View Full Version : Which aircraft looks most like a warplane?
AtomKraft
26th Nov 2016, 16:58
I've got my own views on this, unexpectedly.....but I wondered what others think.
For example, a P-8 looks like a 737- and that's not a warplane!
Some aircraft look evil, like the AH-64 for example- but we'll not count helos.
Which is the type that LOOKS most built to fight only?
Hmm. A Skyraider loaded with the 60s equivalent of 'shake n' bake' certainly doesn't hide its intent. Nor does its spiritual successor, the A - 10. And the H.P. Victor looks like something that would appear on any self respecting super villain's wish list, too.
That's my (off the cuff) two penneth.
ACW599
26th Nov 2016, 17:21
Lightning, Phantom, Buccaneer and Harrier must be major contenders.
pulse1
26th Nov 2016, 17:29
Victor with a Blue Streak strapped underneath looks pretty warlike.
Tashengurt
26th Nov 2016, 17:31
A10/ SU25 are pretty unambiguous in their intent.
AtomKraft
26th Nov 2016, 17:31
I saw a MiG-21 landing recently, and there was little doubt what it had been built for....
Pulse: A Victor with a Blue Streak strapped underneath looks pretty impossible. You mean Blue Steel, of course.
Bare Plane
26th Nov 2016, 17:56
US Air Force C-21A, Learjet 35A, original Learjet 23 based on Swiss P-16. Looks military with wing tip tanks.
Pontius Navigator
26th Nov 2016, 17:58
F4M with 4xAIM4, 3xAIM7, 2x3x1000lb, SUU23 and strike camera.
Buccanner with 12x1000lb external and more bad news in the bomb bay.
B52 with 24x750 external and another 48x500 internal
Bob Viking
26th Nov 2016, 18:15
I never flew it so I'm not biased but I think a tooled up Tornado GR1 in its Gulf War days looked pretty evil. It's what convinced me of my chosen career path.
A B1-B would give it a run for its money though.
BV
Geordie_Expat
26th Nov 2016, 18:24
Victor with a Blue Streak strapped underneath looks pretty warlike.
If you mean Blue Steel, certainly gets my vote.:ok:
JAVELINBOY
26th Nov 2016, 18:32
Best start at the beginning
Vickers FB.5 (Gunbus) Scout Biplane Aircraft (1915)
No mistaking its intent with the gunner at the front
5aday
26th Nov 2016, 18:47
The very first time I saw a Victor , it was a 214 sqn BK1a at Marham taxying toward me in the ATC section Land Rover and we cleared the southern taxyway on the dispersal just to the right approaching the Tower. Even though it was a tanker, it still looked absolutely fabulous.
I had a couple of years of almost nothing but Victors and the impression never diminished.
pulse1
26th Nov 2016, 19:00
Blue Steel of course. Well it was along time ago!
Rhino power
26th Nov 2016, 19:12
The F-4, end of story.
http://c7.alamy.com/comp/AS0ABA/raf-phantom-jet-fighter-aircraft-with-reheat-AS0ABA.jpg
( © Richard Cooke )
-RP
*I know they're only drill rounds in the picture, but you get the idea...
Dan Gerous
26th Nov 2016, 19:13
A7, something that odd looking just had to be bad news for the enemy.
mr fish
26th Nov 2016, 19:27
a weathered, oilstreaked, tooled up SUKHOI 17,20,22 would get my vote.
if the outer wings are in forward sweep even better.
proper ugly...in a nice way.
FISH.
Shaft109
26th Nov 2016, 19:35
A rough, and I mean battered Lancaster with those lead and soot trails.
ACW599
26th Nov 2016, 20:01
Backfire looks pretty impressive. But an F-4 in fighting trim or a Bucc with a bucket of sunshine says it all.
Buster11
26th Nov 2016, 22:43
Me. 262 , clearly a warplane but with elegance to match functionality.
noflynomore
26th Nov 2016, 23:35
No, not the Valkyrie.
