Fighter Jets both old and new - A picture thread...

F7F Tigercat

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/75/F7F-3P_Tigercat.jpg/250px-F7F-3P_Tigercat.jpg

F8F. About as badass as you can get.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e7/F8F1boxeroversf.jpg

http://www.discogs.com/image/R-189588-1165803100.jpeg

f-111

skua

http://www.jaapteeuwen.com/ww2aircraft/pictures/jpg/blackburn%20b24%20skua%20I.jpg

XB-70. Everything else can fuck off.

http://www.kheichhorn.de/assets/images/north_American_XB70_Valkyrie.jpg

P-40 with the Flying Tigers

http://www.walnutridge-aaf.com/P40a.jpg

scratch one Italian battleship

http://www.aviation-news.co.uk/media/July-2.jpg

Oh man, I spent countless hours as a kid reading about military aircraft. Here's Romania's lone WWII fighter, the IAR-80:

http://www.casusbelli.com.ar/aire/2gm/otrasnaciones/IAR_80.jpg

ripped from today's headlines

http://www.jetfly.hu/rovatok/repules/katonai/hirek/topten_bombers_070518/Tu95_V.jpg

The incredibly ungainly-looking Saab Tunnan:
http://avions.legendaires.free.fr/Images/Gj29.jpg

Messerschmitt Me-163. Scary scary scary. Five minutes of rocket fuel and a 50% chance of exploding on you.

http://www.kheichhorn.de/assets/images/me163b-1a_takeoff.jpg

I see your Bear, and raise you one Peacemaker

http://www.globalaircraft.org/photos/planephotos/b-36_1.jpg

(always a favorite of mine, due to stories about them from my grandpa)

scratch one Italian battleship

HAI, I SUNK YR BISMARCK TOO

http://www.vectorsite.net/avsword_1.jpg

(always a favorite of mine, due to stories about them from my grandpa)

Same here. When my parents first moved to California, my dad got a job at Convair working on the jet engine retrofits to the initial prop-only B-36s. Best thing I like about the B-36s is the unusual sound they made - it's like the worlds largest drone symphony. (I've got a recording of a B-36 flyby - it's wonderful)

Here's another B-36

http://people.virginia.edu/~rjr/engines/b36.jpg

oops erm 'my bad'

THIS is a canberra (or 3):

http://www.aeroplaneart.com.au/Images/JSJ_PC_English_Electric_Canberras_B_Mk_2.jpg

The Junkers Ju-390, designed to fly transatlantic missions and bomb the east coast of America:

http://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft/imgs/ju390_2.jpg

Smile for the camera!

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/staff/simongray/u2.jpg

http://www.diggerhistory.info/images/air-ww2/beaufighterattack.jpg

I remember my grandpa talking about testing the B-36s with the jet engines (and maybe JATO as well?) and counting the times he almost died (at least a dozen).

B-47 with full RATO packs going.

http://www.tayyareci.com/amerikanucak/postww2/b-47.jpg

Always liked the B-47 because it was the first model kit I ever built.

The second model kit I built was a B-58 Hustler

http://www.globalaircraft.org/photos/planephotos/b-58_1.jpg

Mig-25 Foxbat

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/8e/MiG-25_fig2agrau_USAF.jpg

I didn't realize until years later that the NATO codenames all began with the same letter (Foxbat, Fiddler, Flogger, etc.)

Mig-29

http://lankapage.files.wordpress.com/2007/05/air_mig-29_lg.jpg

F4F Wildcat

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/55/F4F-3_new_pitot_tube_of_later_model.jpg

I love the old-style AAC insignia.

Blohm und Voss wins the WWII WTF contest. Here's the BV-141. Yes the cockpit is on the wing

http://aeroweb.brooklyn.cuny.edu/database/aircraft/showimage.php?id=7108

OK what?

BV-142

http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/LRG/images/bv142-2.jpg

http://www.richard-seaman.com/Wallpaper/Aircraft/Attack/Ov10From2oClock.jpg

OK what?

