Greatest Fighter Jet Of All Time?
 

Would have to say the F-15 first, second the F-86 and third the MIG 15.

They all ruled in their day until a better airplane came along. The Eagle is still one of the best and is 30 years old now, so it would be difficult to knock off the pedistal.

My fav. was always the A-10. I don't know why everyone says they're fugly. What's prettier than a plane built around a gatling gun?

Is the A-10 a fighter or ground support cannon? I'd guess a F-18, 16, or 15 would make short work of a 10 - in a air superiority role. Now if they were parked or on the runway...

Always been a huge F-4 phantom fan.

Would you consider the opinion of a guy who flew a few over the years? I just sent a link to my pilot buddy...his active milary last ride was the F-111, but he's also been in f-14's, f-15's...not sure, maybe F-4 as well, early in his USAF stint. He probably won't post here, but he'll probably email me. My guess? His reply will begin with: "That depends..." :)

I am surprised that the f-14, f-16 and f-18 aren't really mentioned. The F-4 is a very well respected aircraft as well. I'm an airforce brat, lived on various airforce bases for my first 21 years and it was fantastic. Dad would take me to see all sorts of aircraft (he was maintenance crew and then flight crew).

Got into C-130s, KC135s, KC10s and around every fighter imaginable damn near. Air shows are the freakin best ever, now he works for lockheed and sends me pictures of F35s, F22s and f16s all the time.

Military aircraft rock.

Forget it. Go back to where it all started. No other jet fighter would exist without it - all thanks to those who brought YOU the 911 to boot!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1163331326.jpg

had dum a$$ hitler not screwed up the me 262 program by wanting it to be a bomber, we would have played hell had the production numbers been higher. picture yourself sitting in a gun turret of a b-17-24-25-26 and a me 262 goes whipping by! how far do you lead him????? in about a pico-second he was gone from your sights. these would have been deadly had there numbers been higher. most crashes on these were not to bomber gun fire, nor our fighters. they were landings on crappy airstrips.

the allies had to also deal with the me 263 KOMET. this little rocket had the distinction of killing quite a few test pilots and pilots after it went into production. heavily gunned it had short flight time but was devastating when it went thru bomber group spitting cannon fire, and then would glide to safety(?). saw a couple of the me 262 and 263 when in europe in 1972. for how old they are, they were cutting edge technology and do not look the least bit crude in comparison to present day jets.

the allies drill after getting their ass handed to them a few times in dog fights, would be to observe any take offs/landings or possible airfields, and wait til jets came back low or empty of fuel and then nail them on final or blow the hell out of runway.

Not the greatest but I always liked the F-22.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1163337891.jpg

A good friend of mine is a Navy F18 driver who went to Air Force Test pilot school at Edwards.

His view on the F-15 is that it was the most incredible jet he ever flew, hands down.

The Widow Maker

heh, wasn't that the B-26?

I heard a WW2 story not long ago of a US bomber formation with a Russian fighter escort. A ME262 aces' tactics was to get some height dive through the bomber formations, hit them with rockets then evade.

On this particular occasion they went through catching both the American pilots and Russians by suprise. The air between them must have already been tense as they thought the attacks were from each other. The German was suprised to see them all dogfighting/ shooting each other up thinking the other was triggerhappy!

To find the greatest I would guess that you would have to look at the most successful, most long-serving, most adaptable, etc. and weigh up the pro's and con's.

I would guess that the F-4 or F-86 would be well up there in aircraft 'kills' which is what a fighter is all about.

What fighter jet had the longest operational service?

In terms of just awesome - the F-22 (or 23) would have to be considered the current peak of development.

If it comes down to favorite, I have always liked the Harrier ever since I first saw one at an airshow. To see a jet fly past then stop and REVERSE! That's just frickin cool!

I believe the ME262 was the original widow maker.

I am not knowledgeable enough to tell if this is the best fighter jet overall, but the SU-35 has some impressive manoeuvring capablities. Can all modern fighter jets do this kind of stunts like the cobra?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNYtpU-aBOQ&mode=related&search=

The SU30 can also do the same. What are the differences between the two?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WiHqAZpNWc0&mode=related&search=

Aurel

Surprised nobody is mentioning the F86. . . Doesn't that one have the most air-to-air kills of any fighter jet? I'd have to check my stats, but as ugly as it is and as primative as it is by today's standards, it was a damn fine airplane and did its job very well.

F4 Phantom for me...

My replay was also going to be, "It depends..."

It depends upon how you want to define what makes it a great fighter jet. (and an A-10 is not a fighter)

Do you want to stick purely to F designated planes?
Do you want to pick planes that revolutionized our thinking about what a fighter is and does?
Do you want planes that are the fastest, or most nimble, or that had the highest kills... etc ?
It's hard to press so many diverse offerings into a mold and pronounce any one of them "greatest".

I like the F-4, but it lacks guns.
I like the F-22 for it's speed, but it's relatively unproven in any combat role.
I like the F-18 for it's agility, but then I also like the AV-8 for the same reason... I just don't like the overtemp problems associated with vector trust hover.

etc etc