The problem there was it never looked warlike at all, it was just too damn beautiful to exist on this grubby, fallible earth...
West Coast
26th Nov 2016, 23:39
The Buff. It has no purpose other than death.
I guess you could split it into those aircraft which are built to fight other aircraft, and those that are built to drop bombs. The former is anything with lots of missiles visible, and the second is anything with lots of bombs visible.
I hate to say it but the only thing that looks mean in both guises to me was the Phantom, but only when in RAF livery of course.....
Avionker
27th Nov 2016, 00:10
The JU-87 Stuka has to be a contender. Designed and built with only one purpose in mind, and spreading sweetness and light was not the intention.
The JU-87 Stuka has to be a contender. Designed and built with only one purpose in mind, and spreading sweetness and light was not the intention.
Indeed. Designed also to capitalise psychologically with the pant - shattingly shrill 'Jericho Trumpets' (although their effectiveness, given sundry, other battlefield cacophony has been questioned, and they were later removed).
Pure evil...
Yet very effective indeed (G model) as a 'Panzerknacker' in the east.
SASless
27th Nov 2016, 01:27
Big Radial Engine...folding Wings...Tail Wheel....Bombs, Rockets, Guns, Napalm, Nuke Capable, and the Squadron Toilet do in the Enemy with! You cannot beat that combination!
http://www.midwaysailor.com/midwayva25bomb/va25specbomb-010b.jpg
megan
27th Nov 2016, 01:39
Can't be that mean SAS, it says "Paper Tiger". Wonder what drag index they used for the toilet when crunching the numbers.
Stanwell
27th Nov 2016, 04:47
The Ju87 Stuka..
My old man once confided in me that, when under direct attack by those, it had caused him to 'soil his underpants'.
It would therefore seem that the siren was capable of having the desired effect.
juliet
27th Nov 2016, 05:54
How has no one said AC-130? It's got a freakin howitzer bolted to the side!!
Chesty Morgan
27th Nov 2016, 06:00
The Buff. It has no purpose other than death.
Except that it's mainly been used as a deterrent.
tartare
27th Nov 2016, 06:38
The `toom - no question.
Angular, pointy, weapons truck extraordinaire - and the size of a locomotive.
A_Van
27th Nov 2016, 06:48
Modern stealth-oriented planes do not look so fierce as the most of the armament is hidden inside. Therefore, IMHO, nobody would supersede B-52
http://www.howitflies.com/files/photos/wikiexport/e/ee/B-52H_static_display_arms_06.jpg
Pontius Navigator
27th Nov 2016, 07:17
Chesty, for post-war tonnage of bombs dropped it were a fine deterrent :)
airborne_artist
27th Nov 2016, 07:23
http://wallup.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/157044-A10-Warthog-airplane-military_aircraft-aircraft-jet_fighter-machine_gun-Bomber-736x459.jpg
msbbarratt
27th Nov 2016, 07:40
For me, the F117 looked pretty mean and business-like.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_F-117_Nighthawk#/media/File:F-117A_GBU-28.JPEG
John Eacott
27th Nov 2016, 07:42
Some aircraft look evil, like the AH-64 for example- but we'll not count helos
Why? "Aircraft" definition includes helicopters, and I'll wager that most of the current crop of attack helicopters will meet the thread title :ok:
Opening with the Hind :cool:
http://www.analisidifesa.it/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/url.jpg
noflynomore
27th Nov 2016, 10:58
The Buff. It has no purpose other than death.
You'll be forgetting the vast amount of work the B52 has done as a carrier platform for aerospace research, think X15 onwards.
No purpose but death???
Expatrick
27th Nov 2016, 11:31
I reckon in its day the Sopwith Camel looked pretty mean & purposeful!
SASless
27th Nov 2016, 12:35
Megan,
I wonder what drag index they used for the toilet when crunching the numbers.
