My Favorite Aeroplanes

And now, in the spirit of the last post, I want to list (in no particular order) some of my favorite airplanes, and why they are my favorites.

North American X-15 (can you say Mach 6.71? Can you say 354,000 feet?)

Heinkel He-219 Owl (so ugly it's fascinating)

RAC RE-8 (very strange looking, known to its crews as "Quirk" because it had so many)

Westland Lysander (it looks more like postmodern sculpture than an airplane)

Bristol Bulldog (classic between-the-wars biplane, perfect proportions)

Nakajima Ki-44 Shoki (not a good interceptor but it looks very aggressive)

Northrop P-61 Black Widow (even uglier than the He-219, and that's saying something)

Lockheed F-104 Starfighter (this thing just screams speed)

Convair B-36 Peacemaker (anything with ten engines just has to be good)

Saab J35 Drakken (weird-looking cranked double-delta, but pretty hot for its day)

North American XB-70 Valkyrie (it looked like the future incarnate)

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-25 (classical Soviet ugly, powerful, purposeful design, but not as bodacious as its reputation suggested)

Republic F-84F Thunderstreak (I love the symmetry of the swept wings and horizontal stabs)

McDonnell F-101 Voodoo ("You're telling me those are nuclear rockets???")

BAC Lightning (over-and-under jet engines; reminds me of my old shotgun)

Republic F-105 Thunderchief (possibly the most aggressive-looking airplane ever)

Bell P-39 Airacobra (mid-engine layout and a 37mm automatic cannon? Sure, I'm game)

Lockheed Constellation (the best-looking propeller airliner ever, period)

Northrop YB-49 (not a big success, but there was a time when flying wings were tres cool)

Bolton-Paul Defiant (who first had that idea, and why wasn't he sedated?)

Bachem Ba-349 Natter (a vertical-takeoff rocket-propelled wooden airplane? With no landing gear? And a bunch of explosive rockets in its nose? This sounds better all the time)

Hawker Hunter (best subsonic jet fighter ever built, and very pleasing to look at)

Dassault Mirage F1C (I just like the way it looks)

Polikarpov I-16 Rata (looks like a Brewster Buffalo on steroids, or a beer keg with an engine)

Convair B-58 Hustler (four, count them, four J-79s)

Henschel Hs-129B (is that a 75mm gun or are you just happy to see me?)

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17 (perhaps the cleanest and best-looking Soviet postwar fighter)

McDonnell XF-85 Goblin (a parasite fighter the size of a VW Bug launched from a B-36? With no landing gear? How could I possibly say no?)

Tupolev Tu-22 Blinder (a curiously shapely aircraft from a country not known for shapely aircraft)

Handley-Page Victor (if it's not the weirdest-looking bomber ever made, it's pretty close)

RAC SE-5A (the classic WWI fighter, but thankfully no castor oil and thus no vomiting)

North American AJ-1 Savage (what on Earth were they thinking?)