Most beautiful aircraft?

I replied at the top of the thread with mine but with beauty being in the eye of the beholder and all that.....


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Daryl said:
And the Lightning is just a Toilet roll with Thunderbird 1 wings on.
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I remember making one as a kid with bog roll tubes, a corn flakes box and the nozzle of my mums icing bag :D
 
Lot of votes for the Lightning.

IMO just about the most awesome aircraft ever made - but not the most beautiful.
 
simon ess said:
Lot of votes for the Lightning.

IMO just about the most awesome aircraft ever made - but not the most beautiful.
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agree which is why I didn't vote for it as the most beautiful. Saw one take off and then go vertical - one of the most memorable sights I have seen.
 
I'm going with the flow

Prop, spitfire

Jet Concorde

If Concorde was unveiled today it'd still draw gasps of astonishment at they wheeled it out of the hangar

10 years ago I was at legoland with the kids when Concorde flew over on its way to New York , everybody, and I mean everybody stopped what they were doing and looked up until it was gone
 
wack61 said:
I'm going with the flow

Prop, spitfire

Jet Concorde

If Concorde was unveiled today it'd still draw gasps of astonishment at they wheeled it out of the hangar

10 years ago I was at legoland with the kids when Concorde flew over on its way to New York , everybody, and I mean everybody stopped what they were doing and looked up until it was gone
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I'm going to go against it... I think Concorde (and the sr-71) would, as you say, still draw gasps, I just think these are more beautiful (to my eye)

Prop: tiger moth
Jet: Grumman f14 Tomcat, though it's a close run between that, the tornado and the harrier.
 
Prop - there's just no competition, Spitfire

Jet - After the prop age they didn't design aircraft for looks so much, Concord would be up there but for the trail of pollution it left behind it. Sukhoi SU-32 for it's dangerous looks and gracefulness in flight could be the one I think. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dAI8YRZrAI&feature=youtube_gdata_player
 
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Prop - Mosquito. Has to be really as my grandad worked with the design team building them (amongst other things) during the war.

Jet - SR71....looked amazing and was the card to have in Top Trumps!:clap:
 
wisemen said:
Prop, shorts SD360

Jet, B757 / A380

My definition of best looking reads as 'ones I have earned the most money from'. Every time I look at those above I get a little tear in my eye......
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I realise you are putting a different slant on beauty but a Shorts shoebox. :shrug:
 
And the Lightning is just a Toilet roll with Thunderbird 1 wings on.
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Please you are making my eyes bleed!

It's 2 toilet rolls, and clearly Mr Tracey copied the sheer beauty of English Electric's finest product to make Thunderbird1 more pleasing to the eye.
I'm sure that the lack of a complete whitewash in favour of the Lightning is because there are so few that have ever seen one. So to correct that:

7151825235_315d2ca0c2_b.jpg


VOTE LIGHTNING!
 
Bernie174 said:
I'm sure that the lack of a complete whitewash in favour of the Lightning is because there are so few that have ever seen one. So to correct that:

VOTE LIGHTNING!
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I saw my first one at Woodford Air Show in the early 70's- took off and then just went vertical- one of the most awesome things I have seen.
 
For this mule I have to say:
Vulcan bomber... amazing shape and fantastic noise. Even on tickover. (Worked on the one at Woodford)

Civil jet. Avro rjx. It got canned but only after 3 test aircraft built. It took already quiet jet and made it even quiter. Again I worked on all 3.

Nimrod mra4 gets a mention as a great jet that never got chance to be. Her loss is still being felt in the forces and the defence buget. Again I worked on it

Think there is a theme...
 
Oh on the subject of the lightnig... I saw one every work day for 8 years. Its a gate guardian at samlesbury lol
 
eeyore said:
Oh on the subject of the lightnig... I saw one every work day for 8 years. Its a gate guardian at samlesbury lol
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There is one minus wings in a transport depot on the A46 just near the m4 bath junction. Looks like its seen better days though.
 
Going for a different prop one here. The Westland Lysander. Maybe not 'beautiful' like the Spitfire, but always been one of my favourite aircraft after reading about some of it's clandestine missions during WW2.

As for jets, then the The World's First Jet Airliner, The Comet has to be up there.
 
Prop: Another vote for the iconic Spitfire, with the early Focke Wulf 190 a close runner up. The later Dora versions had improved performance but the long nose spoils the aircraft's lines.

Jet: Abstain. Some of them are impressive, but they just don't do anything for me.
 
