For me I believe it’s the B-52G, SIOP paint scheme, optical chin turrets, scrambling at the alert horn, trails of thick black smoke behind the eight screaming engines.
Second place would be the ADC F-106 on alert to defend against incoming red bombers.
MiG-21?
FISHBED…
For the US, the B-52… For the Soviets, the Bear.
For the U.S., I’d have to say F-4 Phantom, the world’s leading distributor of MIG parts.
For the Soviets, the MIG-25 Foxbat had our folks sweating for a while…
The B-58.
Failsafe.
I’d go with the Mig-21.
I believe the B-52 and Bear were more significant threats obviously, but my mind just jumps to the Fishbed.
Have to agree with the B-52 and the Bear. Runners up would be the MiG-21, the U-2, and the F-4.
I would say the F-15. The F-15 killed alot of Migs back in 91 in Desert Storm which was actually the very last battle of the Cold War as the Soviet Union collapsed afterwards.
It might come as a surprise to some, but we, in the U.K., were involved, too, and the E. E. Lightning epitomised our response to the threat.
The b-36 and the bear
It has to be the Mig 21 for me. Widely exported and one of the most mass produced aircraft in history, it was pretty much the standard Warsaw pact fighter of the cold war.
First thing that popped in my head was the SR-71. Perhaps it’s cliche, but think about the pinnacle of technology that it was, that has not yet been surpassed (that we know about) and it was all because we wanted to know what the Soviets were doing.
My second choices (if you don’t count missiles) would be the B-52 and Mig 25.
B-52
But part of me also thinks of the F14 partly because of Top Gun 
Bear
The entire century seriesand of course the fishbed.
When I think of the UK and the cold war, I always think of the mighty Vulcan.
I would say the Bear. The pics of F-16 or USAF F-15’s intercepting Bears of the Dutch coast is really the first thing I think of.
The Fishbed is to planes as the AK-47 is to guns…
…or more accurately, the Fishbed is to planes as clay targets are to guns!