What is your favorite flying machine?

older B-17 Flying Fortress, P-51 Mustang, newer The Buff B-52, F-16. I spent 10 years on the B-1 it's a great plane, but all things considered the B-52 has got to be my favorite, I worked Ds,Gs,Hs. Wow what can you say about a plane that started flying in the 1950s and is still flying today, 70 years later!!

Depends on the category I'm looking for to qualify it for "favorite."

For this thread I'll go with the B-17 Flying Fortress, because it's probably the most intimidating and aggressive looking bomber ever built, and a lot of that comes down to the angular cockpit/canopy design. You don't see hard angles on canopies these days and it doesn't give your plane the same edge to its profile.

I'll put a picture up when I get to my regular computer since it has a few.

I personally like Harriers. Very deadly pieces of machinery!

Mine was just a Warthog or an Apache. I love both. But when I saw the plane I grew up next to in action I fell in love! I'm sure it's a C-130 in some fashion. But the spooky gunship from Hurlburt Air Force base stole my heart. It carries cannons 105mm and shoots them straight down on target the same cannons we fire by lobbing rounds a great distance. The but that round going from so high and able to circle our base and protect us it amazed me. We had a car shooting RPGs into NAJAF base and someone lobbing mortars in and spooky found them both before we could and we are QRF team. It was an awesome machine and cool to watch through NVG at night you can barely hear it but you see it's white shape in the dark sky. I loved it. I also love a good old leaking Blackhawk. Little birds protect convoys around Babylon and Baghdad it's just cool to see the birds at work. All of them. The pilots all have a swagger it's funny to see everyone treat them like they are pro football stars when they come in chow halls on the little base I was on in Al Kut.

The sky pig... KC-130... Spent many hours working on her... Can fly with 2/3 her wing gone, take off with 2 engines, fly with one, and land with none... She is the maintenance man's airplane.... I sleep like a baby on her...

I know I am going to get crap for this, but the EA-6B



Tinted windows and just sexy to see fly.

Without a doubt its definitly going to be the AH-64 Apache!!

Im not sure I can pick a favorite over all.. How about by category.
Fixed Wing non attack: C-130 - for getting me into, but more importantly out of some dicey places and runways, leaking, smoking, with holes at times and once with an engine off after it caught fire. ..And still it flew.
Fixed wing Attack: A-10, nothing more need be said....Thank you.
Rotary wing non attack- Tie... UH-60G and HH-60 and the crews that fly them.....when ever, where every we called.......sometimes, even when common sense said go the other way.
Rotary wing Attack: While not a true attack AC OH-58D Kiowa Warrior, gets my vote.. I've told the story here before...and there are more times.

I think the neatest plane we made was the consolidated/Convair B-36 "Peacemaker" 10 engine beast with 6 turning and 4 burning. It was our first long range strategic bomber for a short period, before being phased out, to the the all jet powered BUFF.

I like which ever one that gets me home