Favourite planes

[King Nuts]

Must admit to being a bit of an aviation geek. Always been fascinated by planes and until this recent pandemic started, flew pretty regularly. Mostly around Europe and three or four times a year to the US.

My last flight out of the US, pretty much bang on two years ago, was on a 747. I always loved that plane, and feel v sad they are no more. They might have been thirsty on fuel, and they rattled a bit on take-off, but they had style and grace, I always thought. Felt safe as houses on them too.

Used to like the TriStar L-1011 too. V advanced plane, technically. Great to travel in. Spacious, and I remember a much higher ceiling than on other planes.

And was there ever a better looking plane than the 707?

Yeah, the 380 is quiet, same with other Airbuses and the 787. Not the same though. And I don't even want to get started on Concorde. Last one flew nearly twenty years ago. Boo hoo.

[FLYING BLUE]

I flew a variety of aircraft in the RAF starting off with the tandem chipmunk trainer.

In my civilian working life I have flown 747, 757, 767, 737 (Boeing) & I've ridden on the 787 but never flown it.
My favourite to pilot was the beautiful 747 - a truly wonderful aircraft in all it's configs.

A319, A320, A330, A340 (Airbus) - I loved the A330 & again, I've ridden on the A350 but never flown it.

I've also flown a couple of smaller Embraer (Brazil) models in my time but, nothing beats the feel of the 747 for me 

Retired now so flying bugger all.
Cheers
FB

Edited to add - perhaps best not get me started about aircraft, I've been known to bore people to the brink of death on this particular subject 

[PepeMAGA]

A10 Warthog brrt

[FLYING BLUE]

A10 Warthog brrt

An unusual choice 

[Yankee21]

Northrop Grumman B-2 Spirit

[Squire Haggard]

I like the Wright Brothers plane because they never looked at a bird for inspiration, and built it back to front. The only plane to fly in reverse.   I like the old WW1 biplanes, ME 262 and 163, Spitfire, Blackbird SR 71, among others.

[shaft10]

I flew a variety of aircraft in the RAF starting off with the tandem chipmunk trainer.

In my civilian working life I have flown 747, 757, 767, 737 (Boeing) & I've ridden on the 787 but never flown it.
My favourite to pilot was the beautiful 747 - a truly wonderful aircraft in all it's configs.

A319, A320, A330, A340 (Airbus) - I loved the A330 & again, I've ridden on the A350 but never flown it.

I've also flown a couple of smaller Embraer (Brazil) models in my time but, nothing beats the feel of the 747 for me 

Retired now so flying bugger all.
Cheers
FB

Edited to add - perhaps best not get me started about aircraft, I've been known to bore people to the brink of death on this particular subject 

Legend! 

Sounds like the best job in the world ... flying big birds + all those air hostess's 

[Thephoenix]

Got to agree with the 747.
Apart from traveling on them many times, I will always remember seeing my first 747 doing a low fly over in thick ground mist at an Australian airport.
In the days of the regular 707s and 727s they complety dwarfed anything else on the apron, and just walking under the wings was awesome.
Quite different from my first ever flight which was on a Bristol Britannia which in those days took 36 hours to get to Australia

.

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[FLYING BLUE]

Legend! 

Sounds like the best job in the world ... flying big birds + all those air hostess's 

It used to be, in the 1980's & 90's 

My last 10 years were spent flying cargo around the world, all night flights, no crew, not so much fun but a great life nonetheless 

[lamboman]

I prefer newer ones when I step onboard having been on an old Singapore 747 that caught fire after take off from Brisbane.
That made for an interesting half an hour,I was sat next to an ex stewardess who said she thought it was an old knacker as soon as she got on.
I know lots of parts are lifed but the mileage on some of the older planes is incredible.

[King Nuts]

I flew a variety of aircraft in the RAF starting off with the tandem chipmunk trainer.

In my civilian working life I have flown 747, 757, 767, 737 (Boeing) & I've ridden on the 787 but never flown it.
My favourite to pilot was the beautiful 747 - a truly wonderful aircraft in all it's configs.

A319, A320, A330, A340 (Airbus) - I loved the A330 & again, I've ridden on the A350 but never flown it.