Like the Toilet added much drag compared to the airplane even if it were clean (the airplane....much less the Toilet)!
Heathrow Harry
27th Nov 2016, 13:08
In no particular order
Hind
Stuka
Typhoon (the original!)
Phantom
A-10
MiG-19
Skyraider
for sheer ugliness you have to go for the Hind and the A10 I think
Pontius Navigator
27th Nov 2016, 13:20
HH, the Nimrod was an OMG shape when it was first revealed and your list almost makes the AEW 3 handsome. :)
Kitbag
27th Nov 2016, 13:55
Showing a bunch of enthusiasts and their ladies around Tornado several decades ago I was struck by the words of one very well spoken woman who said when we walked into HAS 55 which had been prepared for some Air Power display 'It looks so brutally pugilistic like it's hunched up ready to throw a punch', a phrase which has stayed with me ever since.
http://forum.keypublishing.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=126550&stc=1&d=1148076219
Hempy
27th Nov 2016, 13:57
The F-16 is the fighteriest looking fighter jet ever built imo.
Pontius Navigator
27th Nov 2016, 14:45
Hempy, Hunter with 4x30 mm Aden, clean, no messy stores on pylons
Treble one
27th Nov 2016, 15:00
Always though the F-14 looked like a mean SOB personally...
muppetofthenorth
27th Nov 2016, 15:58
As long as you only look at its good side, the AC130.
Pontius Navigator
27th Nov 2016, 17:35
How about 4 a burning, 6 a turning?
Lima Juliet
27th Nov 2016, 18:39
For me it has to be a Tonka going full belt in 67 wing. My first sight up close was at Farnborough in 1982 and the rest is history...
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/d7/8b/dc/d78bdc6c0b8d987671050ad7048fabe9.jpg
XB-71 Waverider.....
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/North_American_XB-70_on_ramp_ECN-1814.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/North_American_XB-70A_Valkyrie_in_flight_with_wingtips_in_65_percent_(full)_dr ooped_position_061122-F-1234P-021.jpg
http://www.glocktalk.com/attachments/xb-70b-jpg.274856/
SASless
27th Nov 2016, 19:59
There was also these four....Easy Money, Birth Control, Cost of Living, and Stump Jumper.
Easy Money is on display at the Redstone Arsenal today.
http://67.media.tumblr.com/93534125dcf070f857e27b160731545b/tumblr_n5w0gkVdyJ1txx6x7o2_500.jpg
Wokkafans
27th Nov 2016, 23:30
A7 Corsair
https://theaviationist.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/National-Naval-Aviation-Museum-FB-page.jpg
NutLoose
28th Nov 2016, 00:40
https://youtu.be/3vpNivYFquk
3vpNivYFquk
riff_raff
28th Nov 2016, 05:19
http://wallup.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/157044-A10-Warthog-airplane-military_aircraft-aircraft-jet_fighter-machine_gun-Bomber-736x459.jpg
The Fairchild A-10 hands down. Totally ferocious spewing depleted uranium projectiles from its multi-barrel cannon at incredibly high rate of fire during a ground attack. Not elegant, but all business.
Captain Dart
28th Nov 2016, 05:20
B-58 'Hustler' for me. 'The Doomsday Jet', the huge pod underneath containing the nuke indicative of its sole purpose. The aircraft was not designed to deliver conventional weapons.
Footage of Hustlers was used to represent the 'Vindicator' bombers in the apocalyptic movie 'Fail Safe'.
Trivia alert: the singer John Denver's father commanded a Hustler squadron, mentioned in a description of a typical training mission: look under war stories > typical mission at B-58.com - The B-58 Hustler Page (http://www.b-58.com/)
Reading the article, I found the takeoff and landing speeds eye-watering, and the mission lengths and working environment challenging, to say the least.
Edited to add that John's dad must have been better at fuel management than his son.
ian16th
28th Nov 2016, 06:42
A rough, and I mean battered Lancaster with those lead and soot trails.
