What are some of the neatest military aircraft and why?

So many cool aircraft have entered this mortal realm we call home, where to begin?

As a lifelong military aviation enthusiast - here are my absolute favorites:

1. The AVRO Lancaster

As a Brit myself - no list like this could be complete without paying homage to the majestic miracle that was the Lancaster. Harnessing the power of four Spitfires, she roared into the heart of Hitler’s Germany, dispensing anything up to and including a twenty-two thousand pound bomb (Grand slam) - remarkable, given the age of the aircraft. This was the highest payload carrying bomber of the War - with the exception of the B-29, which came along towards the end of the conflict.

2. B-25 Mitchell (and USMC varients - PBJ-1H / 1J)

I love hard-hitting ground attack aircraft, and these were basically the granddaddies of hard-hitters! These things could carry anything up to 28,000 rounds of ammo for their immense amount of guns - you could find up to twelve forward-firing .50 cal machine guns in the nose of these things (PBJ-1J model) and in the one above - a PBJ-1H, that is a 75mm cannon from a Sherman tank squeezed in ! “flying-tank” I think so….

3. A-1 Skyraider

This mighty prop is the grizzled Father that came before the illustrious offspring - the A-10 Warthog. What I love about this bird, is that when Vietnam was getting underway - people kind of laughed off the A-1 as an anachronism from a bygone day, who wants a prop, when we have sexy fast jets? Well, turns out if you are a 19-year-old grunt getting your a** shot up in the jungle, the A-1 is exactly what you wanted above you. Packing a tremendous load of firepower from cannons to rockets, napalm to snake eye bombs, this thing got low enough and slow enough to give the VC a solid pounding when it counted.

4. The SR-71 Blackbird

Now this here is unquestionably one of the “neatest” aircraft you will ever see in this lifetime. What is truly remarkable is that this machine flew operationally during Vietnam - in the 60’s for crying out loud! How can something that flew 50 years ago still look like it just jumped out of the pages of some new sci-fi book. “The Sled”, as she was affectionately known to her crews could achieve sustained speeds of over Mach 3 up to altitudes of 85,000 ft, now that - is incredible.

5. The MIG-25 Foxbat

Why is this neat? - well, although it was conceived more than a year before the Russians discovered the A-12 (what became the SR-71) - the Foxbat’s mission in life became to kill the SR-71 Blackbird. I smile when I think of the discussions that probably went into this making bird “What about safety, comrade, reliability?” “Safety, reliability? I want you to cram as much vodka-spitting flame engine as you can in this thing, SPEED, POWER, NOTHING ELSE!”

6. The A-10 Thunderbolt

Because nothing on this Earth puts fear into the hearts of our enemies like the “BRRRRRRTTTTTTTT!!” sounds that accompany this flying gattling gun on steroids. No aircraft is more welcomed by the boys on the ground than this master of disaster, and for good reason!

7. The B-2 Spirit

Again, how can we overlook something so, otherworldly…

In addition, there are some very cool facts about this machine:

1. It costs over e $800,000,000 per aircraft
2. It can fly over six-thousand nautical miles unrefueled, which becomes over ten-thousand miles with a single air-to-air refueling stop, meaning the B-2 can hit any point on the globe in a single sortie
3. Somehow, it can tuck up to 40,000lbs of explosives in that svelte frame, with a new upgrade in the works, that will allow it to carry up to eighty, five-hundred pound JDAM’s!

8. The KA-50 Black Shark

Firstly, it looks like Airwolf, and secondly - it is the only helicopter on Earth with an ejection seat! How does our man get out without a very rude haircut you say? Well, explosive charges on the rotor assembly will fire during the ejection sequence, jettisoning the rotor blades and (possibly) allowing our intrepid pilot to fight another day…

9. The Harrier

She needs no introduction - immaculate in its conception, tremendous in its execution, the Harrier was the first operational jump-jet, paving the way for capabilities we’d never even imagined. The Harrier could hover, take off and land in your parent’s backyard, and fly backwards, how couldn’t that be cool! I specifically picked a picture of the Sea Harrier, because it scored twenty-two aerials victories over the Argentinians, with zero losses in aerial combat.

That’s just a few, I may add more to the list later - but there’s a few to stand back and appreciate for now!