Most beautiful in flight?

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
21

The human powered Gossamer Condor, rubber band powered Sleek Streek, and the air powered Air Hog. Oh, I’m sorry, wrong subject.

22

For my eyes it would be 1: Spitfire Mk IX 2: Me-262A 3: F-86 Sabre

Regards, Rick

23

Any plane I’M flying! There is nothing better than being left seat - even in a Cessna! Everything else pales when you take the yoke yourself and have the whole sky as your playground!

24

Any aircrafts that flys low enough for people to see clearly is beautiful.

We should have a race between those so called 300mph + 1000 horsepower cars that they always use on the cover of magazines and a WW2 Bf109.

25

I am lucky enough to live in Kansas City were a Connie has been restored to flying condition. Most likely if you have seen a Connie in TWA markings at an airshow it came from here. There is also a museum of civilian aviation that stores the Connie when not in flight and also has a DC-3 and Matrtin 404. Here is their web site, http://www.airlinehistorymuseum.com/

And the reson I only picked three is to make you think hard about your choice. This way you would actually be forced to picture the plane in your head. It always makes me smile to picture a P-40 fly.[:D]

26

The DELTA WINGS are fantastic… The Mirage 2000 and the F-106 being the most IMPRESSIVE.

27

Maybe just because it’s so big, but I’m a little impartial to an in flight B-36. Especially when you have those six contrails streaming out behind it… There’s some grace in a bird that big.

I do have to agree with uilleann, though, about any plane you fly yourself. I’ve only been flying once. A friend at church hooked me up with the first lesson of a flight training course. Flying alone is great, but the pilot actually took right seat (giving me left), and I got to fly it for a little bit! (For a person with no training, and for the first time up, it was a rush.)

28

Tough one. I’d say P 51, P- 47 and the F-86 for fighters.
The B-52 ,A-29 and B-25 for bombers.
But I think we all have favorites for different periods…

29

I thought for sure you’d include the Concorde and the B-58 Hustler. Let’s face it. When it comes to delta wings size does matter.

30

The only tough choice is for the runners-up.

For in-flight beauty, by far the best I’ve seen was the Northrop B-49 -
all the grace of a sailplane, with the power of eight jet engines. Breath-taking!
(The B-2 may still show some of its lines, but stealth has distorted them into ugly angles.)

After that, I guess the B-1B Lancer, and probably the Spitfire. They’re not even close, though. That’s my $.02.

Dick

31

I guess I’ll have to leave my Dauntless out of it…although I think she’s pretty…but in my opinion, nothing looks better than a Stang cruising by. It’s almost as if the air in front of it bows before it’s presence…they don’t call her the Cadillac of the Skies for nothing!

32

f-86 sabre
avro arrow
huey

33
  1. I’ve always thought the Northrop N-9M is beautiful in flight, and can still be seen out of Chino, California on occasion.
  2. Lyle Shelton in his ‘Rare Bear’ Grumann Bearcat running a little over 500mph at about 100 feet above the desert floor is simply stunning!
  3. SR-71, and no explaination is needed.
34

a few years ago at Aerospace America (a local air show) they had the Shockwave jet-powered semi truck drag race a T-6 Texan. at the quarter-mile mark, they were dead
even.

my votes are:

  1. the T-38 Talon. i live right smack dab in the middle of Tinker and Vance AFB’s, so i see them flying quite often. at last Saturday’s OU-Houston game, they had 3 fly over in formation at full afterburner. man, the scream of those GE J85’s is so humbling.

  2. the P-39.

  3. while it may not be the most beautiful, i think it looks cool. the OV-10 Bronco.
    Jon

35

Hmmm…
At this year’s air show they had a team of AT-6s fly at twilight. The planes had smoke generators going that lit up the back half of the plane with a light like fire. Every couple of seconds strobes on the tail and wings would flash. There was also some music playing over the announcers loudspekers. Every time they passed you could hear the radial engines getting louder than passing by. That’s the most butiful air show I have ever seen.
#2-Constellation
#3- Ever seen Stragic Air Command- I think the natural metal B-36s are really cool.
And anything in the 50’s natural metal scheme with US Air Force stenciled on the side.

36

for me.

-p-40
-b-17 (truely horrible to watch go down though)
-p-51

the third is a toss up. could have just as easily been the p-38.

joe

37

B-25 Mitchell
F7F Tigercat
B-52 Stratofortress
Let’s just make it clear that the F-4 Phantom isn’t really tthat graceful, but it looks POWERFUL. Phantom Phans, are you with me?

38

Spitfire - Hands Down
SU27 - One word “Cobra”
BAE Hawk Equal 3rd with a bunch of others including P51, Mosquito and B17

39

  1. F-15E on the deck with a high-speed flyby and then standing it on it’s tail and going straight up. [tup]
    Hold your ears though as those two Pratt & Whitney F-100-PW-229’s get quite loud when they are putting out 29,100 ft lbs of thrust each. [:D] [8D]

  2. The P-47D…I just love that bird!

  3. The P-38J…My second favorite prop plane

Mike

40
  1. a-10 absolutely awesome especially when diving
  2. f4u
  3. b-17 big n beuatiful!
    4.spitfire