Whats your favorite warbird? Why?

CapnJim

Well-Known Member
OK, this emcompases any aircraft that saw military duty during time of war, from a F-117 to a BE2-C biplane.

Obviously I favor the Supermarine Spitfire, specifically the Mk.V. My reasons are: Good looks, great firepower, high manuverability and speed due to elliptical wings and Rolls Royce Merlin (or Griffon) engine, and historical importance during the Battle of Britian. It's a gunfighters fighter.
 
My personal fav: P-51 Mustang - fast, sleek, and agile. Probably one of the most beautiful pieces of machinery around.

My fav jet warbird is the F-16.
 
I've always thought the B-52 was awesome (probably my favorite), but I think the new F-35 is impressive for a fighter. I like the B-52 because of its size, firepower, its eight engines, and its longevity (some of them are almost 50 years old and still in service right?).
 
Mine is the Vought F4U-4 Corsair. It's big, fast, sleek and has a 2250hp radial engine.
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Hell Yeah. Pappy's Bird. The F4U is definitely in my top 5. You should read his biography "Baa Baa Black Sheep". Good descriptions of P-40 and F4U vs. Zero dogfights.

The P-51 is defnitely another favorite, anthough I think I have P-51 overload-- they're everywhere!!
 
I have three............
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1. F-16 very easy to look at and very fast
2. B-52 it's a big can of whoop ass!
3. A-10 it is a "Hoss"
Smokey..........
 
I've got to go with the F-4U Corsair. Probably a result of watching way too much Black Sheep Squadron as a kid. It's a damn sexy plane and the adventures of Pappy gave it even more appeal to a plane crazy kid.
 
Prop Fighter: F6 Hellcat, won the war in the Pacific. Runner up: P38, they just look cool. What a way to get multi time.

FW190: Best foreign fighter, single power lever control. Ahead of its time.

Prop Bomber: B-36, biggest bomber with the biggest bomb load in US service. Capable of flying for 2 days unrefuled. 6 Turning and four burning rules! Runner up: B-24, I like the look and dropped more bombs than any US bomber in WWII.

Flying Boat: Shorts Sunderland. Has rails to slide bombs out on the wings for dropping. Called the 'Flying Porcupine' by Germans for its many guns. Enough said.

Prop Ground Attack: A4 Skyraider. Who doesn't want an R3350 on the front of their plane?

Jet Fighter: F-15. 100-0 in air to air. One landed after loosing all but 4" of its wing in a mid-air. Cool.

Jet Bomber: B-2, looks like Batmans plane. Runner up: B-52, B-58 Hustler.

Ground Attack: A-10. Do they really think they will replace this thing with the F-35? Dream on.

Have I missed any?

Best Dive Bomber.....I'll stop or this will take all night.
 
Gotta go with the F/A-18! Grew up less than 10 miles from MCAS Beaufort. Rarely a day I didnt see them flying. Rarely a time a pilot didnt live on my street. Also got to fly the sim!!! SWEEEET
 
The spitfire takes it for best looking WWII fighter. (I think its the curves
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Other favorites:

SU-27 - Go ahead, call me a commie
F-86 - Even though the MIG-15 was better
F-16C - Cause, well, its the F-16!
F-22 - The most beautiful plane to date

As far as bombers go I like the B-1B and the B-29
 
F14 man myself, and that was before TOP GUN! What a jet, became interested in the F14 when I first learned of the Phoenix missle and its 100 mile range, wow!

SR71, the speed queen, enough said!
 
old warbird, the Corsair.

Current favorite is the C-130 gunship.
 
I'll break this down as well.

WW1-Spad

WW2 fighter-P51
WW2 Transport- C47
WW2 Bomber-B29

Korea-F86

Vietnam-A1 Skyraider ("Sandy")

Modern (tie) -F16 Viper and A10 Warthog (the plane that I would most like to fly if I were being shot at) and C130

Flying Boat-Grumman Goose

Trainer-T28 Trojan

I would love to own a T28 and/or a Goose.

BTW Ananoman, can you consider the B36 a prop bomber? It had jet engines also.
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WWI:
Fokker Tri-plane.

WWII:
Fighter = Corsair
Bomber = B-17

Vietnam:
Phantom

Current:
Fighter = A-10
Bomber = B-52 (ditto what Smokey said)
 
[ QUOTE ]
Ground Attack: A-10. Do they really think they will replace this thing with the F-35? Dream on.

.

[/ QUOTE ]

Unfortunately, that's exactly what's in the works. And that's too bad.

MD
 
[ QUOTE ]
Hey MikeD, you're not going to say "A1 Skyraider" ?
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[/ QUOTE ]

A-1 is the #1 attack plane.

O-2 is the #1 observation plane.

How I would've loved to fly a Skyraider. Something about oily, smoky, radial engines that you have to coax to life on initial start........

hehe

MD
 
Fighters:

WWII:
American
F4U-5 Corsair (And the FG2-2 was simply a beast of an aircraft!)
P-47D Thunderbolt or "The Jug" (8 .50 Cals would tear anything apart)
P-61 Black Widow (Saw very limited combat in WWII and some in Korea I believe)
SB2C Helldiver

Japanese
A6M2 "Zero"
Ki-61 Tony (good airframe design based off the Bf-109 - production problems and poor pilot training doomed the aircraft)

German
Bf/Me-109
FW-190
Me-262 Sturmvogel (Stormbird)
Ju-88 Stuka


Korea:
F-86 Sabre
F4U-5, FG2-2
A1 SkyRaider (one wicked machine)

Viet Nam:
F-4 Phantom
A-6 Intruder

Current stock
F-16D (Block 52) "The Electric Jet"
A-10
FA-18E/F Super Hornet

Bombers:
B-17
B-24
B-25
 
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