Glad to see this old gem come back to life. Kinda need seeing old friends and some new ones I actually met 5 years ago. I don't think my list really changed.
F4U -- Gull winged grace, was the first airplane I could draw (head on view of course)
A-7 -- My dad designed them way back when.
F-16 -- I designed part for it
B-17 -- 12 O'Clock high, brought them back. Didn't realize until years later, my dad taught aerial gunnery on B-24s.
F-8 -- Grace, speed and a real gun fighter.

But I look at my collection and I have 9 F4Us and 7?? F4Fs, 8 Crusaders and 7 SBDs, 8 F-16s and 7 F-84s, 10 A-7 Corsairs and 5 Phantoms, and 2 B-17s and 3 RA-5s????

1. FE 2b I like the way it looks
2 P35 Again I like the way it looks; 1930's elegance
3. Fairey Swordfish An obsolete war winner
4 Grumman Wildcat another war winner when properly used (see Lundstrom)
5 Hansa Brandenburg floatplanes. Good looking planes

I am certain I already posted back when this first came out. But for fun, without looking at what I wrote then, I'll play again. It'll be interesting how close this list is to my original list.

In no order (except the P-40 which is my 1st place pick):

P-40 - "best second-best fighter of the war." Held the line while better fighters were defending CONUS and under development. XP-40Q showed what the P-40 could have been if developed, although as much as I love the P-40, I agree with 'why?'

Ki-44 Shoki - after a few scraps, Tex Hill reported to Chennault, "I don't think we can beat these Japs in the air." Less than 2,000 built, but with great performance for the time and PTO/CBI, with bulldog malevolent lines that looks cool.

Fw 190A - so many built, so many variants and models - the world's first true multi-role fighter? - and technologically brilliant.

A6M Zero - aesthetically beautiful. Had a short heyday but never ceased being dangerous even in obsolescent.

Hansa Brandenberg seaplanes - like steviecee wrote, Good looking planes.

Now I'm jumping in the Wayback Machine and comparing to my original post.

Thanks for reviving this thread guys, I'm thinking I might link it in the new site and restart it there as well now!

Since I started the thread I know my position has changed a few times, but I might keep my current top list for the new thread!

Cheers, D

I am a sucker für delta wing jets, so here you go:

- Mirage 2000: great shape, great little fighter and fighter bomber jet. Especially I live the two seater B/N version.
- Mirage III : these flew in the sky here in Switzerland when I was a kid, loud and fast, and right up until 10 years ago as Recce jets. Wonderful shape.
- Saab Viggen: again delta wings, this time with winglets. powerful Swedish jet. Not a lot of international success though.
- SU-25: The Frogfoot. Had always a knack for ground attack jets and I really like this smaller one.
- MIG-25 and SU-24: Big, fast, deadly. Both have great shapes, the MIG-25 is a rocket under your A***!

Plus, yes, I like the Avro Vulcan, one heck of a delta wing bomber!!! And as you see, I am more for older 60s and 70s jets. I do not like the modern ones like F-22 and F-35 or the newer russian jets.

Now let's do the same with copters!

PROPS
1. Fw 190A and D. Because I obsess over shapes and proportions and when I was 10 it lodged deep in my faulty brain. And lo these many decades later, I haven't pried it loose yet.

2. Macchi C.202. Your pick, combat aircraft or art object, of absurd hand-made build quality. With a better 1/72 scale kit, could slide up to no. 1.

3. Late-model "refined cowl" Bf 109G/K. With the fat prop and huge spinner and oddly splayed landing gear and drooped flaps and weird canopy and endless selection of wacky late-war color schemes, no airplane looks more interesting when parked on the ground.

4. Hawker Hurricane. My first love as a kid. I blame the old Monogram 1/48 kit and a book in my grade-school library that I checked out about 93 times.

5. Grumman Wildcat/Martlet. Because someone needs to love them.

Honorable mention: Hawker Typhoon, and literally every single-engine and small twin-engine aircraft flown by the Japanese in WW2.

JETS
1. De Havilland Vampire
2. He 162
3. MiG 21
4. A-4 Skyhawk
5. Fouga Magister

Gotta confess, I don't spend a lot of time thinking about jets!