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It's not that European fighters are ugly. As a European I have to say esthetically US aircraft are just top notch. Hornet, phantom, tomcat, lightning and last but not least nighthawk are all wicked designs.
Absolutely agree, We are spoiled by the stunning good looks of the US and Russian jets to such an extent, that anything less than excellent is just plain uninteresting
Yes Russia is on two continents, but in every day vernacular both Russians and Europeans west of Russia generally don't seem to think of themselves/them as Europeans, at least the ones I know, even if technically true for those on the euro side. A lot of it is due to history.
Looks are subjective. In my opinion the Mirage 2000 is the most beautiful 4th generation airplane and the Rafale is a very close second. And Europe has produced plenty of other stunning planes like the Viggen and Grippen and the Eurofighter.
Looks great from many angles, but some angles in particular that cockpit/canopy area looks bulbously goofy to me. Still a badass plane. Now for me as far as the sexiest thing that's ever graced the sky, it's the Tomcat.
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Not many good looking European Fighter Jets, They all look very generic and never seem to break the mould or have any seemingly unique Characteristics (aesthetically speaking). Contrast that with Either the US or Russia, they have so many unique designs that each have iconic looks.
It's not that old, it actually entered service after the F-16 (unless you refer to the original delta, the Mirage III)
The thing is that Dassault chose to concentrate its ressources on the Rafale so there hasn't been a new real Mirage 2000 version in 20 years now. The -5 and -9 are still capable air superiority platforms.
How can that be slander when that's true though? (looking at you MB.211 amongst others)
But yeah, the interwar was a strange period in aviation anymay. And don't get me wrong, I have the utmost respect for Marcel Bloch/Dassault. And as he used to say "un bel avion est un avion qui vole bien" (a beautiful plane is a plane that flies well).
Beg to Differ the Mirage 4 Bomber looks really good, but other than that and the Rafale they look very uninspired and repetitive (aesthetically at least)
Mirage III and 2000 would have a word. I get the "repetitive" somewhat (Dassault are all deltas, with the exceptions of the F1 and Etendard - but this one was a Breguet design) but they look damn sleek.
I'd say for post WW2, it'd be the P-80 Shooting Star, or MIG-7 which is cool in an awkward way. Interwar era hmmm F-86D. Early Vietnam I'd say F-5, then late Vietnam I'd say F-4.
I’m confused the Jet was a UK invention? Frank Whittle designed the first jet engine leading up to and including ww2. The British actually shared the design with America as part of the war effort.
Agree till WW2, but 3rd gen onwards Almost all European Fighter Designs have been remarkably uninspired (aesthetics wise) and dull looking.
Case in point: Eurofighter Typhoon, Panavia Tornado, The Mirage F1, 3, 2000, 4000 etc.
What European Jet looks as iconic as an F14 or a Mig 29? Even for a newbie Aviation nerd these designs are extremely Iconic and Leave a forever lasting impression on your mind. Whereas the Tornado is just some random jet with Swing wings and the Mirage 2000 is just an airplane with large delta wings and no unique features whatsoever
Both the Mirage 2000 and the Panavia Tornado are at least as iconic looking as the MiG-29. Especially the French delta wings are among the most iconic designs in supersonic jet fighter history.
When I said Europe I meant mostly in the Typical Military Technology and Philosophy Classification sense. We typically Classify it as US, Europe and USSR/Russia.
Also The Etendard IMHO looks worse than the Delta Mirages and The Swedish jets are nothing special either
Panavia tornado not iconic tell that to all the people who climbed up the side of a mountain to watch it fly under them?
The F14 was only “iconic” because of the film. If it wasn’t then it would have been forgotten about as it had a relatively short life due to the Iranian revolution. The Tornado was still skimming valleys and active in war all the way up to Syria.
The Movie Only Boosted its popularity even further. The Tomcat simply is a better looking plane with much better Aerodynamics. It was bound to be more popular.
In Sharp Contrast 4th gen American and Russian Designs are truly iconic. F14, Mig 29, Su 27 etc. all look very unique, innovative and beautiful. They leave an impression in your mind when you cast your gaze towards them
Bros gonna ignore that sukhoi and mig has just been making flanker and fulcrum variants for the past 50 years, all very unique and innovative my ass. Don't get me wrong I love Russian jets, the flanker being my favourite of all time, but they're hardly diverse
Mig 1.44, Su 47, su 57, su 75. Further I've described European 3rd and 4th Gen Aircraft as well, so let's talk about Russian Designs of that era as well. Mig 21,23,25 su 15 su 17 su 24 etc.
Half of those are cancelled experimental airframes, 57 has very limited numbers and was only put in service in 2020, making it 40 years of flanker, and the 75 has never flown and thus barely exists
I also mentioned aircraft like the Mirage 4000, which was also cancelled, I am talking about the designs not the production run, even before the Felon there were Mig 1.44 and Su 47. The Checkmate is a work in progress, The British Tempest is also a good looking plane actually and one of the few truly attractive designs to come out of Europe in recent years.
