When wars were colder, planes were cooler!

you want to stand in front of some these big buggers and try marshalling them, tis quite interesting .

fun though

some of the RAF Herc captains are nutters by the way , i was out in Iraq one year not so long ago and there was a Herc coming into Basra , the thing was soooooo low in the desert he had to pull up over the perimeter fence which could of been 15-20ft high max!!!!!

Cheers MtbCol, you’ve answered a question which has been bugging me for weeks.

It was a C17 Globemaster I saw flying out of Birmingham Airport a while back. Didn’t recognize it at all, just knew it was mahoosive, had a T-tail and 4 engines – very impressive.

Quick search turns out to be troops being flown into Selly Oak.

Bell Huey Cobra:

A cheeky Fokker!

Tooslow

liked pic nr 4 (Sea Fury) last of the greats….. inc shooting down a jet in combat in Korea…….

A10 Thunderbolt every time.

Love those Thuds. it was said of Republic (the makers of mahoosive fighters; See P47s) that if some-one built a runway round the world, Republic would make a fighter that needed it to take off…It was also a running joke amongst F105 pilots that Evasion tactics in a Thud was; Undoing the straps and running round the cockpit.

Mind you this was quite pretty as well;

What’s with all these things that the earth repels because they’re so ugly?

Shackletons. Jeez-o

When I first started work, I had a passing involvement in a project for an upgrade on the Shackleton. Anybody care to guess how old that makes me?

The most interesting thing I’ve ever been on was one of these – whilst in action (unfortunately I can’t remember what other types were involved).

Another vote for the Warthog.

I used to spend hours watching these on the range at Donna Nook when we used to go camping there each summer. I also remember sitting in the back of minbus whilst one of these stalked us for target practice, scary – somewhere up near Ladybower IIRC.

One of my personal favourite aircraft still has to be this:

Ugly beast, but very impressive. Just about squeaks in as a cold war aircraft (reasonable definition of the end of the cold war being the fall of the Berlin Wall I presume?)

Does it say something about this thread that nobody’s claimed either 100 or 200 – or are people simply growing out of that now longer threads seem to be so much more common on the new forum?

I was always fascinated by the slightly unusual aircraft. Just being the fastest was a bit dull.

So I liked the Harrier and the A10.

But if we’re talking the ultimate Cold War flying machine then it has to be…

Saturn V

A couple more cold war classics

Vought F-8 Crusader

Convair F-106 Delta Dart

No- dount count. Snot a ‘plane.

Hekelopters are, as they have spinning ‘planes’.

(D’you think they’ll buy that one?)

+1 for the A10

….but I really have a soft spot for:

…so much so I bought one of these books.

Hekelopters are, as they have spinning ‘planes’.

Technically true.

Didn’t someone post an X plane earlier on? That’s just a rocket as well.

Yes, it is. It’s ‘wings’ are too stubby for it to be considered a true ‘plane’, I’d say.

Mind, I spose it uses it’s winglets to help it steer, and for landings, so I’m not sure….

and for landings, so I’m not sure….

One nose wheel and some skis

I bought a kit of this, sometime back in the late 80s, I think:

Mig 37B ‘Ferret-E’.

A completely fictitious aircraft, dreamed up by the kit manufacturers.

Cool, though!

Just trawling back through this thread, in relation to Harriers:

Sharkey (the author) said that they used to beat F-15s in mock dog fights during exercises like Red Flag because they could turn inside any of the large and more powerful fighters, a great aircraft IMO.

Harriers are undoubtedly one of the best – if not the ultimate – dog fighters ever. Unfortunately with current missiles, aircraft don’t really dogfight any more.

Don’t think we’ve actually had a picture of one of these yet (sorry if I’ve missed it) – an archetypal cold war aircraft:

Came across this one whilst browsing – how awesome does that look?

Another RN Phantom Cat launch

Tornado F3, Typhoon, and IAF SU30MKI

Always Loved Russian designs, SU27

Saab Viggens

Mirage2000

Why do Tornados always have that dirty bit on the lower bit of the fin?

I believe it’s from the thrust reversers when they land

Why do Tornados always have that dirty bit on the lower bit of the fin?

Someone shat out of the window?

That pic of the Phantom above; anyone notice the ‘phantom’ deck crew?? Spooky… 😯

Awesome thread, will it ever end?

I always liked these (amongst many already posted), however crappy they may look

and these:

From some pages back:

Mattoutandabout. That’s not a Sea King, it’s a Sea commando

They’re called “Junglies”.

Also someone mentioned “Blue Circle”, that happened on the Tornado ADV’s they had problems developing the foxhunter radar. The first 18 aircraft flew with concrete ballast in place of the radar initially, so were called blue circle.

Great seeing the footage of the Sukhoi doing the Cobra. The creakiest one was IIRC an SU32 (?), which has vectoring jet exhausts, doing a complete 360 degree somersault in forward flight. Honestly couldn’t believe my eyes. The leaking SR71 is true, I’ve stood next to one on display at Fairford, and there was a huge puddle of fuel under the plane. Seeing a B2 Stealth for the first time was a pretty amazing sight; the damn thing has no right to stay in the air!

Without doubt, the “coolest” cold war plane (in fact coolest plane ever, even including Concorde IMO) is the Lockheed Martin Blackbird SR71.

