Your favorite post-war aircraft

[evangilder]

But I was at an American PX, so it was a sidewalk!

[Nonskimmer]

[Medvedya]

Those bases are strange places - one moment you're in the English countryside, two steps past the perimetre gate and you're on the set of Sergeant Bilko!

American cars, those special school buses painted green instead of yellow, filled with airmen trying very, very, hard to look like Val Kilmer in Top Gun!

[superunknown]

Not in any order,

AC-130 Spectre (because it kills everything it sees!)
F-15E Strike Eagle (because its just so damn good)
A-10 Thunderbolt II (because it is THE best ground support aircraft ever)
F-4 Phantom (because it was the best multirole aircraft for so long)
Chinook (If it wasn't for the chinook, nothing would get done)

[cheddar cheese]

Mmmmm...A-10 Thunderbolt...Excuse me whilst I go to the lavatory...

[Nonskimmer]

Don't forget to wipe.

[Pisis]

My favorite post-war aircraft are those from the Israeli Independence War - Avia S-199 Sakin (Czechoslovak built Bf 109G/K), Spitfires, G.55's... cause they still have the touch of warbirds.

Also KAW planes are worthy eye-candies: P-51's, Sabres, MiG-15...

As to the jet-planes - MiG-17, MiG-29, Su-27, F-111D, F-4, TSR.2,

My favorite civil transportesrs: Lockheed L-1049G Super Constellation, Dakota.

[vanir]

Post war aircraft:

hmm...
Su-7 goddamned fast fighter for its day, less useful as a ground attack due to a hopeless range but would dropkick supersabres like they were going out of fashion in its original form as a fighter. Capable of some Mach 1.6 in 1955 and evolved into the excellent Su-17 ground attack variant.

MiG-21 absolutely annhiliates starfighters and dassaults of the day

MiG-25 Foxbat. What can one say, a reconnaissance-bomber Ye-155R prototype was reputedly clocked by US intelligence doing Mach 3.2 between two Soviet ground stations. It was later suggested after examination of Belyenko's Foxbat in Japan the aircraft was probably made immediately unairworthy by the inherently dangerous effort. It should be noted the only evidence I have seen of these claims is anecdotal at best.
The MiG-25RB derivative however is documented as capable of doing its top speed of Mach 2.82 with a full bomb load (Jane's Information Group), delivering them in precision strikes. A development of the interceptor variant, the MiG-25PD gained its improved engines.
Airframe limit is Mach 2.82 due to construction materiels, however as can be encountered among certain high performance Soviet aircraft, it is possible these engines may be overdriven by anything up to 40% max.aug.thrust although this would hardly be standard operation unless in the midst of a US cruise missile strike, which is one of the scenarios the Foxbat was specifically designed to combat (and to reach 80,000ft Mach 3.2 cruise Blackbirds with its missiles). The Foxbat was probably one of the key reasons the XB and YB-70 Valkyries were cancelled, restarted as a transport-reconnaissance concept then cancelled again. If the Blackbird could be reached, the circa. 75,000ft Mach 3 cruise Valkyrie was no sweat.
Only problem is the Foxbat would be a one shot-single use deal when used like that.
ICBM's and greater range AAM developments changed everything anyway (but AAMs at long range are still very vulnerable to ECM, interceptors much less so).

Unfortunately the Foxbat is designed for high altitude operation and cannot withstand the stresses of low altitude combat performance.
The MiG-25MP variant however, was designed specifically to alter this engineering restriction, but became renamed the MiG-31. It was known as the SuperMiG during the 80's and the mystery surrounding its development inspired the movie "Firefox," shortly before it was finally publicised to the west. We know it as the two-seat Foxhound and it has to be one of the finest performance pieces of the 20th century, combining better overall performance than an Eagle with the weapons system of a Tomcat.

Here's a Foxbat:


Here's a picture from the cockpit at about 80,000 feet:


And here's a Foxhound:

[P38 Pilot]

I guess my favorite post war aircraft would have to be the AC-47 "Spooky" It was a great aircraft used in Vietnam.

Although it didnt have speed, it was a great gunship able too give heavy fire power to attack Vietnamese held areas. It also had that cool smokescreen effect so that Anti Aircraft guns had a hard time locating it.

And talk about the Fire Power! Having 20mm miniguns on both sides along with these special flash bombs they would use.

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

The Foxbat was fast but was not very maneuvarable.

My favorite post war aircraft are:

F-86 Sabre
F-4 Phantom
F-14 Tomcat
Skyraider
UH-1 Huey
AH-1 Cobra
UH-60L Blackhawk
A-10 Warthog
AC-130 Spectre

Hey P-38 if you like the 47 why not the AC-130. Same concept but much more fire power. Puff the Magic Dragon....

[plan_D]

Favourite post-war aircraft; the English Electric Lightning. From a 1947 design it was the greatest interceptor of the Cold War and served until 1989 in the RAF.