I've also flown a couple of smaller Embraer (Brazil) models in my time but, nothing beats the feel of the 747 for me 

Retired now so flying bugger all.
Cheers
FB

Edited to add - perhaps best not get me started about aircraft, I've been known to bore people to the brink of death on this particular subject 

Well, I'm impressed!

Question about the 747: if you're in the cockpit, is it or was it a disadvantage being so high up, especially with the plane's nose sticking out in front quite a bit? I'm thinking that maybe taxi-ing must have been tricky at times, no?

I always liked the 767 too. American used to fly them a lot to the US out of LHR. I liked the fact it was a wide-body but smaller, with 7 seats across in Economy as opposed to 10 on a 747.

But for me, nothing beats the 747 experience. I've been fortunate in that although the majority of my trips were in Economy, I'd managed a handful in Premium Economy and in Business, and one memorable time in First, right in the nose of the plane. Best seat of all though, at least on BA's 747s, was in the bubble. Hard to beat the experience.

[fisherofsouls]

I have had the enormous good fortune once to occupy seat 1A on a BA 747, right in the front of the pointy bit:  with the curvature of the fuselage, you can almost see straight ahead!   Decent service, F&B as well in BA First

Have done the Qatar A380 down to SE Asia a couple of times, making full use of the upstairs bar

But my absolute fave, bizarrely enough, was a hop across the channel in a Dornier 328, (?)possibly a Sun Air wet lease for BACF(?).  It was a bit like what I imagine flying in a Lancaster would be like: noisy and bumpy but totally "real".  As we approached our destination, you could feel every twitch of the pilot's foot on the rudder, it was all quite exhilarating 

[the groper]

Concorde, the SR-71 Blackbird, Vulcan bomber and the aborted TSR-2

[Rockhead]

If we're talking of modern-ish airliners, I like the four-engined Airbus A340. It seems a graceful looking bird to my eyes. Not so many in service now, but they're still around.


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[Rick2468]

Harrier AV8B for me. So graceful.

[mr.bluesky]

Supermarine Spitfire. Best plane of WW2 by far.  in fact one of the greatest planes ever built. Not many left flying now unfortunately.  Love to see them at airshows.

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[Jonestown]

P38 Lightning
or
ME262

[scutty brown]

best aircraft I've ever flown on was a Shorts 360
flying leather armchairs

on one flight I was on the pilot spotted HMS Vanguard on the surface off Blackpool so circled it a few times to have a look - the resulting conversation on the GUARD channel was quite blue

[mr.bluesky]

Concorde, the SR-71 Blackbird, Vulcan bomber and the aborted TSR-2

Was fortunate to do some work for the last vulcan ever flown

[lillythesavage]

Piper Cherokee, flying over London, scary but exhilarating at the same time, taking off and landing on grass.

[Gordon Bennett]

Concorde, the SR-71 Blackbird, Vulcan bomber and the aborted TSR-2

The Vulcan is pretty smart but I feel the Victor is the most eye-catching V-bomber and my favourite plane by miles.



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[Podger]

Lancaster. The sound of four Merlin engines sends a shiver down my spine.

[timsussex]

Lancaster. The sound of four Merlin engines sends a shiver down my spine.

and Vulcan - incredible to believe they were both designed by the same man - Roy Chadwick

[mr.bluesky]

The Vulcan is pretty smart but I feel the Victor is the most eye-catching V-bomber and my favourite plane by miles.



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Very futuristic looking for its time

[the groper]

Never heard of that one before. Striking machine

[newhere456]

For commercial flying, I like the 787 "dreamliner",  the carbon composite fuselage means the pressure inside the cabin is higher, it really makes a difference in comfort on long haul (not that I've been doing much of that).

For recreational flying, I fly a C42 but have a soft spot for the Blackshape Prime.

For "in my dreams" flying, got to be Concorde.  It's day has gone, but the fact that it was so far ahead of its time and nothing has replaced it in terms of capability speaks volumes for the beauty of this craft and the technological wizardry of the people that designed and built it.

[Ghost89]

An unusual choice 

A great choice! A frightening looking beast of a tank buster!

[Ghost89]

Supermarine Spitfire. Best plane of WW2 by far.  in fact one of the greatest planes ever built. Not many left flying now unfortunately.  Love to see them at airshows.