Isn't it true that when someone from Boeing criticised the Lancaster as being a 'Bomb Truck', Mr. Chadwick took it as a compliment?
Buster Hyman
28th Nov 2016, 07:02
a P-8 looks like a 737-
I'd never noticed that before....
https://media.tenor.co/images/7c6b2ab96fb2f5f5d5efb8e8a5dac91a/raw
However, to the question at hand....I'll nominate the F-104.
http://images.dailykos.com/images/127024/large/060928-F-1234S-001.jpg?1422875838
megan
28th Nov 2016, 07:52
a P-8 looks like a 737Maritime maintaining tradition Buster. Surely you noticed a P-3 looks like a Electra (the 188 version just so there is no doubt)..
Pontius Navigator
28th Nov 2016, 08:31
What of the Shacklebomber with two wicked 20mm in the nose? Better than a sting in the tail.
Buster Hyman
28th Nov 2016, 10:15
Maritime maintaining tradition Buster. Surely you noticed a P-3 looks like a Electra (the 188 version just so there is no doubt)..
And a Nimrod looks like a Comet, yes...there's a reason for that you see...
The opinion seems to be that a "real" warplane has to be ugly - what happened to the old dictum that if it looks right it flies right?
Spitfire, Mosquito, Hunter, Sabre, F-16.
In the high and fast arena I'll also vote for the SR-71 Habu - beautiful, black and scary as a Cobra. https://davidjetre.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/sr-71.jpg
http://www.airforce.ru/content/attachments/62295d1427025293-b_archer_sr-71_2_61-7960_1600.jpg
Not_a_boffin
28th Nov 2016, 10:24
Two spring to mind...
The already mentioned BUFF
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/5e/f8/9e/5ef89eb71813725c92053ac63b57da3d.jpg
and this vicious looking beastie
http://static5.businessinsider.com/image/55cb4a122acae72c008bf7cf-1200/the-tomcat-came-in-three-different-models-a-b-and-d-here-an-f-14d--with-twogeneral-electric-f-110-engines-and-the-fully-digital-apg-71-radar-system--makes-a-supersonic-pass.jpg
muppetofthenorth
28th Nov 2016, 12:36
The opinion seems to be that a "real" warplane has to be ugly
War is ugly.
We weren't asked for the prettiest plane, or the most graceful, or anything like that, which would rightly yield the names you're talking about. The thread asks for warplane, which to me conjures up the image of a gnarled, grizzly, battered, hairy chested plane. The types for which there is beauty in their ugliness.
Happy to yield to the floor if there's a disagreement, but the comments so far seem to follow the same pattern.
MPN11
28th Nov 2016, 13:59
Having experienced an Exercise airfield attack by 2 x Buccaneers, I found the head-on eye-level view from Local rather 'warry'
[inserts 6p coin in the slot]
412SP
28th Nov 2016, 14:00
Phantom
A-10
F-105
This one made for the Serbian Army, vintage 1915, a plane made for war.
1331
Tashengurt
28th Nov 2016, 15:52
I think the A10 may have most votes here. Can I just add any Mossie with a faceful of cannons?
Phil_R
28th Nov 2016, 16:15
Some while ago I found myself wandering around a parked Tornado in a HAS at Marham while scouting locations for a film production. As a cameraman, my reaction was "there is no way to make this thing look like anything other than a bruiser."
Blunt nose, huge tail fin, bulbous fuel tanks, and a general aesthetic of chipped and filthy metal with prominent drip trays underneath. I mean, seriously: soot? On a fighter jet? This thing is supposed to be the zenith of technology, for crying out loud! But it wasn't.
There were the prints of those aircrew boots with the circular patterned soles all over the seats. I didn't want to sit in it, in case it wouldn't wash out, and when I did sit in it, I was reminded immediately of the vintage of the design. Big clunky pushbuttons! Latching toggle switches! CRT displays! It looked like something out of a particularly convincing 1960s sci-fi movie, and it smelled of partially-burned paraffin.
