which aircraft thrilled you the most to see flying

[pbehn]

Seeing F-4 Phantoms flying low over the North York moors before the 200ft rule was brought in. One flew over VERY low while I was a village church fete. The noise was unbelieveable but none of the locals batted an eyelid it was a regular thing.

 

[soulezoo]

I get thrilled at the sight of any WW II bird. Most thrilling? Hard to say...

WW I Handley Page bomber at Travis AFB
Lefty Gardner's P-38 at Reno
SR-71 at Kadena (I caught it on landing)
Living near Mather AFB, I often saw the Blue Angels practicing for airshows as a kid and having them swoop low altitude over the highway.

Within the last two weeks a B-24 going to Beale AFB

In the mid 90's, the Memphis Belle (the one used for the movie) at Fayetteville

The F-86 was mentioned a couple times. I recoil some at that. I was witness to one that crashed into an ice cream parlor in the '70s. It barely missed our car as it bounced across the intersection of the highway. If we were only 5 minutes earlier, we'd have been a part of that carnage.

 

[Crimea_River]

Lancaster, Mosquito, 2 Spitfires, and 2 Hurricanes in formation. Unfortunately, some of the worst pictures I ever took.

 

[Trebor]

Lufthansa Boeing 747-400 on approach to KSEA when I was on my way to a Mariner's Game. I was amazed that it was in the air as massive as that gorgeous bird is. Lookednlike she was stationary in the air. Hehe

 

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Bf 109G in formation with an Me 262. My heart was literally skipping out of my chest.

 

[gumbyk]

The most impressive flyby I evar saw was in Arizona. I was in a Cessna 172 at about 1200 feet AGL bear Sedona and a pair of A-10s came out of nowhere and went under me by at least 600 feet. They were playing in the canyons and they impressed with the 145° banks over the top of a ridge to get back down to LOW level.

They were in sight for maybe 10 seconds and were almost inverted very low over some places we used to ride off-road motorcycles. I was considering going down into the canyons muself (I was solo) and refrained for years afterward becuase of the complete lack of warning of their passage. No NOTAMs or anything during flight planning and it was NOT a military airway at all.

I had a similar experience - was at 1000' and about to descend into a designated low flying area. Looked down to check that it was clear, and a C-130 went through at about 500'.

Kind of makes you think about things...

 

[gumbyk]

The Mk XIV spitfire, when it arrived at the Classic Fighters Airshow, mainly for the build-up.

First it looked like it wasn't going to be ready in time.
Then, about a month out, they got engine runs completed.
Then, a week out, it had a magneto failure.
Magneto arrived on Friday morning (The airshow had started)
Still, with the way things had gone, we weren't hopeful.
Friday afternoon, the owner's other aircraft (FW-190) ground-looped.
Shortly after, we heard that they had fitted the magneto, and needed to test fly it.
Test flight carried out later that afternoon.
It had started to get dark, and we had given up hope of seeing it.
Next thing, in a darkening sky we spotted a very fast-moving aircraft on the horizon, and I heard the first radio call.
Needless to say, scheduled programming was suspended while he did a low and very fast pass.
I saw a tear in one or two eyes among the organisers.

 

[nuuumannn]

Every time I saw it, it left me with goosebumps.

Other aircraft I felt the same the first time I saw them fly include the Lancaster, Harrier, Bf 109 - saw two in formation with a Lanc, Hurri and Spit at North Weald many years ago, B-1B, Mitsubishi Zero, Mosquito, both the late RR299 and KA114. Never seen a Vulcan, Buccaneer, MiG-25 or Lightning fly, but I'm sure they'd have the same impact on me.

 

[fastmongrel]

I once got a good look up the tail pipes of an EE Lightning that did a full afterburner take off and then a vertical climb right over my head till it disappeared in the blueness. Dont think my hearing ever recovered.

 

[buffnut453]

Can't believe we've only had one mention of the Mosquito...absolutely spine-tinglingly good sound and looks to match. Great to have 2 back in the air at last (Oh Canada...how 'bout bringing your bird down to Virginia Beach next May?).

I was at the Last Lightning Airshow at Binbrook in 1987. Serial take-off of 11 Lightnings, each one retracting the undercarriage to get airborne then climbing in a 270 degree turn to be over the runway centreline before tipping to the vertical with both burners blasting. By the time of the third take-off, we had 2 burners on the runway and 2 overhead climbing vertically...simply AMAZING!

And why 11 Lightnings? So they could do a Diamond 9 formation flypast and still have 2 spare for an opposition display. Great day out...shame the weather was cold and grey.

 

[pbehn]

I was going to see a Lightning at Middleton St George in 1983, sadly it crashed at Scarborough with the pilot lost before it could make it.

 

[Airframes]

Yes, that was Mike Thompson, who steered the aircraft away from the crowds on the beach, rather than crash into them. He was due to visit me the following week ......