What's your favorite military aircraft?

[Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman]

Well, here's my list:

World War 2: Messerschmidt Bf 109. Granted Mustang or FW 190 are better; longer range and heavier armaments and such, but I love agile dogfighters more than anything; the same reason I love F-16 more than F-15.

Vietnam/Korea: MiG-15 and MiG-17, baby! They're always my faves whenever I play flightsim games that depict such era like Chuck Yeager's Air Combat, MiG Alley, or Jane's Fighters Anthology. My favorite pastiche when playing Fighters Anthology is pitting my MiG-17 against more advanced fighters in gun-only dogfight!

Modern era / Cold War: F-16. Need I say more?

Future: YF-23 Black Widow. Well I'm not sure whether the rumor that YF-23 is actually more potent than F-22 is true or false, but YF-23 has definitely more beautiful shape.

Bomber: B-1B Rockwell. It looked futuristic during my childhood back in 1982, and it still looks futuristic by now. Plus, its shape has a menacing, 'bird-of-prey' impression (not the Klingon one!).

Helicopter: RAH-66 Comanche. Cobra may be a legend, but I'm really fascinated with Comanche's concept of 'stealthy helicopter' and its sleek, beautiful shape. Too bad the US Army cancelled the project. Life is not fair, really.

[Ra]

WW2: I'd say I'm mixed up between the P-51D Mustang (the one with the modern bubble canopy) and the P-40 Warhawk. I love them both.

'Nam: F-4 Phantom II. It wasn't the best fighter, but it was big, tough, and looked awesome. I love the Phantom. Barring that, the F-100 Super Sabre, the world's first true supersonic fighter jet.

Cold War: Su-27 Flanker. That thing kicks ass, looks awesome, and even better, spawned an entire family of high-performance aircraft. Beat that, Comrade.

Future: I must second the YF-23, it's one of my favorite aircraft, period. I love that bird.

Bomber: B-2 Spirit. I've actually seen these fuckers flying overhead, they are simply magnificent. Beautiful, deadly, sleek, yet shockingly simple in appearance. The Spirit rox.

Helicopter: Ka-50 Wherewolf. It's a light, fast, badass Russian chopper that would assrape the Apache in a fight. It isn't the prettiest chopper, but damn is it awesome.

Attack Plane: A-10 Warthog. You have not experienced the awesomeness that is this plane until you see them firing that GAU-8A AVENGER in real life. Oh. My. Gods.

[Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman]

'Nam: F-4 Phantom II. It wasn't the best fighter, but it was big, tough, and looked awesome. I love the Phantom. Barring that, the F-100 Super Sabre, the world's first true supersonic fighter jet.

Bwahaha! My MiG-17 is more agile, comrade! *performs a barrel roll maneuver then eventually puts himself on Jon's six*

Cold War: Su-27 Flanker. That thing kicks ass, looks awesome, and even better, spawned an entire family of high-performance aircraft. Beat that, Comrade.

I guess the Flankers count as futuristic? Or maybe they span both Cold War era and futuristic warfare? By the way, that's what I love about Russian fighters; even MiG 15 and 17 still held their own in 'Nam.

Attack Plane: A-10 Warthog. You have not experienced the awesomeness that is this plane until you see them firing that GAU-8A AVENGER in real life. Oh. My. Gods.

Ah, the Warthog. At first I hate the plane because it is ugly, but since I played Microprose's Gunship 2000 and Sierra's A-10 Thunderbolt, I start to appreciate its massive firepower. And yes, the Warthog is my favorite support aircraft in GS2000.


EDIT: Another of my favorite CAS aircraft is AC-130 Spectre (although I'm not sure whether it technically classifies as CAS or COIN?). I mean, aircraft-borne cannons, mortars, and the likes. Talk about firepower!

[Ra]

The Su-27's been in service since '75, IIRC, so it's definitely modern. It's just that the newer derivatives (Su-30, Su-33, Su-35/37) are much more advanced; those would count as future craft. For all intents and purposes the Su-27 was the Commies' answer to the F-15.

Oh, and I'm pretty sure a MiG-17 has no chance of keeping up with a Mach-2 capable F-4.

*hits the afterburners*

[Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman]

Oh, and I'm pretty sure a MiG-17 has no chance of keeping up with a Mach-2 capable F-4.

*hits the afterburners*

*squeezes the trigger before Jon's F-4 flies out of range*

[Lord Stormbringer]

World War 2: No question, the Fork-tailed Devil, the Lockheed P-38L Lightening.

Vietnam/Korea: For some reason, I've always liked the A-6 Intruder. A real soldier of an aircraft that was cancelled before her prime. Shame because she would have been even more valuable today. Damn Clinton

Modern era / Cold War: No question at all about it. The last of the Grumman big cats, the longest serviving Naval fighter ever: The F-14 Tomcat. Unquestionably the greatest, most powerful fighter ever to leave a US Navy deck. She's still one of the all time great jet fighters even as she's being forcibly retired. Damn Cheney.

Future: There's really not much question, the F-22 Raptor.

Bomber: The B-52. When she finally retires, 2030 something, the BUFF will have been the longest serving combat aircraft ever.

Helicopter:

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

WWII: P-51D Mustang, followed by the BF-109.

Early Cold War: MiG-17, followed by the F-4.

Late Cold War: MiG-29, followed by the F-15 Eagle.

Future/Modern (Face it folks, the Top Gun era is dead): Not a huge fan of the new stuff, but the F-22 Raptor isn't bad.

Bomber: B-52, duh. B-29 comes in second.

Helicopter: AH-64D Apache Longbow, easily. OH-58D Kiowa Warrior is pretty nice too.

[Robert Walper]

Favorite aircraft is, of course, the F22 Raptor.

Stealth Helicopter designation I'm not familiar with.

[Lord Stormbringer]

Stealth Helicopter designation I'm not familiar with.

RAH-66 Commanche. aka RAH-66 CANCELLED. And good riddance too, it went with an ever increasing price tag for an increasingly useless aircraft. Besides, stealth and scout/attack choppers are a pointless combination.

[Josh]

WWII- F-4 Corsair all the way, baby. Unique visual aspect, and a BIG, MANLY ENGINE.

Korea- Gotta go with the AD-1 Skyraider, an honorable warhorse that's often overlooked.

Vietnam- F-4 Phantom. For my money, the most visually striking jet fighter ever made.

Post-Vietnam- still the F-4.

Bomber- Hmmm... B-52, all the way. When you absolutely, positively have to flatten a square kilometer full of hostile assholes.

Helicopter- Fuck you. Helicopters are shit. They're not meant to fly.

[Scottish Ninja]

Hmm...

World War II - the Spitfire. Need I say more?

'Nam - I just love the F-4. It's just too sweet, especially with napalm.

Cold War - MiG-25, all the way. Fear the Foxbat!

Future - So few choices. I'll abstain from this one.

Bombers - The B-60, little-known jet variant of the B-36. Watch out below!

Helis - The Mi-24 Hind. Heavily armed, and it carries troops too - I'm pretty sure the LAAT is based on it. Same concept, even the cockpit looks the same.