If I hadn't been able to recognise it, I'd have assumed it was something recovered from a hangar in an ex-Soviet client state where it had been sitting since the end of the cold war, and that's without any weapons hanging on it. Pretty it definitely ain't. I assumed the nickname "Tonka" was because it looked like a toy in the Japanese super-deformed style. Which it sort of does. :)
P
PS - Gotta love 'em, my formative memories are of the 1991 gulf war.
Wensleydale
28th Nov 2016, 16:53
Ju-88G-6. An efficient night killer.
http://en.academic.ru/pictures/enwiki/74/Junkers_Ju_88G-6.jpg
sandiego89
28th Nov 2016, 17:27
I always thought the Ilyushin IL-102 looked rather purposeful!
Even has a tail turret!
https://i.kinja-img.com/gawker-media/image/upload/s--TW8MKK7d--/c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_636/acfwo7kaq6gytg9ktcdf.jpg
It looked like something out of a particularly convincing 1960s sci-fi movie Lightning F-6 ZF590 cockpit - movie "Wing Commander"
http://scifijunkies.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/15050124.jpg
I'm admittedly biased on this, but the Scooter gets my vote.http://vmf224cenpac.homestead.com/VMA-224Cruise61-63__27_.jpg
https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/proxy/bk8IbdzUWU52d9vX12XcPReCM16B23ZkizhCy_EmlT3LogOkb0Hs2C520DyK qjFaNeMKzw-Kd6wfXLJRHJ57XNMDTGnT3WQrPkYJsitbY7IpDDrFpXpcp0xur1eJwvQ9Xmd fgZDE4g5Qmw=s0-d
https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/e7/3f/48/e73f488403bad6bb795cd23f22c905c6.jpg
Gotta tell you - with that load on board it would be one hell of a take-off roll....
Gotta tell you - with that load on board it would be one hell of a take-off roll.... Take-off roll? Very short using a steam catapult.
Even the small WW2 era Essex class carriers had steam catapults.
West Coast
28th Nov 2016, 20:30
Even the small WW2 era Essex class carriers had steam catapults.
Well...
The pic depicts a VMA 214 jet. Old eyes, hard to tell the tail or other markings, if they indicated if it was part of a carrier air group. Otherwise chances are it depicts a shore based Marine aircraft.
idle bystander
28th Nov 2016, 21:19
Even the small WW2 era Essex class carriers had steam catapultsSorry mate, we didn't invent the steam catapult until the earaly 50s and then gave the idea to you Yanks
Buster Hyman
28th Nov 2016, 22:06
They were retro fitted with Steam catapults in the 50's
Barksdale Boy
29th Nov 2016, 01:32
I remember as a boy at Farnborough in the mid 50s a Victor doing a slow fly-past. A grizzled adult next to me said in an awed voice, "My God, that thing's evil".
SASless
29th Nov 2016, 02:21
To be honest.....I have always fancied "Jugs"!
https://usairshow.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/10oct1.jpg
Dropthegear
29th Nov 2016, 03:06
So many a/c fall into this, but for me: CF-18, A-10, B1-B.
Stanwell
29th Nov 2016, 03:27
Well..
If the young lady comes as standard equipment with a Jug, I'll go for one of those, thanks.
Is there room for two inside, but?
megan
29th Nov 2016, 05:37
Is there room for two inside, but?Two fitted into the cockpit of a single seat A-1 (Vietnam) and P-51 (WWII) so I'd say most definitely yes.
West Coast
29th Nov 2016, 06:22
She may have to sit on your lap. I trust you'd be ok with that?
KiloB
29th Nov 2016, 08:17
She may have to sit on your lap. I trust you'd be ok with that?
Full & Free?!
Smeagol
29th Nov 2016, 08:32
Slight (continued) thread drift, so please excuse me. My late mother a Wren in WWII once flew in a Grumman Martlet, or so she told me, sitting on the pilot's lap!
