The "Pictures of the World's Coolest Aircraft" Thread

[Agathon]

Post pics of your favourite aircraft here and debate their merits.

Here's my all time fave: the North American XB 70 Valkyrie. Of course due to shortsightedness and stupidity this aircraft never made it out of the prototype stage. Still it was pretty fast: Mach 3 easily.

[Agathon]

And here's another beauty, the MiG 29

[St Leo]

The Avro Arrow 0wnZ all.

[Dinner]

The MIG 29 is a nice looking plane but you have to over look its many short comings.

[MichaeltheGreat]

You can walk around an XB70 at the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB outside of Dayton, Ohio.

The coolest one of all was the X85 Goblin "parasite fighter," meant to be carried on a trapeze inside the bomb bay of the B36 bomber as mobile air escort.

[Koyaanisqatsi]

Requisite Blackbird pic:



They have one of those at Wright-Pat too...

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by MichaeltheGreat
You can walk around an XB70 at the Air Force Museum at Wright-Patterson AFB outside of Dayton, Ohio.

The coolest one of all was the X85 Goblin "parasite fighter," meant to be carried on a trapeze inside the bomb bay of the B36 bomber as mobile air escort.

That is the coolest airplane ever.

[Urban Ranger]

The S-37 Berkut

[MichaeltheGreat]

Originally posted by Frogger


That is the coolest airplane ever.

Here's a photo of it suspended from the trapeze. It never was launched from inside a B36 -- it's test flights were from an external trapeze set up on an EB29.

[KrazyHorse]

Was it supposed to land, or was it supposed to redock in flight?

[KrazyHorse]

Or had they not thought that far ahead yet...

[Zylka]

I'd have to say the B-52 as it will probably see almost a CENTURY of service?

[Dinner]

Of course the air frame is about the only original part left on those planes. Everything else has been updated many, many times.

BTW I thought they were schedualed to be retired around 2010. Did it get pushed back again?

[Asher]

I've heard ~2040.

[Tattila the Hun]

Alas, this is but a replica.