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Fantastic plane! One of the best planes ever made. Seen them fly many times at duxford air museum which is an absolute must visit.

[Ghost89]

Concorde, the SR-71 Blackbird, Vulcan bomber and the aborted TSR-2

The blackbird is a stunning plane which still looks futuristic despite it being from the 60’s.

[chrishornx]

Supermarine Spitfire. Best plane of WW2 by far.  in fact one of the greatest planes ever built. Not many left flying now unfortunately.  Love to see them at airshows.

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unbeatable

[Watts.E.Dunn]

Someone mention the venerable Boeing 707?..

Once in darkest Africa many years ago went on a holliday trip with this stunner i pulled, anyway turned out she was a real lying bitch and if i'd had the chance i'd chucked her off the aircraft at 30,000 feet! Wouldnt have been a problem for her as her broomstick would have unfolded for her!!!


Anyway was taking to a very friendly trolly dolly and she in turn was taking to the first officer, got chatting and asked if i could have a look in the cockpit?, sure said he!, so got there and the captain was in the right hand seat so he said want to sit in the left!?., Yep not half! So we ran through the controls and after a short while he said OK i'll take it off auto piolt you wanna fly her?.. Yes bloody please!! so he did just that and i did a few flight inputs seemed a tad sluggish, but i had control of her with that he puts the auto pilot back on and then said gotta got to he lav, got a very weird tummy today can you look after her for 5 miniutes?.. As he left the flight deck he did say call out the co-pilots name of you need help!!

So there i was in charge of a jet liner at 30 odd thousand feet off the coast of west africa a real tinpot african airline not beliving what had happened!! After what seemed 10 or more minutes the captain turned up said all well?,, yes apart from a few radio calls that i didnt answer just as well said he they might have asked questions as he was in favour of takling on the radio in his native variant of what lingo that was so i stayed there for around another 30 mins whilst the co-piolt was chatting up the trolly dolly!  Lovely bloke!, got his address and we exchanged Xmas cards for a few years!


I'd pay good money for that freebie experence again!!!!

[JasonMason]

Am I doing this right.....?


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[stampjones]

My fave from when I was a kid was the bristol beaufighter. Not sure why tbh. Quite liked the FW190 too

[mr.bluesky]

Am I doing this right.....?
 

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  takes me back to the days of doing woodwork at school. Could never master the dovetail joint  probably the reason why I never became a carpenter  there's something very satisfying about planeing away on a piece of wood.

[mr.bluesky]

Concorde, the SR-71 Blackbird, Vulcan bomber and the aborted TSR-2

The TSR-2 was a great looking aircraft a pity the government at the time canceled the programme to build it. There is one on display at the RAF museum in Cosford 

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[timsussex]

The blackbird is a stunning plane which still looks futuristic despite it being from the 60’s.

Had the chance to visit the Smithsonian Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center and would highly recommend it  in the entrance to the main hall there is an SR71 with - just for the contrast - a Lysander suspended above .Talk about Tortoise and the hare

So much to see -  Enola Gay, shuttle, X1 etc  but what fascinated and surprised me were the German and Japanese  early attempts at Exocet type missiles

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[MilleMiglia]

A10 Warthog brrt

As a young lad, I was once treated to a sight similar to this (although probably even lower):

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Bonus Brrrrt:

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[King Nuts]

Very futuristic looking for its time

I saw a Vulcan at the Bournemouth Air Show a while back. Hell of a plane, and the noise it made was thrilling. I gather there's hardly any of them left. Maybe just one or two.

An old dude I know who was in the RAF in the 50s and 60s was telling me how the Vulcans would've been in the forefront of any attack on the USSR, should it have come to it. He said the pilots had their instructions, and in the event of a wipeout in Britain post take-off, they were just to drop their load and keep going. And going.

[Ghost89]

Had the chance to visit the Smithsonian Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center and would highly recommend it  in the entrance to the main hall there is an SR71 with - just for the contrast - a Lysander suspended above .Talk about Tortoise and the hare

So much to see -  Enola Gay, shuttle, X1 etc  but what fascinated and surprised me were the German and Japanese  early attempts at Exocet type missiles

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I would love to go there. Maybe once I’m retired and have the money!