Shackman
29th Nov 2016, 09:51
Basically anything come straight at you at 100ft or less with bomb doors wide open (or bombs on the wings) at full chat. The Shackleton with 4 Griffons growling looked (and sounded) pretty warlike.
ACW367
29th Nov 2016, 10:45
While many can argue whether this is a plane or a boat. The Lun Class Ekranoplan https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lun-class_ekranoplan 100% gets my vote. Mean and nasty.
Vzlet
29th Nov 2016, 11:09
Just takes a bit of assistance. JATO (RATO) ops at Chu Lai airfield starting at 17:45 here (https://vimeo.com/10196438).
Kulverstukas
29th Nov 2016, 11:10
https://d31asmy75eposw.cloudfront.net/full/5/58297_1465243293.jpg
Buster Hyman
29th Nov 2016, 11:36
Ahh, the Rockwell B1. Good choice.
Evanelpus
29th Nov 2016, 12:10
For example, a P-8 looks like a 737- and that's not a warplane!
Errrr, that's because it is a 737 (of sorts)
Ahh, the Rockwell B1. Good choice.
B1-ski (TU 160), surely?
Wetstart Dryrun
29th Nov 2016, 12:33
I guess my vote goes to the V1 doodlebug.
Good short field performance, low maintenance and...
it beats my CEP and obviates the need for QFIs
Buster Hyman
29th Nov 2016, 12:34
Errrr, that's because it is a 737 (of sorts)
Careful, you get jumped on for pointing that out!
Buster Hyman
29th Nov 2016, 12:35
B1-ski (TU 160), surely?
Oh yes...my mistake...they all look American to me...
Obi Wan Russell
29th Nov 2016, 13:14
Oh yes...my mistake...they all look American to me...
Probably because the Soviets did a lot of copying when it comes to western technology... Rumour has it the KGB has a complete set of blueprints for most American aircraft up to the late 80s and even a set for the USS Nimitz!
Probably because the Soviets did a lot of copying when it comes to western technology... Rumour has it the KGB has a complete set of blueprints for most American aircraft up to the late 80s and even a set for the USS Nimitz!
I'm always somewhat circumspect about such 'rumours'. The TU - 160 is a larger and quite different beast, compared to the B - 1. Aside that, surely an (assumed) approximately similar understanding of aerodynamics will often produce similar 'shapes' when aircraft are designed for similar mission parameters.
Who knows...
Mind you, those odd looking wing glove / fence thingies on the '160 aren't sported by the B - 1. What are they all about? Looks like something of a fudge to me.
SASless
29th Nov 2016, 13:35
This had to have been an impressive sight to see....
http://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/attachment.php?attachmentid=178107&d=1428618969
Kulverstukas
29th Nov 2016, 13:49
http://cdn.airplane-pictures.net/images/uploaded-images/2016/1/17/656727.jpg
Buster Hyman
29th Nov 2016, 21:41
Nice Cg image SASless. But this one always gets me as it shows the sheer scale of the Peacemaker...
https://acesflyinghigh.files.wordpress.com/2014/07/b-36aarrivalcarswell1948.jpg
PS. Great shot Kulverstukas! Are they the next gen fighters behind it?
SASless
29th Nov 2016, 22:42
More perspective.....
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/58/Carswell_Bomber_Static_Display.jpg/640px-Carswell_Bomber_Static_Display.jpg
Kulverstukas
30th Nov 2016, 09:20
PS. Great shot Kulverstukas! Are they the next gen fighters behind it?
