Your typical nerd, specializing in military aviation. Now stay back, I'm experimenting here:
- If Kim Basinger was a plane, this is what she'd be.- Tom Clancy, describing the F-22 Raptor
The aerial equivalent of the Cool Car, Cool Boat, and the flying, usually metallic incarnation of the Rule of Cool. Allowing you to rule the skies with pizzazz, the Cool Plane will not break down, rust, or ever go out of style (unless the plot demands it). This is a plane that doesn't serve peanuts to its customers, it serves a Vesper martini, a buffalo steak burger, and a side order of whoopass given by a very pleasant stewardess. Please keep your hands inside the vehicle at all times while reading this play and take note of the exits. You may need to parachute out.
Helicopters are included in this category. Probably piloted by a Chuck Yeager.
Fictional examples:
- The supersonic Airwolf helicopter, star of the show of the same name. Capable of exceeding Mach 1 and an unrefuelled range that most fighters can't get near.
- One of the earliest has to be the MiG-31 "Firefox" from the novel and film of the same name, which was capable of Mach 5 and carried thought-controllable weapons.
- The original cover had the aircraft look like the MiG-25. The distinctive design was a creation of the film and features on all later re-prints.
- Wonder Woman's infamous Invisible Jet.
- The Javelins from Justice League and Justice League Unlimited. (If Wonder Woman's flying, count on her to have it cloaked whether necessary or not, a Shout-Out to the invisible jet.)
- The X-Men's trademark Blackbird. (See its inspiration, the SR-71, below.)
- Most of the aircraft on Dastardly And Muttley In Their Flying Machines.
- The SWAT Kats' custom-made jet, the Turbo Kat, from Swat Kats.
- Ace Combat 3: Electrosphere runneth over with Cool Planes, including the XFA-36A
, the UI-4054 Aurora, the R-352 Sepia (a space fighter), the R-201v Asterozoa (a double artillery airplane), the XR-900 Geopelia, and the X-49 Night Raven. Just to hammer down the point, the Eurofighter Typhoon, which is one of the Coolest Planes nowadays, is one of the lamest planes in the game!
- Other Ace Combat titles have their share of Cool Planes; recurring examples are the XFA-27A, the X-02 Wyvern, and the ADF-01 FALKEN. Other games in the series have had Cool Planes that only appeared in a single title.
- Not to mention Zero's Morgan, a plane so utterly degenerate it can actually complete several entire missions with a single subweapon shot.
- The titular high-tech, stealth helicopter from Blue Thunder.
- The "X-1" in The Venture Bros. used to be a cool plane, in the 1960's. Now it's just the supersonic daily driver for the family.
- Jonas' XX-1 however, is a cool plane. It can pilot itself!
- And it has Pac-Man in the lounge! And it has a lounge!
- Jonas' XX-1 however, is a cool plane. It can pilot itself!
- The F-19 Ghostrider from Red Storm Rising.
- Almost every aircraft in Sentou Yousei Yukikaze, friendly or enemy, especially the FFR-41 Mave which the main character, Rei Fukai, pilots (and thus give the most screentime).
- The Dale Brown novel Flight of the Old Dog and the series after it is about a junky old B-52 used as a testing platform for state-of-the-art military technology, a dichotomy reflected in its two names, "Megafortress" and "The Old Dog". When a Soviet laser system shoots down a US satellite and a squadron of sleek B-1 bombers, naturally it's the ramshackle B-52 and its rag-tag crew which comes to the rescue. Although it's overhauled and eventually replaced in the continuity, the Cool Ship naturally never becomes mass-production, because that would cripple its mojo. There are several reasons why it never became "mass-production". The Old Dog was a concept plane, a plane designed to test various technologies, and was never intended to become "mass-production". Mass-production of it would entail upgrading all current B-52s to match it, since it would be impossible (and foolish) to produce brand new B-52s in the Old Dog configuration. Since the books are intended to be "real", in that you are supposed to believe that they are true but classified events that occur in the real world, unless the real U.S. Air Force upgraded all their B-52s, the author could not do so. A "in universe" explanation would be that with the demise of the Soviet Union, there is no need for such a costly upgrade for an airplane that is over 40 years old, the current B-52s are quite useful as they currently are. Eventually, the series moves to B-1s and later unmanned, remotely-controlled B-1s carrying their own armed UA Vs.
- The VF-1 Valkryie from Super Dimension Fortress Macross, and its successors such as the YF-19 and Jetfire from Transformers (No, really): Cool Planes that transform into robots.
- As mentioned below, the YF-19 is the basis of Animated Starscream.
- The SHARC (Special Hydro-Aero Recon Craft) from Power Rangers Operation Overdrive. Can fly or skate across water, and don't the Rangers look awesome jumping down from it in their circle formation? Eventually, they get a Humongous Mecha version called the Sonic Streaker, but the SHARC still popped up now and again.
- Slightly more realistic is Tony Stark's private jet in Iron Man. Comes with a wide-screen television, a fully equipped bar and luxurious leather seats, and the stewardesses double as strippers, complete with poles.
- Miles 'Tails' Prower started out piloting the Tornado, a red WW 1 biplane that got regularly upgraded over the series. Its been seen as the Tornado-X, named for its ability to shift into an X-shaped wing mode for speed, modified into a heavy armed walker, and in the Sonic X anime it gets upgraded into a huge Macross-style transforming jet. (in the second episode)
- The Batplane, and sometimes Batcopter.
- Pretty much every playable vehicle in Sonic Wings (not related to Sonicthe Hedgehog) and many other Shmups.
- There's also those "Manta Ray jets" from The Incredibles. An evil variety (they were made by the villain), but it ACTUALLY serves a Vesper martini and a buffalo steak burger. Well, actually, it served shrimp cocktails, but that's still a good menu option.
- By default, virtually every Transformer with a plane alt-mode is one of these: Starscream (F-15, F-22, something that looks suspiciously like the Su-47 Berkut and a YF-19 'Alpha One') and Blitzwing (some sort of tank-plane thing) only being two examples. (An obvious drawback to listing them all is the fact that many of the flying Transformers are just repainted Starscreams.)
- The God Phoenix from Science Ninja Team Gatchaman. Imagine a large bright red and blue plane that can go into space, submerge in water, take off and land vertically, supersonic, carries about 30 missiles and 2 large super missiles and carries 4 secondary vehicles inside it. Most spectacularly of all when the plane's really in a jam, it can transform in to a giant flaming phoenix to escape, although this takes a lot out of the team.
Real Life examples:
It could be said that the days of propellor aviation was the glory days of military aviation. So of course in the days of Action Comics and the Red Baron, there were aircraft that stood out from the rest:
- The German Fokker Eindecker was one of the first official "Cool Planes". It featured the first synchronized machine gun that let a pilot fire through the propeller without shooting it off, thus allowing accuracy not available to other planes. It single-handedly allowed German domination of the air (see the Fokker Scourge) until the Allies caught up with the Nieuport 11 and de Havilland DH.2.
- The P-51 Mustang, so badass when introduced in WW 2 it can be considered the F-22's granddaddy. Powered by the legendary Rolls-Royce Merlin engine pumping out 1700 horse, it carried six .50-cal machine guns and had a range of nearly 1400 miles with better maneuverability and a higher service ceiling than anything the Axis could throw at it. Frequently won fights that were 3 (or more) against 1 and even managed to score kills against the first jet fighter, the...
- Me-262 Schwalbe, the worlds first operational Jet Fighter. Frequently appears as the sudden never-before-seen bad guy superplane that the daring ace pilot must shoot down in a one-on-one dogfight late in the story arc.
- The De Havilland Mosquito. A surprising entry as a Cool Plane, but it was one of the most versatile British aircraft of WWII. Came in multiple variants ranging from reconnaissance planes, to fighter-bombers, to night fighters. So fast that even the Me-262, the first front line jet fighter, had trouble intercepting it, and it handily left many contemporary propeller fighters struggling to catch up. In its role as a night fighter it remained pretty much unopposed. Across all of its variants the Mosquito suffered the lowest casualties throughout the war due to its sheer speed, despite the fact that its fuselage was also made out of wood. Laminated plywood. There's a reason why it was called "The Wooden Wonder" and for Added Alliterative Appeal—"The Timber Terror."
But of course, when the futuristic jet engine came into the scene, it just went south from there. By far the most famous of the modern Cool Planes would have to be the:
- The Legendary F-22, which is attributed to being a real-life Mary Sue with wings and missiles.
- Well, when a squadron of F-22s practically wins several wargames all on their own ...
- The Russian Su-47 Berkut◊. The Chuck Norris of aircraft. Sadly, it was only a technology demonstrator; Most sources agree that it did not enter service simply because there was no Air Force on the planet that was cool enough to handle the sheer amount of awesome that the Su-47 radiated for more than ten minutes. Design elements may well feature in the:
- PAK FA, an up and coming future Russian fighter jet and rival to the F-22 that is still cloaked in secrecy. You can expect it to become the modern literary equivalent to the Me-262 in upcoming video games and publications.
- The real-life SR-71 Blackbird — a plane so advanced it set the still-unbroken world record for flight speed of a manned jet aircraft on its retirement flight.
- To give an idea of how fast this aircraft was, standard evasive action upon detection of surface-to-air missiles was to simply accelerate.
- F-117A Nighthawk: the "Stealth Fighter." The eponymous Cool plane. This stealth "fighter" is actually a pure bomber, but that still doesn't prevent the dozens of B-movies and videogames made about it from erroneously pimping it out into a sort of Mach 30 hyperfighter with lasers or something. It proved to be immensely effective during the Gulf War, Kosovo, and the War in Iraq with only one combat loss, ever.
- And that loss, it should be noted, was due to the current group of hostiles (the Serbian Army) more or less firing SAMs and AA Guns into the air around where they thought the 117 would be using antiquated Soviet radars. They never actually knew the plane was there until they hit it.
- A-10 Warthog. Ugly as hell just barely capable of exceeding the speed of smell if you put it into a steep dive, the Warthog it can fly in a damaged state that would make other planes just fall and go boom. The fuselage could be riddled with bullet holes, the wings can be in stubs, the ailerons grated to swiss cheese, and the pilot could be missing all four of his appendages (and maybe even his head) and the A-10 can still complete the mission and make it back to base in time for happy hour at the O' Club. Of course, probably the biggest reason why this plane fits under this trope is the big huge 30mm rotary cannon which the plane is literally built around which can literally slice a tank in half and which by itself is bigger than anything short of an SUV.
- You've heard of the Implacable Man? This is the Implacable Plane. The exact amount of parts it can lose and still fly (according to The Other Wiki) include one engine, one tail, most of its fuel supply, and a wing. Basically, half the plane can drop off and you're still good.
- The AV-8B Harrier II. No matter what walk of life you come from, you've undoubtedly heard of the "Jump Jet". It can land vertically, take off inside 400 feet with a full weapons load, and take on almost anything that flies, sails, drives, or crawls. And in the USA, it's flown by Marines. Ooh-rah!
- Oh and it's British.
But there are others:
- The MiG-21. The prototypical bad guy Cannon Fodder as featured in various plane-related media. Sure, not quite as classy and pretty as most of the fighters mentioned here, but still quite capable. Also quite rugged, as the Soviets designed it to sit out on the tarmac—with only a tarp for protection against the elements—and be ready to fly at a moment's notice. Fielded by about 50 nations, and about 20 still field them to this day, it was the AK-47 of fighter planes. A source of Nightmare Fuel to American aircraft in the Vietnam War. Also responsible for the only claimed air-to-air kill of a USAF B-52 Stratofortress bomber (although, this is disputed).
- The Avro Vulcan. A bomber that looks like a fighter. There not many bombers you can roll at an air show. In 1982, months from retirement, it pulled off the then longest distance bombing raids in history, with the help of its only slightly less cool cousin, the Handley Page Victor (originally a bomber, but converted to a tanker). One has been restored to flying condition.
- The Soviet MiG-25. A Mach 2.8 (2100 mph) capable jet built way the hell back in 1964 that made the entire US Air Force collectively soil themselves until a defecting Soviet pilot landed one in Japan in 1976. They discovered that many sacrifices were made to reach its design speed such as poor range, and it had all the maneuvering grace of a brick. It still was (and is today) a real record-setter, as it is the fastest production armed aircraft in the world.
- That MiG had been designed with one specific task in mind: the shoot down the US high-altitude high-speed XB-70 Valkyrie nuclear bomber (a awesomely cool plane). However, the Valkyrie project was canceled at the prototype stage and the Soviets ended up with a fighter with no job to do. However, it became a pretty good photo recon aircraft in a later version, as well as giving SR-71 overflights grief.
