#4547439 - 12/07/20 02:28 AM
What was the best warplane that never saw combat?
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Joined: Jan 2001
Posts: 3,633
James McKenzie-Smith
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Posts: 3,633
Vancouver, BC, Canada
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As the title of the thread says, What was the best warplane that never saw combat? Some good points were made in the thread about the Hurricane, mentioning lots of great aircraft that were nonetheless overshadowed by the likes of the Spit, Mustang, Jug, etc.. However, what aircraft, of any era, was the best to never see combat?
For the sake of this thread, the combat role can be any combat role, so recce/recon would be allowed, so long as there was an active enemy who might shoot at the aircraft in question; also, the aircraft would not need to see combat in its intended role to be disqualified, so of course while the B-52 did not see nuclear combat, it was known to drop the odd conventional bomb about the place here and there. We can also discount international shooting events that were accidents, or involving civvy aircraft, so the SU-15 shoot down of KAL 007, and similar incidents, are definitely not combat. Also, if an aircraft is still in service, I think that we can also generally exclude it, although if say a single ex-Soviet Fiddler is sitting in mothballs in the Seychelles, we can consider it pretty much retired. I think that the aircraft should have entered into production and fielded with at least one operational unit. Finally, unless active shooting was engaged in, cold war or phony war situations, even during periods of severe tension, should not count.
So, any interesting aircraft that could have been great warplanes but for the lack of opportunity? B-58 Hustler? Any Cold War interceptors? I'm not sure what I'd nominate, but some of you lot know a lot more about aviation than I do, so I would be interested to know your thoughts.
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#4547488 - 12/07/20 01:32 PM
Re: What was the best warplane that never saw combat?
[Re: James McKenzie-Smith]
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Joined: Apr 2008
Posts: 12,116
Chucky
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UK
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Check the thread title again guys Being a Brit I'm going to say TSR 2.
Last edited by Chucky; 12/07/20 01:33 PM.
EV's are the Devils matchbox.
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#4547519 - 12/07/20 03:04 PM
Re: What was the best warplane that never saw combat?
[Re: Nixer]
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Joined: Dec 2007
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FlyingToaster
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Scotland
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I think a couple of missiles were fired at it, does that count? Thinking of something that hasn't actually seen combat is tricky. Maybe the UK Lightning or the Viggen.
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#4547522 - 12/07/20 03:18 PM
Re: What was the best warplane that never saw combat?
[Re: Chucky]
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Joined: Jun 2011
Posts: 258
bolox
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Check the thread title again guys Being a Brit I'm going to say TSR 2. yep that would be my pick too
"There are two things that are infinite: The Universe and Human Stupidity. And I'm not even sure about the Universe." - Einstein
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#4547576 - 12/07/20 07:03 PM
Re: What was the best warplane that never saw combat?
[Re: James McKenzie-Smith]
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Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 4,585
coasty
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Asheville, NC, USA
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P38 Lightning, 'cause my Mom worked in a factory building them during WWII. I goofed, read as "ever"
Last edited by coasty; 12/08/20 12:11 AM.
Have you seen the Arrow? WWW
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Exodus
by RedOneAlpha. 04/18/24 05:46 PM
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