The idea was that the asymmetrical layout would give better visibility (and it did) and that the added drag on one side would be offset by the torque from the motor (it was). However the initial engine wasn't powerful enough and by the time a better engine was outfitted, the FW-189 was on the scene.

Here's a FW-189

http://www.afwing.com/combat/Normandie%20Nieman/fw189.jpg

F-107

http://www.globalaircraft.org/photos/planephotos/f-107_1.jpg

I see Ned was right!

The B58 is hands down the best-looking warplane the US has ever designed.

I used to have the Monogram 1/72 scale B36, I never did finish building & painting it, it was too big!

That Junkers 390 IIRC did a one-off test flight and got pretty close to the US coast. The other "Amerika-Bomber", the ME-264 was a sinister looking machine:

http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/LRG/images/lrg0067.jpg

XP-67 Bat. Looked great, but not much of a performer

http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/shared/media/photodb/photos/061024-F-1234P-031.jpg

Weird and fucked-up looking the old bv141 might have been, I'd still put the JU287 up at the top of the luftwaffe WTF league:

http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/LRG/images/ju287-1.jpg

http://www.oscars.org/press/pressreleases/images/021230.jpg

The Jets are gonna win...TONIGHT!

Vultee XP-54 "Swoose Goose" (yes, that was the official nickname)

http://www.personal.kent.edu/~ccarey/pages/images/p54-5.jpg

I think the idea was for a pusher-prop/canard airframe that could handle a pile of guns in the front.

Curtiss' version: The XP-55

http://www.daveswarbirds.com/usplanes/photos/xp-55_2.jpg

I'd still put the JU287 up at the top of the luftwaffe WTF league

Yeah, the only way to beat that is with the Luftwaffe's Antarctic Saucer Squadron or that Horten bomber that never made it off the drawing boards.

Sukhoi Su-100/T-4

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/13/SU-100_T4.JPG/800px-SU-100_T4.JPG

http://fotodj.com/wallpaper/images/B-17G%20Flying%20Fortress%20-%20Willow%20Run%202004.jpg

B-17

XF-85 Goblin. Designed to be carried inside a B-36

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0c/McDonnell_XF-85_Goblin_USAF.jpg/800px-McDonnell_XF-85_Goblin_USAF.jpg

Ha, luftwaffe saucer squadron, wthe rubbish you have to sift through in order to find the actual real Luftwaffe flying disc, the Sack AS6:

http://www.luft46.com/misc/as6-1.jpg
http://www.luft46.com/misc/as6-6.jpg

I don't think it actually got off the ground. Unlike the American equivalent:

http://home.cinci.rr.com/estople/weirdair/v-173.jpg!!!

Heinkel He-111Z "Zwilling" Two He-111s put together to tow gliders.

http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/LRG/images/he111z-2.jpg

http://www.globalaircraft.org/photos/planephotos/x-15_3.jpg

x-15. not so much a plane as a manned missile.

Convair Sea Dart. Supersonic sea plane

http://www.aerospaceweb.org/question/performance/speed-record/sea-dart1.jpg

You used to be able to get a 1/72 model of that!

USAAF wtf equivalent of the JU287, the Cornelius XFG1:

http://www.aerofiles.com/corn-xfg1.jpg

What was that weird-looking delta-winged US navy carrier fighter from the '50's? Google is not helping.

Not the skyray

The Republic XF-84H "Thunderscreech"

Potentially the fastest propeller-driven plane, but quite possibly the loudest airplane ever built. On engine warm up, the propeller blades traveled at supersonic speed creating a complex spiral of rapidfire shock waves that were, er, detrimental to ground crews. Normal ear protection made no difference and an unprotected person even at a distance was subjected to a battery of shock waves that caused spasms, vomiting, and spontaneous bowel loosening.

The Edwards guys demanded that Republic test the plane on the opposite side of the lake bed and no USAF pilot ever flew it. Two were built, but only one flew (and that was for only ten hours.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4b/XF-84H.jpg/800px-XF-84H.jpg