Aircraft Appreciation thread #3 - Beautiful Aircraft!

[Mickey]

Forerunner to the DH Mosquito, the DH88 Comet (I have a deHavilland bias - something to do with working at Hatfield for many years)

[klr]

... and the "successor" to the Mosquito, the Hornet/Sea Hornet:

http://users.skynet.be/BAMRS/dh103/pics/dh-103-21-b.jpg[/imgc]

[leo-rcc]

I was on the campsite directly below them while they flew together.

[klr]

I've seen the Typhoon display - amazing aircraft.

And as well as the Red Arrows, I've also seen the Thunderbirds:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... G_8092.jpg[/imgc]
... not only on display, but also practising for hours in the preceding days.

[klr]

Also featured in the seaplanes thread, the Beriev 42:

http://www.richard-seaman.com/Aircraft/ ... lock_1.jpg[/imgc]

[leo-rcc]

The Red Arrows did a few stunts for us before they left for Farnborough after Fairford was cancelled. That was very cool.

I've seen pretty much every display team that visits British air shows. Last year I saw the F22 flying in Europe for the first time.

[klr]

That reminds me, I've also seen the B-1 on display:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... px-B1s.jpg[/imgc]

... damn thing practically flew right over my house.

[AshtonBlack]

That reminds me, I've also seen the B-1 on display:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... px-B1s.jpg[/imgc]

... damn thing practically flew right over my house.

I may (or may not) have been in al-Udid AFB (near Doha) and may (or may not) have won a bet against a B-1 Pilot, that allowed me to visit the cockpit of one of those. It's bigger and SHIT loads more complex than you think!

[Mickey]

[klr]

That was a picture of the SR-71 (which someone else already featured), but that pic isn't loading anymore ... it was huge as well.

One more from me, the Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate (Frank), the best Japanese fighter of WW II:

http://www.hannants.co.uk/pics/HAA04.jpg[/imgc]

http://modelingmadness.com/scotts/axis/has84f.jpg[/imgc]

[leo-rcc]

Is it true the Japanese aircraft were highly underated during the early stages of WW2?

[Feck]

Um I think you got them all , oh there was a Cranfield acrobatic that was cute but I can't find a pic

[klr]

Is it true the Japanese aircraft were highly underated during the early stages of WW2?

Them and their air crews. It's also true that the Japanese sacrificed survivability (especially in terms of pilot and fuel tank protection) for range and manoeuvrability almost right to end. Plus of course they lost most of their skilled pilots and crews in the first year of the Pacific war, and were never able to replace them.

OK, one more from me. The Mitsubishi Ki-46 Dinah, one of the best reconnaissance aircraft of the war:

http://home.st.net.au/%7Edunn/ozcrashes/nt171-03.jpg[/imgc]

http://arcmodeler.com/Gal3/2101-2200/Ga ... ico/02.jpg[/imgc]

Later versions had the cockpit/windscreen extended right up to the nose, but they don't look as good IMHO.

[klr]

The Mirage 4000 (cancelled ...):

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... ourget.jpg[/imgc]

http://fliiby.com/images/_original/xr1yxs2mlz.jpg[/imgc]

[klr]

Rockwell (North American) RA-5C Vigilante:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/c ... 7_1979.jpg[/imgc]