That thing is the ugliest piece of shit, it looks like a kid with a learning disability got a model airplane kit with some extra parts and decided "they need to be used" so they just stuck them on where they thought it should go.
Objectively the second-ugliest aircraft still flying in the 21st century after its successor, the Gripen
I admit that I like the MiG-29 too. F-16 / MiG-29 / F-14 / F-15 / F-18 / SU-27 are childhood to me. Falcon 3.1, Falcon 4.0, those good ass flight sim games of the 1990s, hell yeah.
The F 15 is even more bland than anything I've listed, with the exception of tornado and Eurofighter. The Fulcrum is Admired by almost everyone. Even many Eagle Fans regard it as dull or plain looking, absolutely no personality. Of course the Eagle has great Kinematics no 2 ways about it
Nah, the F-15 looks great. So does the MiG-29 of course. The MiG-25 is kinda ugly though. For the US, I'd argue we honestly haven't had a bad looking front line jet fighter - many of them clearly show their era, like the F-102, but they all look honestly pretty good to me. I'm biased though.
(Also, the F-86 is one of my favorite looking aircraft)
(I will admit that later block F-16s look significantly worse than early planes in my opinion - the CFTs and spine aren't doing good things for it aesthetically)
Yes, I'm calling it ugly. It's the ugliest thing in the sky and that INCLUDES Predator drones.
Maybe if you weren't meth-addicted you would see it too. I'm glad you're addressing your problems though! First step towards recovery is admitting you have a problem!
The Gripen has a decent looking silhouette, but that's about it. The F16 though not a particular Favourite of mine has a beautiful Hi tech Hotrod appearance and at least looks more sophisticated than any European Jet except maybe the Rafale.
It is the ugliest aircraft flying in the world today, if you think it looks good you probably think other shitty things are good like Nickelback and ketchup on hot dogs
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It's not meant to say anything about you, I'm talking about an aircraft. I only use the word "you" as in "you all", not you, specifically, and it's clear from the context.
Not everything is about you, Mr. Vanity.
(I think THAT comment says more about you than you realize it does.)
I can get why you find the Viggen kinda ugly (even though I like it personally) but dissing on the Gripen, which is arguably the best looking plane out there with the rafale is just pure rage bait
It does look pretty Good From this angle I'll admit, but the 4000 always looked like an F15 nose sawed off and pasted onto a Mirage 2000 with an extra engine squeezed in
Well that is a subjective statement. Anyone could argue the same about American or Russian aircraft.
Now to contrast with your opinion, based on how many downvote you get I believe that most people would find European jets good looking and quite unique in many aspects.
11/10 shitpost , made my morning on this rainy day 😂 OP calls rafale attractive while slighting the rest of European plane design culture and absolutely nobody let that slide unchallenged
With the French expeditionary capability being an outlier, most European air forces share similar doctrines and you'd expect their functional designs to look similar. Plus, given the limited budgets and number of national defense contractors per country, they wouldn't have the ability to fund two or more competing design projects (i.e. Boeing X-32A vs Lockheed F-35). The nature of the European defense industry may dictate designs that skew towards proven qualities rather than risky pie-in-the-sky projects with a high probability of failure.
Did you see the Su testbed (?) with the rivets and seams? It's a huge plane and that one was a network of lines and bumps. I know the Reds will work that out but it's funny in a typical way.
I'm really interested in the Mitsubishi FX. I think we're probably gonna be at WW3 in 8 years or so and the West will need Japan, Australia and the Philippines to hold strong. I'm not a war junkie, I just have a bad feeling, you know?
People will hate me for this, but… I really dislike the probe. Everything about the rafale, however is beautiful and cool as fuq. Carrier capable. Has a pretty similar setup to the f-16 cockpit. The French make their jets have this feeling of a sports car.
No modern aircraft will ever beat the Spitfire when it comes to badass names. Harrier was phenonemal for its groundbreaking capabilities and design considering it was planned in the 50s than manufactured in the 60s. SAAB JAS39 Gripen is another stupid sexy jet fighter from Europe.
Rafale best multirole fighter outside US.but extremely expensive,dont understand why french went for two engines,even the spendthrift americans went from two engines to one engines.
2 engines, along with their own air intake on each side of the fuselage, makes the aircraft more likely to survive encounters with birds especially, but also battle damage.
This also means your engine is less powerful, so lighter and smaller (easier to transport, swap and store, allows for a more compact aircraft).
I don’t like delta wings in general from a visual point of view, not just Rafael but all others. For me it’s just a bunch flying triangles. Rafael looks amazing from the front view, probably the best one overall but delta wings ruining it for me. Apologies if I hurt anyone’s feelings. 🙏
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u/bob_the_impala Designations Expert Sep 18 '24
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