Ten Sexiest Airplanes

[SR 71 Blackbird]

10 Sexiest Airplanes

…in the eye of the beholder

By Budd Davisson

1)
Supermarine Spitfire Mk 22

There’s no such thing as an unsexy Spitfire, but the final variations, the Mk 22 and Mk 24, carried the concept to such an extreme, that they bordered on the obscene. When Supermarine replaced the “puny” 1,650-cubic-inch, 1,500 to 1,700 hp Merlin V12 with a honkin’ 2,240-cubic-inch, 2,375 hp Griffon and then began reshaping the airframe to accommodate it, they pegged the sexuality meter. The final bubble-top machines with long snouts, some that culminated in counter-rotating propellers, like on the Seafire 47, were postwar hotrods that appeared to be pushing the sound barrier while still chained to the ramp.

2)
Staggerwing G17S

Once in a while, a machine appears that has so many bumps and snags in its airframe that it couldn’t possibly be judged sexy, but in some mysterious way, it combines aeronautical elements and tugs at heartstrings worldwide. In the case of the Beech Staggerwing, that definitely applies to the postwar “G” models. To many, the G model has some curves—such as the way the windshield flows into the cowling—that are right up there with anything Michaelangelo ever sculpted. Moreover, old Mike’s sculptures couldn’t do 200 mph—there’s more to sexuality than looks. Performance helps.

3)
Nemesis NXT

Can you say “speed incarnate”? The Jon Sharp*–designed Nemesis NXT looks like the girl in class with the “nice but nasty” look who we were all afraid to ask for a date for fear she’d say “yes.” This isn’t an airplane—it’s a piece of highly active (and vaguely scary) art. The NXT was bred for the racetrack but made available to those within the pilot population with the correct combination of testosterone, skill and money. With a blown TSIO-540 Lyc up front, you know it’s fast, but the Nemesis Website gives only tantalizing hints of the speeds (“breathtakingly fast&#8221. Official records at Reno, however, show it to be running around the pylons at well over 300 knots, and that’s with a totally stock engine. With 90 gallons of fuel and a 300-plus-knot cruise speed, you and (as Nemisis puts it) “an adventurous friend” could do some serious traveling. Just don’t plan on carrying much baggage.

4)
Lancair 320

Do you board a Lancair 320 or do you pull it on? Lancair has fitted the smallest, most efficient airframe possible around two people and made it among the best-looking jobs in aviation. Besides being fast (very fast) and easy to fly (given the performance), it’s so slick that the wind has a difficult time finding anything on the airframe to trip it. This is another of those “almost too pretty to fly” airplanes.

5)
Lear 24D/Falcon 10

Although the older Lear 24 and the initial Falcon 10 can’t perform with some of their current peer group, both are a fine combination of lines that time will never erode. For example, the lines on a Falcon 10 flow from the radome back to the perfectly swept tail as if they were sculpted by the wind itself. Although overshadowed by grossly expensive bizjets, the Falcon 10 and 20 are still considered to be among the finest-handling bizjets ever built, which is why so many corporations still swear by them.

10 Sexiest Airplanes | PlaneAndPilotMag.com

 

[SR 71 Blackbird]

6)
Vulcan Bomber

When old A.V. Roe (hence Avro) laid down the lines for his first biplane before WWI, it was unlikely that he expected his company would someday (in the 1950s) be building something as sinister and magnificent as the Vulcan. With its huge, butterfly-like delta wings and nuclear capabilities, it lived up to its namesake, Vulcan, the Roman god of fire.

7)
Cirrus/Columbia

“In the eye of the beholder” definitely applies here. We’re afraid to pick one over the other because our mail bin isn’t big enough to hold the nastygrams from champions of the plane that places second. Both airplanes represent quantum leaps in terms of airframe design and overall performance, although we could easily nitpick both of them, e.g., we don’t like the tail on one or the windows in the other. You decide which.

8)
North American F-86

There are no questionable lines to North American’s F-86 Sabre Jet. It’s the airplane all pilots would kill to fly and the hands-down favorite of those who have flown it. There’s something about the cleanliness, the swept surfaces and a general “feeling” about the airplane, that even before you strap it on, you know it’s going to fly great. According to those who did and do fly it, it’s a pilot’s airplane: quick to the hand, completely balanced in all areas and as honest as the day is long.


9)
F-22 Raptor

“Sexy” is probably the wrong word here, but it’s hard to find only one suitable adjective. Aggressively sexy? High-performance sexy? The F-22 is such a new combination of visuals that it hasn’t had enough time to settle into our subconscious and generate its own adjective. Where an airplane such as the F-86 is clean and easy on the eye, the Raptor jars our senses with its occasional abruptness of line, but that’s nothing compared to the way it flies. Watching it perform brings sensuality into the new millennium.

10)
Lockheed SR-71 “Blackbird”

Because of the Blackbird, you can retire the word “presence.” It’s doubtful that anyone will ever produce another form that evokes the same shiver down the spine that the Blackbird did. It’s not necessary that you understand its awe-inspiring performance (cruises faster than a .30-06 rifle bullet) for its Darth Vader shape to leave a mark on your memory.

http://www.planeandpilotmag.com/aircraft/best-buys/10-sexiest-airplanes.html?start=1

 

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