Me 262 was more slick the the toilet roll Lightning... I think there is too much British blind patriotism.

As for the Comet... didn't they fall out of the sky quite often?

The 2nd World war had some of most wonderful planes ever designed. The yank s the Brits and the Germans... Jap zero was nice.

We should do a Tank thread.... Who would get the votes there?....
 
Daryl said:
As for the Comet... didn't they fall out of the sky quite often?
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That was the Mk1, and there were 3! 3 too many though, yes.
The 2,3,4 were ok, the mk4 military variant, the Nimrod was in service until 2011.
 
Daryl said:
Me 262 was more slick the the toilet roll Lightning... I think there is too much British blind patriotism.

As for the Comet... didn't they fall out of the sky quite often?

The 2nd World war had some of most wonderful planes ever designed. The yank s the Brits and the Germans... Jap zero was nice.

We should do a Tank thread.... Who would get the votes there?....
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Why don't you start one? We can't split it into prop and jet propulsion, but maybe up to 1945 and post war?
 
Also gotta mention gyro-copters.
Very weird but amazing machines.
 
Craig1912 said:
I saw my first one at Woodford Air Show in the early 70's- took off and then just went vertical- one of the most awesome things I have seen.
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Saw my first at an air show in Germany in 1968ish it broke the sound barrier on a run down the length of the runway. They always look so small in pictures until you see a person next to one!
 
Prop, where do you start? I always loved the Catalina.

Jets I have 2 the English electic Lightening just due to the raw power and the other is the Canberra. If you go to bae Salmesbury they are both gate guardians.
 
duncancallum said:
Prop, where do you start? I always loved the Catalina.

Jets I have 2 the English electic Lightening just due to the raw power and the other is the Canberra. If you go to bae Salmesbury they are both gate guardians.
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Agreed, Canberra is very nice. Spent many a Sunday working on one. Me and my brother got the entire electrical system up and running again, and then found out the fuel tank was still full!

The buccaneer is another often overlooked aircraft, its a bit fat in the tummy, but still looks the part.
 
Avro Lancaster - all variants.

My Nan used to rivet the fuselage during WW2 - hugely attached to those planes, sound amazing too...
 
Daryl said:
Me 262 was more slick the the toilet roll Lightning... I think there is too much British blind patriotism.

As for the Comet... didn't they fall out of the sky quite often?

The 2nd World war had some of most wonderful planes ever designed. The yank s the Brits and the Germans... Jap zero was nice.

We should do a Tank thread.... Who would get the votes there?....
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Here you go Daryl, the lovely ME 262

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SBAhNb1Y4w&feature=related

Very sleek, very good, and Hitler vowed never to let it fly outside of Germany's borders.
 
Daryl said:
Me 262 was more slick the the toilet roll Lightning... I think there is too much British blind patriotism.

As for the Comet... didn't they fall out of the sky quite often?

The 2nd World war had some of most wonderful planes ever designed. The yank s the Brits and the Germans... Jap zero was nice.

We should do a Tank thread.... Who would get the votes there?....
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Probably the Panther, the Leopard and possibly the T34/85
 
Very hard but at short notice, I would go for Hawker Typhoon or Tempest (the 'ardest things with pistons) and the Vulcan.

Worth noting, the Piaggio of the OP is a derivative of the Beach Starship which was a lot earlier.
 
Oh and significant aircraft that never happened Horten Ho 229.
 
Prop: For me is the De Havilland Mosquito, did a school project on it and when at the museum they let my dad and I sit in the the prototype they have on display.

Jet: It has to be the SR-71 Blackbird. Once saw it at the Mildenhall air show as a young boy and remember asking my dad why there where men with dogs guarding the plane, his reply was not to worry about the dogs guarding it, but instead to worry about the men standing in the shadows with the guns...Then when it flew, the noise was just amazing :)
 
Sheer beauty wise -

Prop - Spitfire (for me) is pretty much unbeatable
Jet - F16 - it really is a pretty little aeroplane

However - my favs would be -

Jaguar / Phantom (as I used to see loads when I was a kid) OR B1-B or Blackjack

Decisions decisions.

Dav
 
Rapscallion said:
One new, one old:-

F22 raptor and DH 88 comet

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300px-DH.88_Comet_G-ACSS_Farnborough_10.09.88R.jpg
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That Comet is a lovely plane and one of the first Airfix kits I made. That Raptor looks bloody enormous. Didn't realise it was so big.
 
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