Your favourite airplanes?

[Juha]

Hello
in a little bit lighter mood. What are Your favourite airplanes? Not the best ones but just favourites. My top 10 are in not any particular order:
Curtiss P-36
Spitfire VIII
Spitfire XIV
Hawker Tempest V
DH Mosquito
Focke-Wulf 190D-9
Boeing B-17
Lavochkin La-7
Mitsubishi J2M
Nakajima Ki-84

I couldn’t make Top 12 but Top 14 would add the following four: P-51B/C with Malcolm hood, Bf 109G-10, P-47D and B-29.

Juha

[Boandlgramer]

i have just few .
Focke Wulf 190 A 6
but of course the Dora and the TA series are also fine.

not to forget the Gladiator

and to talk about WW1 planes = Fokker D VII

[Juha]

Yes, FW 190A-6 and Fokker D VII were great planes and FW 190A is goodlooking in my eyes.
I'll not comment Gladiator more than that the Finns thought that it was a delight to fly. I'm not personally bi-plane fan, maybe because in my youth I found that the second set of wings and all those wires made things more complicated. What You think about Fiat Cr. 42 and Polikarpov I-153?

Juha

[Boandlgramer]

Juha,
i like almost every biplane .
why ? don´t know, maybe because some years ago when i was a young boy ( i am 40 now ), i have built some , made from wood .


i had the opportunity to visit the messerschmitt foundation in manching (near ingolstadt ) saw the G6 and the G 10 from them but i can´t say, i am a big Bf 109 fan.
visiting also the flugwerk factory ( Fw 190 replicas ) few years ago, had a interview with claus colling .
it was a great pleasure for me to see "real" Focke Wulfs
oh yes, indeed , thats my favorite plane.


and to complete my favorite list:
starfighter and Mig 29 in the jet ages.

[Juha]

Hello Boandlgramer,
my favourite biplane is I-153, also JAAF’s Ki-10 looked very aggressive and was very manoeuvrable, IIRC. Of the earlier biplanes, RFC's SE-5a, Germany's Roland C.II Walfisch and Albatross D.III.
On jets, F-104 has the look and was an interesting case. The designers asked what the end-users, i.e. pilots, wanted and put the emphasises to their wishes, i.e. speed, climb rate and simplicity. But USAF and probably also the pilots were not overly happy on the product. But at least pilots got what they had wanted.
My favourites are F-86 Sabre and F-101 Woodoo, the latter wasn’t too much loved by its pilots because it never forgave anything to anybody but for some reason it is one of my favourites, at least it had brute force and it showed it. And as F-104 it could not boast on vast wing area. And I almost forgot F-105, F-106, MiG-19 and MiG-21.

[robert_schulte]

Only two members with favourite planes ?
So let me be number three

My top ten (no particular order) are:
Fieseler Fi 156
Focke Wulf 187
Ta 152
Me 262
Hurricane
Spitfires without bubble canopy
Wellington
B-17F
P-47D
Catalina
Fiat G55 Centauro

Oops, these are 11.......

Close candidates are Fw 190 D-9, Bf 109 G-10, Halifax Mk.II, P-38, C-47

And I LOVE all biplane fighters

Robert

[Boandlgramer]

Juha you talk about the starfighter.
do you own Günther Ralls " Mein Flugbuch " ?
He wrote about the Starfighter and the service of that plane in the Bundesluftwaffe .
Has cost the germans 108 pilots and 8 american pilots in german duty.
Some called it "widowmaker".
Günther Rall did not agree.
He found it was a good plane , a " Pilotenflugzeug" = " Pilots Plane".
Hope when i visit manching the next time, i have the opportunity to talk with a former starfighterpilot then i ask him about his opinion.

[Juha]

Hello Boandlgramer,
my observation was only on USAF and its pilots attitude on F-104, the early versions of it. G was heavier and if IIRC one main reason behind Germany’s interest on it was that it could be used as low level strike fighter bomber. I know the Rall’s opinion on F-104 and I have no problem with that it is one of Your favourites. As I wrote, it had the look, speed and climb rate. And IIRC its safety record in Canadian service was good, maybe even excellent.
If You will meet a Starfighter jockey I’d be glad to hear his opinion.
Own I Günther Ralls " Mein Flugbuch "? A complicated question. I raided a bookshop today and bought among others the Finnish translation of it but I made a deal with my wife, she reimbursed me the cost and I gave the book to her. She is wrapping it and I’ll get it later, appr. 9 days 20 hours waiting time left. One booklet reminded me on one more old biplane favourite, Hs 123. I just was obliged to buy a booklet on it.

Robert, very interesting list
ah that Fi 156, a nice plane indeed. And I have always had a soft spot for old good Wimpy and even for HP Hampden, which is harder to justify.
You seem to have the same Spitfire taste than, was that Lacey. I cannot remember for sure the ace, but he was a sqn CO in Burma theatre and when they got Spit XIVs with bubble canopies he only said “That doesn’t look like a real Spitfire, I’ll not accept these!” So, one other sqn got those XIVs and his sqn flew with their old VIIIs until supply organisation could send highback XIVs from GB to Burma. At least the pilots of the other sqn were happy.
Only one a/c surprised me, Halifax Mk. II. But as these are favourites, so no more on that, but still, why not Mk. III?

Juha

[Boandlgramer]

Hello Juha,
you have a smart wife .

yes , i post his opinion about the starfighter as soon as possible.

best regards.

PS: strange, are we 3 the only people with favorite planes ?

[robert_schulte]

Juha,
you are correct, of course I meant the Halifax Mk.III. The radial engines made her a much better plane and also improved the "looking". I always favored the "newer" Halifax above the Lancaster. In my eyes the Halifax is a bit underestimated.

Boandl,
regarding the Starfighter, it was a common joke between the pilots (I knew some in my youth) how to obtain aluminium the easiest way. Buy a plot of land and wait for a Starfighter to fall on it......
The Starfighter was quite an unforgiving plane, but the pilots loved her. She is still one of my favourites!
Post-war favourites are also the B-52, Canberra, F-111 and if I may add some civil planes, the Super Constellation, Do 27 and the Twin Otter. I had the delight to watch a short take-off demonstration of the Twin Otter when I was 6, and I am still impressed!

Robert