[cheddar cheese]

The MiG-17 is probably my favourite.

[vanir]

The Foxbat was fast but was not very maneuvarable.

Yeah they designed the Foxhound to fix that. The Foxbat's construction didn't translate well to performance down where the air is thick, it's not even supersonic at sea level.
At high altitudes it is very manoeuvrable indeed, with an airframe limit of 4.5g supersonic. US fighters have high subsonic g-limits in preference and concentrate on transonic performance at medium altitudes, with supersonic dash.

The MiG-25MP/MiG-31 Foxhound however has a much tougher airframe for dramatically increased low altitude performance and manages a comfortable Mach 1.4 on the deck and a high altitude performance of Mach 2.82 which is limited only by airframe restrictions. It is listed as an engineering guideline for safety reasons rather than an actual speed top-out.

Back when the US had cancelled the YF-12A Mach 3.2 interceptor programme due to ridiculous costs and gone with the F-15 as the Air Force front line of defence (which was ridiculously expensive anyway), it could not be understood how the Soviets had managed to develope such performance in a mass produced interceptor.
It was assumed the Russians had developed some kind of new technology unavailable to the US and they resigned themselves as being unable to match the performance of the Foxbat, concentrating their engineering doctrine instead on high, mid-altitude transonic performance in the hope the Foxbat's performance was orientated solely to high altitude operations. The gamble paid off.

When the US technicians finally examined Belyenko's Foxbat in Japan in the 70's they were actually quite disappointed and realised the F-15 in fact superceded it at most combat altitudes.
But Belyenko had warned them of a new Foxhound variant which was far more likely to justify their earlier fears.

The MiG-25MP or MiG-31 Foxhound has astonishing performance from near space altitudes to sea level and the second generation MiG-31M subvariant, state of the art avionics and weapons systems.
Its development has been domestically outshone by the world class performance and very public mishaps of the Sukhoi Flanker programmes, an airframe which itself holds no less than 27 world records, including rate of climb (which used to be the Foxbat's territory).

On the battlefield however, a MiG-31M is easily one of the most dangerous aircraft you can come across today at any altitude and under any conditions. In 1990 it was probably the most powerful aircraft in service in the world.

[FLYBOYJ]

Originally Posted by vanir

Back when the US had cancelled the YF-12A Mach 3.2 interceptor programme due to ridiculous costs and gone with the F-15 as the Air Force front line of defence (which was ridiculously expensive anyway), it could not be understood how the Soviets had managed to develope such performance in a mass produced interceptor.

They YF-12 was canceled because there simply wasn't a threat for it to intercept. It was impractical but did assist in the development of the Phoenix missile system. The F-15 was developed under a whole different military doctrine nearly a decade later. The USAF didn't go with the F-15 in lieu of the YF-12, that's plain nonsense!!!

The F-15 will turn out to be one of the most cost effective weapons platforms when it is finally retired. 25 years of great service, an airframe that could take (and will continue to take) numerous modifications, numerous missions undertaken, successfully completed with close to a 100 to zero kill ratio. I don't know what you would consider expensive, but with a record like that and a good 10 years worth of service left (which gives it 35 years of service), the F-15 gave and will continue to give more than a "bang for its buck."

Originally Posted by vanir

On the battlefield however, a MiG-31M is easily one of the most dangerous aircraft you can come across today at any altitude and under any conditions. In 1990 it was probably the most powerful aircraft in service in the world.

We know it as the two-seat Foxhound and it has to be one of the finest performance pieces of the 20th century, combining better overall performance than an Eagle with the weapons system of a Tomcat.

NOW THAT'S A JOKE! Are you sure you don't mean the SU-27???? The Mig-31 has a big powerful radar that could still be jammed, flies real fast and carries BIG missiles. BIG DEAL! Other than that it's a pig! It's still built out of steel, it cannot maneuver out of it's own way, has a 600 hour engine, drinks fuel like a whale, has a turning radius comparible to an SR-71 and is (was) a logistical nightmare. There was no big secret during it's development. Why do you think the Russians and other former USSR nations have gotten rid of their MiG-31s? It's a brick with wings! I think just about any modern western fighter (F-15, F-16, Tornado, F-18 ) if deployed properly, will feast on the Mig-31 without mercy!

I could see this stated when comparing an SU-27, but the MiG-31 IS NOT Russia's finest!

[FLYBOYJ]

Originally Posted by vanir

The Foxbat was probably one of the key reasons the XB and YB-70 Valkyries were cancelled.

You got it Backwards - The Mig-25 was developed to counter the XB-70. That was mentioned several times in the book "MIG PILOT." The XB-70 was cancelled because of Soviet SAM development (1964, the program ended several years later when an F-104 collided with one of the prototypes east of Edwards AFB, California). The USAF changed it's stategic strike doctrine and developed low-level tactics and eventually coupled that with Stealth technology.......