They are ;)
ShotOne
3rd Dec 2016, 11:54
How about the mighty Thunderchief, preferably loaded to the armpits with napalm and CBU's? If we're opening up to heli's a close tie between Hind and Havoc
SASless
3rd Dec 2016, 14:52
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fa/Republic_F-105D-30-RE_(SN_62-4234)_in_flight_with_full_bomb_load_060901-F-1234S-013.jpg
PersonFromPorlock
3rd Dec 2016, 16:15
SASless (http://www.pprune.org/members/51588-sasless)
This had to have been an impressive sight to see....Also to hear. Circa 1954 I was in a small outbuilding when everything started to vibrate; ran outside, looked up, and there, at altitude, was a B-36. Only one I recall seeing in flight.
Then there was the nuclear version - thankfully never commissioned.
A big slab of lead behind the crew, and after their war mission they were supposed to land on a glacier runway, be pushed back into a hole and entombed forever....
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convair_NB-36H
http://www.megazone.org/ANP/atomair.shtml
"And that was that. Neither the United States, nor the Soviet Union, nor any other country was ever able to develop a true atomic-powered aircraft. But a nuclear plane of sorts did manage to fly This was the NB-36H test airplane, authorized along with the X-6 design back in 1951. Its original B-36H airframe had been extensively modified, most notably with a 12-ton shielded crew capsule in the nose, a 4-ton lead disc shield in the middle and a number of large air intake and exhaust holes to cool the reactor in the aft section. The reactor was a 1000-kilowatt design weighing 35,000 pounds and situated in a removable mounting in the aft bomb bay Its operation was observed from the crew capsule by closed circuit television. When the plane was not being flown, the reactor was kept in a specially prepared pit near the runway at Convair's Fort Worth, Texas, facility.
NB-36H flew with its radioactive cargo 47 times between 1955 and 1957, and, although it did not power the airplane, the reactor provided considerable data on the effects of radiation emitted during night. Flying alongside NB-36H on every one of its flights was a Boeing C-97 Stratocruiser transport carrying a platoon of armed Marines ready to parachute down and surround the test airplane in case it crashed. This certainly deserved hazardous duty pay. Pity the poor troops assigned to this outfit, jocularly dubbed the "glow-in-the-dark platoon." Fortunately there never was a crash, and the test plane was eventually decommissioned at Fort Worth in late 1957. After languishing as a hulk for many months, it was scrapped."
http://static.thisdayinaviation.com/wp-content/uploads/tdia//2015/07/nb36h-cockpita.jpg
http://aviadejavu.ru/Images6/HI/HI-4/19-1.jpg
http://aviadejavu.ru/Images6/HI/HI-4/23-1.jpg
AtomKraft
4th Dec 2016, 00:15
Great photo SAS.:ok:
Nicely posted up too.
To be fair, been a few great pix posted. That BEAR pic and the Swan, both most impressive.
SASless
4th Dec 2016, 00:55
The Russians experimented with Nuclear Powered aircraft as well.
Russian projects atomoletov | Encyclopedia of safety (http://survincity.com/2012/02/russian-projects-atomoletov/)
Martin the Martian
4th Dec 2016, 10:19
I believe the B-36 was even bigger than the B-52?
A gent I used to know who flew early jets for the RAF once told me a story of when he was flying a Vampire one day somewhere over the UK and happened to notice a silver glint in the distance. He went to take a look and came up alongside a B-36, which he described as the most impressive thing he'd ever seen in the air. After waving to the crew he was very perturbed when all the gun turrets suddenly swung round to point at him, and automatically pulled back on the stick to put some distance between him and them. Only afterwards did he tell himself that they probably weren't armed. Probably.
Buster Hyman
4th Dec 2016, 10:56
Some more comparisons...(the Hustler is probably one to add to the list too!)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/B36-b-52-b-58-carswell.jpg
http://i381.photobucket.com/albums/oo251/sb_pete/K31/Planes/B-36B-52BB-47EfrontEglinfirepowerde.jpg
SASless
4th Dec 2016, 13:06
http://www.glowingheat.co.uk/images/hustler0.jpg
SASless
4th Dec 2016, 13:14
I always liked the looks of the Douglas A-26 Invader.....especially the Gun Ship Version with lots of .50 Cal's in the nose.
