Best Looking Fighter / Bomber Aircraft?

SO what do people feel are the best looking military plane ever produced?

1) YF-23 Black Widow II
2) XB-70
3) Su-47
4) F-16XL
5) B-1B
6) B-2 Fronm the top, the side view is ugly
7) A-12
8)M-21/D-21 Combo

B-1B. That is one sexy plane. I wonder why they don't use it more. It's not stealth, but it's supposed to be pretty "stealthy".

-koji K.

I really like the SU-47 something about those forward swept wings I just really like.

Besides that I would go with the A-12 classic cool looking

though not on your list, the SU-30MKI is the best looking fighter i've ever seen. it is so beautiful . IMHO the best looking bomber i've seen is the Tu-22m3.

What can I say? the ruskies make some of the best planes in the world, but noone beats them in the looks department

Aye maybe its just at the moment but I would have to say the forward swept wings of the SU-47/s37 make it the sexiest plane.

The formward swept wings are ugly, Su-27/30 is much better looking.

I likle B-2, F-23 (but not from the top) and F-22.

1. SR-71 Blackbird
2.B-2 Bomber
3.F-22
3.X-31
4-X-15
5.X-45C
6.Predator B

and yes I know that some of them are not fighters of bombers.

Originally posted by koji_K
B-1B. That is one sexy plane. I wonder why they don't use it more. It's not stealth, but it's supposed to be pretty "stealthy".

It has stealth features but not completly stealth. They did some redesign when they changed from the B-1A to the 1B esp the engine pods. I think head on it does okay, but fromt he side it is a dead duck. The altitude controll canards (DCS its called I think) give it a mean head on look

The ME-262 is anotehr great looking plane...

Originally posted by FredT
The ME-262 is anotehr great looking plane...

For WW2 that was the best looking fighter IMO. I could only imagine what thr first allied pilots thought when they first saw that thing

SR-71 Blackbird
B-1 Lancer
F/A-22 Raptor

The forward swept wings on the Su-37 don't look right. The F-23 looks like a bird with deformed wings and really ugly engines. The B-2 kind of looks ok. I chose the Blackbird as number one cuz it is the most futuristic plane and its so sleek. One other plane which was decent looking was the X-70 Valkerye(sp)

Best looking aircraft? Damn it's so hard to choose. I'll just have to list off a bunch in no particular order.


F-4 Phantom: I don't know what it is about this aircraft, but i think it just looks great. I think it's the big intakes on the side and also how the wings flare upwards at the ends.

CF-105 Arrow: Sadly it was canceled and didn't get much of a chance. I think it was an amazing aircraft for it's time. A lot of new things were done on this aircraft that wern't on any others at that time, like fly-by-wire and such. But mostly i think the aircraft looked great, plus it was huge!

XB-70: Too bad this one never got much of a chance either. I loved the way the wings angled down when flying supersonic. I also liked the configuration of the engines in the back with all 6 lined up in a row, (though probably a magnet for heat seaking missles).

B-1: Another cool bomber. Seen it in real life, got some photos of it. Sadly it won't be at my towns airshow this weekend

SR-71: No denying that this is one sexy aircraft.

YF-23: I sure liked the look of this one more than the F-22. Too bad it can't be used for something else.

Many more aircraft i could list, but those are probably some of my most favorite.

[edit on 12-8-2004 by jra]

Originally posted by jra
CF-105 Arrow: Sadly it was canceled and didn't get much of a chance. I think it was an amazing aircraft for it's time. A lot of new things were done on this aircraft that wern't on any others at that time, like fly-by-wire and such. But mostly i think the aircraft looked great, plus it was huge!

Do you have a pic of this one?

Originally posted by ShadowXIX

Originally posted by FredT
The ME-262 is anotehr great looking plane...

For WW2 that was the best looking fighter IMO. I could only imagine what thr first allied pilots thought when they first saw that thing

They were awed. Intel people at debriefings thought they were having shell shock when they described propless fighters.

I like the SR-71. It just looks plane awesome.

FredT: It's the aircraft in my avatar, but here is a site with lots of info and some pics if you want to read and see more. www.avroarrow.org...

[edit on 12-8-2004 by jra]

Thanks for the link. It reminds me of the stillborn F-108 Rapier that was supposed to be a Mach 3 escort for the XB-70. Mack the Knife McNamera was responsible for killing quite a few aviation programs:

XB-70
YF-12
YB-12
and the F108 Rapier

some more cool WW2 planes

Bomber-The Horton IX
P38 Lightning

The Horton flying wing back then was way cool. The P-38 I dont know why but I always liked the look of it.


Another cool looking plane IMO the A-10 Warthog Im mean with the eyes and the teeth on it just looks bad A$$, and the 30 mm Gatling gun definitely decorates the nose of the A-10 Warthog

Originally posted by FredT
Mack the Knife McNamera was responsible for killing quite a few aviation programs:

XB-70
YF-12
YB-12
and the F108 Rapier

Good thing, he killed them, they all were juste waste of money.

Originally posted by ShadowXIX
some more cool WW2 planes
Another cool looking plane IMO the A-10 Warthog Im mean with the eyes and the teeth on it just looks bad A$$, and the 30 mm Gatling gun definitely decorates the nose of the A-10 Warthog

The A-10 is a great looking plane I don't know why people bag on its looks. The P-38 is another one. Have you ever seen the joined wing P51's? They attached two P-51's wingtip to wingtip kinf of like a P-38. Ugly but could have been effective.

The Horton Flying wing was impressive given the limitations they had with getting materials. What ever happened to the Horton Brothers?





[edit on 12-8-2004 by FredT]

They were awed. Intel people at debriefings thought they were having shell shock when they described propless fighters.

The pilots must have been shocked but not the Intel people we knew Germany had jet planes and the United States first jet fighter/plane was produced in 1943 by Lockheed I think nay one got any more info on this?

Good thing, he killed them, they all were juste waste of money.

-Oh we got another John Kerry in the forum-
They were not a waste of money they were ahead of their time in propulsion and design. And would have been great planes if that idiot McNamara hadn't canceled them.