heywood on 15/11/2019 at 20:52
Do prototypes count?
If so, my vote goes to the XB-70. It was a Mach 3+, 80kft, high capacity nuclear bomber conceived in the late 1950s and developed in the early 1960s. The design was for SR-71 performance with a big bomb bay that carries nuclear weapons. Two prototypes were built, flight testing went on for about 5 years, but it never entered production because the Soviet Union was developing the S-200 missile (NATO designation SA-5) that the US expected to be capable of shooting it down. One of the prototypes was involved in a mid-air collision with a chase aircraft. The other was given to NASA for a while, and is now in the USAF museum, which is where I saw it. It's big and intimidating in person, and makes the SR-71 look dinky:
Inline Image:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ca/North_American_XB-70_Valkyrie_at_Wright-Patterson_USAF_Museum_-_June_2016.jpg/1920px-North_American_XB-70_Valkyrie_at_Wright-Patterson_USAF_Museum_-_June_2016.jpgInline Image:
https://media.defense.gov/2015/Oct/27/2001309259/1088/820/0/151027-F-DW547-002.JPGIt looks most intimidating to me with the wings drooped:
Inline Image:
https://live.staticflickr.com/980/40275674200_26013371dd_b.jpgInline Image:
https://www.pxwall.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/06/Wallpaper%20North%20American%20XB-70%20Valkyrie,%20fighter%20aircraft,%20U.S.%20Air%20Force,%20Military%20850388880.jpg
Pyrian on 15/11/2019 at 22:11
A lot of what people are saying looks "evil" comes across to me as looking goofy. :D
caffeinatedzombeh on 15/11/2019 at 22:23
The Vulcan to me has always just looked rather more beautiful and graceful than anything that large should. The noise however...
Neb on 16/11/2019 at 00:06
Saab Viggen - because if delta wings didn't look evil enough, then double delta will do the job.
[video=youtube;nv4pQc6Vo8U]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nv4pQc6Vo8U[/video]
For helicopters, I'd go with the K-MAX. It looks like a sunfish swinging around a Darth Maul lightsaber.
[video=youtube;5qqUdfSRFXw]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5qqUdfSRFXw[/video]
demagogue on 16/11/2019 at 13:32
Well this is turning into more of a semantics debate than an aircraft debate because there are shades of meaning here along all kinds of spectrums: evil, mean, menacing, scary, terrifying, means business, alien, ungainly, powerful, ominous, gives one the heebee jeebees...
It's interesing, in Japan the B-29 (the bomber that dropped the nuclear bombs, but also countless bombing raids all over the country) still plays very large in the national psyche and collective trauma. It's not a sense I can really share. (I might have to explore my feeling about B-52s though. There's something there emotionally, just not sure what.) But anyway, it made me think how context-dependant this kind of question is to a person's upbringing and culture. It might not be all that objective.
Starker on 16/11/2019 at 16:54
What kind of aircraft debate were you expecting in a thread talking about most evil-looking airplanes?
Of course it's not objective. Whether you see planes through the prism of cool toys or as tools of destruction, it's all going to be subjective.
Marecki on 18/11/2019 at 12:42
Quote Posted by heywood
Do prototypes count?
If so, my vote goes to the XB-70.
Holy crap, a real-life Klingon warbird! Yes, this one
definitely counts.
Quote Posted by Nicker
Sorry to continue the NAZI theme here but surely the He219 Night Fighter, with it's stylized Swastika whiskers, must receive dishonorable mention.
YES. It is now also the latest addition to my "models to waste money on" list.
demagogue on 18/11/2019 at 13:02
Quote Posted by Starker
What kind of aircraft debate were you expecting in a thread talking about most evil-looking airplanes?
Of course it's not objective. Whether you see planes through the prism of cool toys or as tools of destruction, it's all going to be subjective.
Hmm, I actually didn't mean to be disputing anything here. I think I took myself as just putting into words what's going on for my own sake of understanding.
That said, even admitting there's a subjective element, I think my main point was that we should still be clearish about what we're being subjective about, like am I standing on a beach and this aircraft is turning towards me in a hostile way, or am I thinking about what this aircraft represents and omg are those seriously swastikas for whiskers or toothy jaws or it's got so many rockets strapped to itself it's just showing off now...?
But anyway, most people posting have actually been pretty good at specifying what they mean in just that kind of way. So I'm not complaining about that either. Just, you know, just saying it's good to do that. :angel:
My personal favorite warbird of all time is the P-38 Lightning, the one with the two booms for the engines and the pilot in a central nacell between them. It looks and handles great, but it was also one of the most leathal warplanes in its time. The US's greatest ace was a P-38 pilot. So it sort of has a claim here, but I love that plane so much I don't want to call it evil. It's still pretty bad ass though.