Any Military Plane Freaks Here?

Old Hippie · 10-28-2008, 10:42 AM

So what's your favorite Military plane?

Old Hippie · 10-28-2008, 10:58 AM

I was at a TAC base in the Viet Nam era -- so we had a lot of F4E Phantoms and a few F101 Voo Doos and F104 Star Fighters. I guess I'm kinda partial to them.

F-101 Voodo

F-104 Star Fighters

F4E Phantom

We also had some 121C Constellations that were called Hurricane Fighters -- but they wee really AWACs to keep and eye on Castro. The SAC group had some B52 and KC135s, and MAC had a slew of C130s, C123s, C117s, C141s and a C47Gooney bird. We'd see a C5 Galaxy every now and then. A lot of T38s and T39s too.

Luftman129 · 10-28-2008, 01:27 PM

I grew up hearing stories about my mother's birth father serving in the US Army Air Corps and that he instructed the B-24 pilots so I'm partial to that. I'm also partial to the the cargo military planes, be it the C-47 Dakota to the newest in the Air Force, the C-17 Globemaster.

C.

Weeg_1 · 10-28-2008, 01:51 PM

I really get into the WWII warbirds. Especially the P38 Lightning and the P51 Mustangs.

Castle50 · 10-28-2008, 03:54 PM

The best at what it does- B-52 and the most purdy F-106

Old Hippie · 10-28-2008, 04:46 PM

Loved the look of the Mustangs, and the P38 had quite a record == but the Corsair also did well in the beginning of the Pacific. The B24 Liberator and B29 Super Fortress (although late in the game) did well when you consider how quick it was designed and put into production -- and the shear numbers.

The Koolest looking bomber was the B-36

Old Hippie · 10-28-2008, 04:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Castle50

The best at what it does- B-52 and the most purdy F-106

The B-52 always reminds me of Slim Pickens riding the bomb in Dr. Strangelove -- my all time favorite movie (tied with Casablanca).

Luftman129 · 10-28-2008, 07:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Castle50

The best at what it does- B-52 and the most purdy F-106

We spent quite a bit of time around one of the B-52s at the Wings Over Houston air show this past Saturday.

C.

Castle50 · 10-28-2008, 10:22 PM

YouTube - B52 High speed fly by.

Great aircraft.

storm king · 11-27-2008, 11:09 PM

Curtis P-40 B most likely, the aircraft the American Vollenteer Group flew in China before the U.S. entered WW2. It gets a bad rap from a lot of folks, but truth is if they flew Mustangs they wouldn't have been nearly a successfull; because that stinkin' merlin engine requires so much mantainence. P-40's were actually faster in cruise than P-51's and did it on less fuel too. So while not a sexy, they rolled up the highest kill to loss ratio of their era, and still remain second only to Isreal's unbleievably awsome record of something like 2400 kills to a dozen losses. I think the flying tigers record was something like 275-300 jap planes to about 6 or 8 of theirs. if you asked how many planes I dig, we'd need a few more pages.