F-8 Crusader?

[TheMightyFavog]

33. I remember building a 1:48 Crusader.

Best model I ever built.

[Pierre.Suave]

42. Hey, just a second there...

I think I have that game.

Do you play this game too?

[Redstone]

30. The North American A-5 Vigilante. That was the airplane that was the first to have

such innovations as the all-moving horizontal tailplane, among many others.

(Oops, not a fighter. In that case, the Hawker Hunter.)

Redstone

[taterguy]

35. SR-71

It's a little known fact that one of its many secret capabilities is that it was also a kick-ass jet fighter

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

37. F-100 Super Sabre

A little step up from the F-86.

[begin_within]

38. My choice is

The B-25 Mitchell (aka PBJ), because my Dad flew them in WWII and the Korean Conflict.

[Wcross]

39. F-85, it was one hot aircraft!