Name your three favorite fighter aircraft (1970-Present)

Actually that’s petty good concept IMO. F-22 being eyes ad ears relaying targeting information to F-15’s, meanwhile using 22 to take out anything that threatens the 15’s.

Good info, good post. Learn something.

Those are badass!!

I think it all had to do with funding issues for the F35. McCain was a strident supported of keeping the A-10. They were even talks of having a competition to see which jet performed better against ground targets, but as far as I can tell the results were kept from the public.

I remember him on the old board I might be wrong but I think it was literally “A10 Fighter” or something similar he didn’t post a lot that I saw.

That’s a silly test, nothing is going to do what the A-10 does better than the A-10 (other than maybe Apaches in specific situations) … it’s so unique.

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I always liked flying in the E-2 Hawkeye…

… … … … … … We got to order the fighter jocks around.

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Agreed. I’m pretty critical of military bloat and unneeded projects. But the A-10 is truly unique and I’ll hapily give Uncle Sam my money to keep them going.

I’d guess it would show that the F-35 was vastly inferior to the A-10. If it was a wild success they would have paraded it around to try to boost PR of F-35.

F-4 phantom
F-14
F-18

I like the F-14 as well.

One interesting situation involving the F-14 was the reason the Iraqi Air Force was terrified of them. During the gulf war the F-14s commonly flew escort for the F-18 during their attack missions. If any Iraqi fighter was in the area the F-14s could light them up on radar from 100+ miles out. The Iraqis wouldn’t even engage, they would just turn tail and haul ass.

The reason for this was their experience during the Iran-Iraq war. The Iranian Air Force, the only other nation to adopt the F-14, absolutely demolished the Iraqis with Phoenix missiles every time there was an engagement. Iranian F-14s had a 10 to 1 kill ratio throughout the war; the only reason the Iraqi Air Force was able to get an advantage later on was due to American sanctions on the Iranians. Their F-14 fleet wasn’t able to be maintained properly (they were notoriously difficult to keep flying) and they transferred them to defending the airspace around Tehran and used F-4s and F-5s to engage the Iraqis on the order in order to reduce their flight hours.

The Sopwith Camel has been my favorite since the seventies…

Both of them are certainly beautiful.

F-111. Just because.

There’s something about the F-4. I love it.

My favorite aircraft of all time is probably the B-17. Not only was it gorgeous to look at, it could fly when it was shot to pieces. No rudder? No problem. Who needs four engines, one will do. They would come home with huge holes in them. Incredible.

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Yes yes they are.

It’s so hard to choose between those two.

From a purely technical standpoint if I had to choose which to fly into combat I would take the P-51, specifically the D model. The Spitfire had a better rate of turn but it burned through its fuel at a notorious rate; the elliptical wing turned out to not be so great for long range endurance, the kind of missions being flown in Europe during World War II. Not only that the P-51 had better armament; I’ll take six 50s over eight .303s any day of the week.

But aethestically man it’s so close. I feel like the Spitfire is a little more attractive from below due to its very unique wing. The P-51 looks better from the front or side profiles.

Aardvark!!!

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Although not quite as pretty as the Mustang or Hurricane, I also have a thing for the Corsair. Maybe it’s the Marine in me. Very cool aircraft.

The Corsair is actually my favorite World War II fighter overall.

I have a thing for radial engines. So my favorite radials in this order…

F4U Corsair
Fw190
P-47

Thats my grandfather’s plane even though he wasnt in the same flight as the memphis belle. The thread is about fighter aircraft.

Mine would be the F-14 tomcat, Su-47 berkut, and the Su-37 terminator. Of course the A-10 and the tornado are not fighter craft so they didnt make the list.

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Su-47

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