Coolest always equals quickest or best looking in any young boys eyes, and the Blackbird was undoubtedly both. Quite simply a ridiculous plane, but that’s what makes it so special in my view. Yes, it’s not the fastest “manned vehicle” the world has seen (the X-15 was a rocket with wings though, and Saturn V is a rocket!), but even to this day it’s still the fastest plane. The fact it was borne out of sheer worry and paranoia by the Americans over what the Russians were doing, and whether WW3 was about to start, was probably the primary reason for it being such a remarkable plane. These days, much as the engineering on anything is highly admirable, EVERY modern war plane has been designed with the complacency of knowledge that they don’t really matter when the world could end at the touch of a button. Nothing promotes creativity better than sheer panic after all!

With the Blackbird, the designers knew that knowledge was power. And that knowledge came from reconnaissance. So whatever had to be done to get that knowledge was done. It didn’t matter that the thing had to allow for growth of 1ft in flight (that’s how much it extended), nor that it leaked fuel everywhere when stationary, nor that it had to take off half empty of fuel (and be refuelled mid air once it had warmed up and stretched!). None of this mattered. What mattered was sheer speed and distance. Mach 3.2 FFS! The plane was designed with more than half a nod to being a stealth plane, but the engines that were required for the speed needed, produced bigger exhaust plumes than just about any other aircraft out there! So they just made the thing fast enough to outrun ANY missile or strike fighter out there. And all it ever did was take photos!

Some good facts and stories about the SR71 here…

Over 4000 missile launches recorded against the SR71’s FFS, yet not one hit! The SR71 simply outran everything.

Also, just like any thoroughbred it was totally unreliable, and totally impractical at anything except its designed purpose, which in my eyes made it even more special. Because of the hybrid design of the engine (turbojet/ramjet, turbojet required to get the plane up to “normal” speeds, Ramjet required to hit mach 3+) the plane had to essentially be put into a dive from around Mach 0.9 in order to “start” the Ramjet.

Because of the speed the plane flew at, external temperatures reached ridiculous levels. Up to 1800 degrees centigrade in parts, which of course meant it had to be made out of a pretty special material. Which of course leads to the funniest fact about the plane… Of it’s 30 tonne unladen weight, 85% of the plane by mass was made of Titanium. And in this cold war period, where did the Yanks buy their Titanium from? Yup, that’s right, the Russians!!!

Anyway, enough banging on about it, it’s the sublime, the ridiculous and the beautiful all rolled into one. Even more so than Concorde, it was so far ahead of its time that it took decades to really appreciate its capabilities, and due to changing circumstances it is something that will never again be repeated, let alone bettered! I was barely a kid (9 years old) when it was taken out of commission the first time, but in school yard top trumps, it was the one plane that totally grabbed my attention. It was so good, and nothing else came close to its abilities, that it got recommissioned briefly (though too late to be of any use in battle) because of the Gulf War. I can only think that if we were on the eve of WW3 again tomorrow, all the SR71’s would quickly make their way out of museums and back into active service, cos no matter how good the stealth planes might be, there’s always the possibility of getting discovered, whereas with the SR71 it doesn’t matter cos it’s so damned quick!

FWIW, also really admire a couple of other “cold war era” planes. Primarily the F-15 Eagle, simply cos whilst it’s the jack of all trades, it is compromised at none.

Designed to be usable all round as a dogfighter (even though it’s on the large side for one, it’s still highly successful as one), a bomber or as a reconnaissance plane etc. So good at everything, there has NEVER been one lost in battle! And it was introduced in 1976, so it’s had plenty of time in service so far. In fact, despite the introduction of newer planes suitable for use (primarily the F-22 Raptor), the US Air Force still doesn’t plan to retire the F-15 until it reaches its 50th Birthday!

And then the A-10 Thunderbolt has to be admired, because despite being about the slowest and ugliest of planes, it is without doubt the most effective way of taking out enemy tanks ever. Little more than a flying gatling gun (which fires 3900 30mm depleted uranium shells per minute!), it makes mincemeat of anything in its way. That and it’s been designed with the ability to shrug off enemy fire, and still be able to fly even severely battle damaged, it’s worthy of note.

Oh, and for anyone that’s interested, even though you may not like the author, read Jeremy Clarkson’s “I Know You Got Soul”… SR71 Blackbird gets a chapter, as does Concorde, the B-52, the Space Shuttle and the Aircraft Carrier (to name a few Cold War creations). The book is very much more about the admiration of the specific machines than it is Clarkson himself, and it reads very much differently to his usual musings so is actually a good read even for those that normally don’t like him.

Another nice little aircraft, definitely with a Cold War twist – F5e Tiger 2

plus it’s road legal.

Ditto for the blackbird and A10 (another donna nook childhood watcher). I will also raise you the P38 Lightning

And for the Mirage fans, there’s a series of videos on youtube of retarded French pilots doing dumb (but impossibly cool) stuff.

After 10 years of working on these beauties the rough as rats functional C130 when I was in the RAF

I had the cold pleasuure of looking out of the back “hose hole” when in flight refueling Phantoms, MRCA 😆 tornados, nimrods and hercs unpressurised and freezing high above the atlantic

ah those were the days as opposed to being a mundane electrician that I am now

As helicopters are allowed:

Still going? WOW!

Mmm, Ka-50 Hokum?

Surely this wins. They even made a documentary series about it

As my fav has already been on (the SR71) I think of all modern planes this is advanced and pushing the boundries.
I watched a program on the development of this and watching it take of vertically then go over mach1 was impresive.

A dish on a plane? Always thought they looked odd: