Discuss SimV's Greatest Aircraft Of All Time

[C]

I think it's a bit different than that! The Spit is recognised for all the right reasons, rather than the wrong.

Also a perfect example of how to develop an aircraft - a masterclass by Joseph Smith and his team at VS. Not many aircraft can be so different in their final incarnation than in their first, yet still be instantly recognisable as the same type...

[Lazerbeak]

Hmmm, I love the Spit as much as the next guy, but personally, I don't think I'd call it the greatest aircraft of all time. Sure, it was a revolutionary fighter in its day, and it did play a huge role in winning the war in Europe, but there was little else (IMO) that makes it stand out as the greatest of all.

The more I read what Jake had to say, the more convinced I was that the DC-3 should've gotten the prize. It's a tough old bird that's still working just as hard and just as efficiently as ever, and shows no signs of giving up the ghost. Sure, a few Spits are still flying, but they're just restoration jobs in airshows, it's no longer a front-line fighter, which is what it was designed for.

Maybe I'm blowing hot air, but it seemed to me like people were voting for the Spit just because it's the Spit. Either way, this is just one guy's opinion.

[Tweek]

but it seemed to me like people were voting for the Spit just because it's the Spit.

And that's the sign of a great aircraft!

[Jakemaster]

And that's the sign of a great aircraft!

Not really.  Its like everyone loves shakespear just cause its shakespear.  Someone will read his plays, and no matter what they will herald it as a great play because its shakespear.  They dont really look into it.  Just because its a spit is not a reason for it to be the greatest aircraft of all time.  I want to see EVERYONE who voted for the spit tell me why its so great, and no, just cause it looks good is not a reason for it to be the greatest aircraft of all time.  

[C]

[quote]I want to see EVERYONE who voted for the spit tell me why its so great, and no, just cause it looks good is not a reason for it to be the greatest aircraft of all time.

[cspyro21]

Not really.  Its like everyone loves shakespear just cause its shakespear.  Someone will read his plays, and no matter what they will herald it as a great play because its shakespear.  They dont really look into it.  Just because its a spit is not a reason for it to be the greatest aircraft of all time.  I want to see EVERYONE who voted for the spit tell me why its so great, and no, just cause it looks good is not a reason for it to be the greatest aircraft of all time.

Well, I actually voted for the DC-3 myself, lovely and relaible 'craft.

However, had the Spit been in another poll, I could have voted for both

But I can give you my reasons why I belive the Spit is so great.

Coming from Britain myself, we are obviously (almost) all Spit lovers, but indeed this isn't what you're after.
The Spit, in the BoB and throughout the war, helped a great deal to save the British. The Hurricane played it's role in the BoB, but the Spitfire developed greatly throughout the war. Different engines, versions, tweaks, the Spitfire developed hugely all for the role of dogfighting, keeping the threat of (what could have been) our survivial, my grandparents' survival, many people's parents/grandparents survival.
It also filled the aspect of beauty - you want to know other reasons for voting for it, but a beautiful aircraft is always a popular aircraft. Like the DC-3, it looked glamorous and welcoming to airliners and passengers alike. The Spit was a sleek fighter, loved by people during and after the war, and has gone down in aviation history because of reliability as a fighter, looks, everything relevant to a WWII fighter.

I do say that choosing the "Greatest aircraft of all time" is indeed a very difficult, almost bordering on impossible task, as aircraft are used for so many different things, then and now, and they each succeed in different roles.....hard to choose isn't it?  ;)

[Tweek]

Not really.  Its like everyone loves shakespear just cause its shakespear.  Someone will read his plays, and no matter what they will herald it as a great play because its shakespear.

Not every one of Shakespeare's works has been considered to be great. But, because of all of the great plays he has written, he is considered to be on of England's finest writers.

I want to see EVERYONE who voted for the spit tell me why its so great, and no, just cause it looks good is not a reason for it to be the greatest aircraft of all time.

That is certainly a reason for it to be the greatest aircraft. Not the reason, but another contributing factor. It's a design marvel, yet still managed to do it's job brilliantly. We wouldn't have the Seven Wonders of the World if design/craftsmanship never came into it.

[Jakemaster]

What im saying is I have a feeling many people voted for it for its looks.  Thats not what this poll is about.

[wealthysoup]

Youre giving the wright flyer WAY too much credit.  MANY people were developing planes at the same time as the wrights.  In fact, if Langly hadnt crashed a few weeks before the rights flew, he woulda been the first.

Look at it this way, some of the wright brothers ideas were used in the next planes then the ideas from the next planes were used in the next planes, continually developing untill today (and into the future)Now if the wright flyers didnt have that specific design then some of the ideas MIGHT not have been thought of untill way later so some planes may not even exist.
But if Langly was the first person to fly then I'd be here having the same arguement with you except you'd be saying the wright brothers were so close to flying. To crash however langly had to make a mistake or do something wrong to stop him from beating the wright brothers which still means that the wright brothers were the 1st to fly (obviously) but that they must've had some ideas that langly didn't.

Say for examplethe wrights discovered that the lift tables at the time were wrong then they would've compensated for that asnd after they flew everyone would know about it so they could fly easier and then say for example the next plane decided to use more powerfull engines the planes after that would no only use those engines but probably the best they could get.

so if the wright flyers weren't the first to fly then planes like the dc3, spitfire, concorde, 747 ect, MIGHT not have even existed

p.s. dont take any of this post as offensive in any waybecause im not trying to be but I'm trying to get my point across and don't have anything against the dc-3 (i do actually like it
)

[Hai Perso Coyone?]

Not really.  Its like everyone loves shakespear just cause its shakespear.  Someone will read his plays, and no matter what they will herald it as a great play because its shakespear.  They dont really look into it.

Shakespeare is boring as hell...'Nuff said

[wealthysoup]

Shakespeare is boring as hell...'Nuff said

Agreed

[Jakemaster]

Hehe, I HATE Shakespear, but im saying that many people would be afraid to say anything against it.

[madness]

speed: x-15
comercial: concorde
supersonic fighter:f-14 tomcat
fighter: spitfire

[Clipper]

Here's a few words concerning

[edzmen]

President Eisenhauer said the DC-3 was one of the West's four weapons, the other ones being the jeep, the bazooka, and the nuclear bomb.

With all due respect I think President Eisenhauer was a bit ill-advised  on that statement...