Most people have a love of airplanes. They are some of the most beautiful machines man has designed and used in our long history on the earth. Fighter aircraft are often the most beautiful.
So name your three favorites. The only requirement is that they must be fourth or fifth generation aircraft, basically fighters built from 1970 to the modern era.
I’ll start.
The reason for the modern requirement is that I know as well as anyone else we will all name the P-51 or the Spitfire lol.
No love for the:
F16 Fighting Falcon
F/A 18 Hornet
And dammit I’m putting the P-51
F-14 tomcat
X2, Goose
Then:
F-16, Chappy
And ■■■■ everyone, F-35
Oh and all the Spitfire and Mustang fans, gimme a Grumman F6F Hellcat 
Wrong - P-38!
If you’re gonna dis the Mustang then I’ll substitute with a P-40 Warhawk
Not dissing, just the badass fighters in the other theater always get ignored.
Can’t argue that. The Pacific theater always gets overlooked. Much different than a full on ground war. No doubt the fight for air supremacy was intense.
I’d throw the M-262 in the WW2 planes. Modern jets are all American
F22
F16
B2 bomber
If I was combat pilot…put me in Warthog.
Yeah, great pick. I think how effective they were in combat matters as much as just having been “cool”.
We have a member that was A-10 pilot. can’t think of his name just yet.
Double wrong - Corsair!! That gull wing is a thing of beauty!!
But for me it’s the F-18. Fell in love when I saw one on an aircraft carrier when I was 7. B-2 and F-117 are closely behind tied for 2nd.
I always get goosebumps seeing one up close in person and seeing how badass the gun is on them!!
I can’t believe they’re trying to shut them down…I’m not sure we have anything that can replace those planes.
Maybe someone can correct me on this.
I have lived the bulk of my life within spitting distance of an ANG base that was the home to a half dozen F-16s. I used to love watching them fly over almost daily. Sadly the wing changed assignments a few years ago and the Falcons left. Now it’s a base of operations for Reaper drones. Sure it’s cool seeing them fly over now and then. But not the same as the Falcons.
The air force likes to use the A10’s supposed demise as a bargaining chip to pressure the DOD and by extension congress to allot more money to other projects.
Namely if someone even hints a cutting F-35 orders there will be a general racing to the scene threatening to mothball the A-10 fleet if something isn’t done about it.
The F-22 is a fantastic aircraft.
It’s a shame they capped production at 187. We really should have built at least 250.
One interesting concept the Air Force is playing around with is ordering about 80 new build F-15Cs before the line is shut down in the next few years. However these will be fully modernized and will have a communications pod that will allow bilateral communication with the F-22 and the F-35.
As it stands now the F-22 (and I believe the F-35) can receive Link-16 data (which is what the current F-15s use) but they cannot transmit Link-16 as it would compromise their location. They use a new data link system that is stealth friendly but our older 4th gen aircraft can’t read it.
So these new communications pods will allow the F-15s to communicate with the F-22 and F-35. As everyone knows the main limitation of the fifth gen aircraft is their lack of ordinance. The F-22 can only carry two sidewinders and six AMRAAMS in their internal bays. The 2040C spec F-15s however will carry quad rack mounts. Basically they can carry four AMRAAMS on each mount for a total of sixteen.
So in a future air war the F-15C can act as a portable missile carrier for the F-22. The F-22, which has a stealthy radar can track the bogeys and then feed the targeting information to the F-15s following behind outside of the bogey’s detection field. One F-22 paired with four F-15s with quad pack munitions would be able to engage two dozen enemy aircraft while still having plenty of missiles in reserve.