[the groper]

The TSR-2 was a great looking aircraft a pity the government at the time canceled the programme to build it. There is one on display at the RAF museum in Cosford 

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[the groper]

Looking at it next to those parking spaces I didn't realise how large it was

[Ghost89]

As a young lad, I was once treated to a sight similar to this (although probably even lower):

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Bonus Brrrrt:

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Amazing! Would not want to be on the receiving end of that thing!

[Ghost89]

I saw a Vulcan at the Bournemouth Air Show a while back. Hell of a plane, and the noise it made was thrilling. I gather there's hardly any of them left. Maybe just one or two.

An old dude I know who was in the RAF in the 50s and 60s was telling me how the Vulcans would've been in the forefront of any attack on the USSR, should it have come to it. He said the pilots had their instructions, and in the event of a wipeout in Britain post take-off, they were just to drop their load and keep going. And going.

Much like us punters!

[mr.bluesky]

There was one ( vulcan) on display at the midland Air museum in Coventry where you could climb up inside and view the cockpit . Designed during the cold War era to carry a nuclear bomb. Not sure if it's still there now. There was a  project called vulcan to the sky who restored a vulcan to flying condition and it did fly at airshows for a while. Unfortunately due to its age its airframe is no longer airworthy so it cannot fly anymore. I also believe there is one at RAF Cosford museum. For anyone who is interested in military aircraft there are a couple of good museums to visit at Cosford ( West midlands) and Duxford ( Cambridgeshire)

[mr.bluesky]

Looking at it next to those parking spaces I didn't realise how large it was

Yes it's huge. Designed to replace the vulcan  bomber .Only a handful of prototypes were built before the government at the time got cold feet and cancelled the project due to costs and spending cutbacks. 

[Podger]

Very futuristic looking for its time

Never forget standing on the road at the end of Doncaster airport runway as it took off for its last ever flight. What a sight.

[Bogof60]

No need to go to The States to see An SR 71 or a B29.
There are both at IWM Duxford. In the same hanger is A B52, B17, and B24 and many many more American aircraft.
The American Hanger includes a memorial to the lives lost by The USAAF during WW2. Last time I was there a F15 was parked outside.
The British Hanger includes Concorde, a Lancaster, Victor and I tbink the 3rd of the V bombers a Valiant
These are just the large planes stored inside. There is also The last remaining airworthy B17 in Europe Sally B of. Menphis Belle fame.

Well worth a visit for aircraft buffs.

Favourite plane in my dreams to fly would have to be a jet fighter such as The F14. Top Gun has a lot to answer for.

[Bogof60]

Yes it's huge. Designed to replace the vulcan  bomber .Only a handful of prototypes were built before the government at the time got cold feet and cancelled the project due to costs and spending cutbacks. 

Indeed.
But cost over runs and problems with the delivery system for the Sky flash??  Missile led to the Nuclear Deterrent being handed over to The Royal Navy.

[Corus Boy]

Favourite plane in my dreams to fly would have to be a jet fighter such as The F14. Top Gun has a lot to answer for.

Life changing if you are a pilot, or even just an aeroplane fanatic.

To hold that control stick, look point and go, is magnificent.

At this time of year when you get day after day of eight octa of cloud cover, no sun and maybe rain, power up, rotate skywards and burn out through the grey into clear blue sky, again magnificent.

I don't believe that it has been mentioned;

The Dragon Lady:

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The Lockheed Martin U2.

I never flew one, couldn't have flown one.

I believe that there is a quote that more men have been to the moon than have piloted a U2!

Not sure if it is true but I would believe it.

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However I did once get to ride in the landing chase car;

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Watching the take off is also amazing as it disappears vertically before horizontally.

[FLYING BLUE]

Well, I'm impressed!

Question about the 747: if you're in the cockpit, is it or was it a disadvantage being so high up, especially with the plane's nose sticking out in front quite a bit? I'm thinking that maybe taxi-ing must have been tricky at times, no?

Hello Mr Nuts
Sorry, I missed this yesterday - the answer is yes & no really.
Up front, you get a birds eye view of the airfield which is useful but, on the other hand, the nose wheel is around 12' behind you...... which makes for challenging steering.
I have never driven a huge articulated truck but I imagine its a similar process to learn