- The Soviet Tu-22M "Backfire", a Mach 2.2 capable bomber with up to three nuclear anti-shipping missiles and in-flight refelling capability which raised some eyebrows in the Pentagon, especially when they overestimated its range (which, at over 1,000 miles combat radius, is still impressive). This resulted in an agreement with the USSR to limit production to 30 a year and take out the refuelling probes. Still in service and undergoing upgrades.
- The Su-27 "Flanker" and its many, many derivatives, single handedly responsible for more raging, frothing-at-the-mouth fanboyism and nationalistic internet flame wars than Xbox Live, if you can actually comprehend that. So many derivatives, in fact, that it is often said that there are more individual designations than actual models.
- The V-22 Osprey, despite numerous real-life failures of cool, has managed to have so many games, movies and toys feature it or designs based on it that it can't avoid becoming a cool Plane. Or helicopter. Or... whatever the hell it is...
- The English Electric Lightning. Described by a guy working on the tabletop game Birds of Prey as looking like something out of a Gerry Anderson show, it was capable of Mach 2.2 and very high altitude. It could challenge aircraft that were a whole generation ahead (like the F-15) in a climb race. Up to its retirement, it was the most sought after posting in the RAF.
- The F-104 Starfighter. The fighter jet equivalent to having all brawn and no brains. It flew fast, it looked fast, and it crashed fast; they didn't call it the "lawn dart" for nothing.
- The German air force pilots unofficially referred to it as the Widowmaker.
- F-4 Phantom II. The "Double Ugly", to give but one nickname, was operated by 10 countries other than the US, including the UK and West Germany. Fast, heavily armed and shot down Soviet-built planes like no one's business. Featured in both the US Air Force and US Navy's display teams. It set the standard for all fighter jets to come after it.
- Concorde. Supersonic passenger plane. Hard to believe that, ten years ago, you could cross the Atlantic in under 4 hours. Also very handy for observing eclipses.
- And the now-cancelled Boeing Sonic Cruiser, which would have travelled as far as a 747 without refuelling, at .75 times the speed of the Concorde (Mach .98).
- Ekranoplans, a boat/plane hybrid. One features in the James Bond novel Devil May Care and some really were that size. When this troper saw a picture of one, he commented that it was something straight out of a James Bond movie (he'd been reading the book and thought the precise thing was fiction).
- The Tupolev Tu-95 "Bear" strategic bomber - Was built in 1953 and currently still in service with the Russian Air Force today. Fastest propeller driven plane in the world, as well as the loudest. Its crew routinely suffered hearing loss, and its engines were so loud they could apparently be heard by submarines using their own sonar. Which is really funny, as they are also used as Anti-Submarine aircraft. Video here
- The B-52 Stratofortress. Entered service in 1955 and is projected to stay in service until 2040...
- The Saab Gripen. Imagine a plane taking off from an interstate. The Gripen can do that. Really handy for getting through rush hour traffic.
- The Gripen's predecessor the Viggen was capable of the same feat. During the Cold War, the wartime airbases in Sweden were mostly stretches of highway with some improvements. The master plan was to scatter the military aircraft all over the country when warclouds were seen approaching, so it would be hard for the enemy to do a Pearl Harbor knockout attack. It could also be rearmed and refuelled in ten minutes by seven people, six of them conscripts.
- Its "sister", the Saab Draken is also one hell of a sexy-looking fighter. I'm talking almost PSL-level sexy here, people.
- The B-47 Stratojet. America's prime nuclear-capable jet bomber for the Strategic Air Command during the 50s and early 60s. Its design was essentially an upscaled fighter jet, and its performace was almost like a that of fighter too.
- The Eurofighter Typhoon. The pride and joy of the European Union, and a rival to the F-22, as well as the...
- F-35B Lightning II: The newest kid on the block. Take the Harrier and meet it with the F-22, then let it carry even more firepower. Scheduled to be the successor to the F-16 as the standard fighter of many nations around the globe.
But no list would be complete without mentioning the:
- F-14 Tomcat, the world's first and only homoerotic fighter jet. According to official US Navy battle doctrine, any pilots caught singing Highway to the Danger Zone by Kenny Loggins while piloting the F-14 are to shot down on sight. That is final.