Add in those Big Pistons in the Radial Engines....and that is pure Sex!
http://www.howitflies.com/files/photos/A-26-Invader-Silver_0.jpg
Octane
4th Dec 2016, 22:33
There's one of those B-26's sitting in a park in Surabaya, Indonesia. Looks in remarkably good nick considering it's been sitting in the open for decades. Apparently it saw action in the Indonesian invasion of East Timor in 1975..
Captain Dart
5th Dec 2016, 05:16
'Some more comparisons...(the Hustler is probably one to add to the list too)!'
It has been! See my post #54.
PPRuNeUser0139
5th Dec 2016, 16:27
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2016/05/19/10/345E4AEF00000578-0-image-m-85_1463651123369.jpg
For me, it can only be a Spitfire..
SASless
5th Dec 2016, 18:10
https://clockworkconservative.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/lockheed-p-38-lightning.jpg
Mozella
6th Dec 2016, 08:47
Wonder what drag index they used for the toilet when crunching the numbers.
Drag Index? A-1 Drivers don't need no stinking drag index. Plus, crunching the numbers is an unknown concept as well. People who could do math or who used to bathe more than once every few weeks, or who EVER washed their flight suits were not allowed to fly A-1's. ;)
Mozella
6th Dec 2016, 09:04
https://c1.staticflickr.com/6/5747/31085400880_ec9711101d_b.jpg (https://flic.kr/p/PmUNFA)Crusader (https://flic.kr/p/PmUNFA)
The F-8 Crusader, a single engine, single seat, U.S. Navy fighter had the highest kill ratio of any American type in Vietnam, 19:3. It also had a kill-rate-per-engagement 7 times better than the F-4 Phantom. The unique variable incidence wing allowed good visability over the nose during carrier landings as well as short landing gear.
incubus
6th Dec 2016, 14:53
I struggle to think of anything better than the F4. Even completely clean it looks like it is angry and means business!
Buster Hyman
7th Dec 2016, 03:28
There's always the Fairy Barracuda. With looks like this, it couldn't be anything but a warplane!!!
http://www.levantineheritage.com/i/simes1.jpg
West Coast
7th Dec 2016, 03:41
A face only a mother could love.
Out Of Trim
7th Dec 2016, 08:31
Another vote for the McDonnell F-4 Phantom II - Very Warlike with brutal looks!
CoodaShooda
7th Dec 2016, 19:14
I'm surprised we've got this far without any mention of the Bf109.
Built for a single purpose, which it did very well.
PPRuNeUser0139
8th Dec 2016, 16:41
We surely can't mention the Bf109 without calling to mind the Ju 87..
Its appearance in the skies over the Low Countries in the summer of 1940 must have terrified those underneath it.. with its stark bird of prey-like appearance and that unearthly wail (https://www.roblox.com/library/150523595/Ju87-Stuka-Siren-Jericho-Trumpet).
http://z6mag.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/stuka-dive-bomber.jpg
Pontius Navigator
8th Dec 2016, 16:49
Grand Slam Lancaster was a real F Off aircraft more so than the B29 which might be considered most beautiful.
Lightning F-6 ZF590 cockpit - movie "Wing Commander"
http://scifijunkies.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/15050124.jpg
Only seen parts of the movie, the craft were ex 2 Sqdn RSAF (Parts thereof) internal cockpit scenes still showed the TBK*** seat serial numbers. TBK being KFAB Tabuk Saudi Arabia where I saw them flying for eight years
JimmAttrill
14th Dec 2016, 12:50
I was at Tabuk in 1974 and we only ever saw one Frightening. That was where I found out not to try to attach the ladder until the static had been discharged. There was nothing much to do there so I worked in the MT yard for a while and then had a lucrative time watchkeeping in the diesel power station 12/7 The overtime pay was wonderful! Especially the last 4 hours on a Friday.... Triple time .....