re: Favorite Military Aircraft

Always liked the warthog and f14

I loved the F15 when I was a kid. I don't know why but I also love the C5.

AC130
Yea

F-4 Phantom II

Not sure why. Probably because I was fascinated with them as a kid. Big, loud, fast
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Well, they're big and they're certainly loud!
One year, mid/late 80s, I at the Hammond Balloon Festival a flight of four F-4s made a pass over the airfield between air show acts. They came in on a basically southeast to northwest flight path, which is not parallel to the (generally) north/south runway. Coincidentally, I just happened to be walking in the direction the jets came from with my toddler niece to go see my brother/her father who had just landed in a medical helicopter.

Surprisingly, I saw the lead jet because the helicopter was between us and the F-4s approach. I tried to point it out to my niece, but in just a few seconds, the silence turned into an earth shaking roar. They were cooking and had to be close to supersonic. Seemingly just above the trees, but probably only about 150' to 200' off the deck. After the first passed, 2, 3 and 4 came ripping through at about 6 or 8 second intervals. It was without a doubt the baddest arse low pass I've ever witnessed.

It was so loud, I covered my ears. Then, I quickly realized I ought to be covering my niece's ears. When I looked down, she was flat on the ground with her hands over her EYES. Apparently, at that young age, she thought if she couldn't see it, she wouldn't hear it.

Agreed on the Hercules, and it's demented brother Spooky.

I'll also give some love to the "six turnin four burnin" mighty but forgotten B-36.

F-4 Phantom: the muscle car of fighter/bomber jets.



B-17 Flying Fortress

quote:

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They were cooking and had to be close to supersonic. Seemingly just above the trees, but probably only about 150' to 200' off the deck.

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Years ago, I was standing in the backyard of the house my grandmother was born and raised in - the woods, southeast of Meridian, MS - when one did this exact same thing. Didn't really even hear it until it was almost on top of me - area is a little hilly, but man, when it hit the clearing and was right on top of me it was a roar like a hurricane.

F14 with the Jolly Roger painted on the twin tails

quote:

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One day, high above Arizona, we were monitoring the radio traffic of all the mortal airplanes below us. First, a Cessna pilot asked the air traffic controllers to check his ground speed. ‘Ninety knots,’ ATC replied. A twin Bonanza soon made the same request. ‘One-twenty on the ground,’ was the reply. To our surprise, a navy F-18 came over the radio with a ground speed check. I knew exactly what he was doing. Of course, he had a ground speed indicator in his cockpit, but he wanted to let all the bug-smashers in the valley know what real speed was. ‘Dusty 52, we show you at 620 on the ground,’ ATC responded.

The situation was too ripe. I heard the click of Walter’s mike button in the rear seat. In his most innocent voice, Walter startled the controller by asking for a ground speed check from 81,000 feet, clearly above controlled airspace. In a cool, professional voice, the controller replied, ‘Aspen 20, I show you at 1,982 knots on the ground.’ We did not hear another transmission on that frequency all the way to the coast.

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1,982 Knots is 2,281.3 miles per hour, ICYWW.

ETA: The Curtis NC-4 Flying Boat was pretty neat, too. You can see it in Pensacola.