[TysonWarm]

I like the Warthog, I just don't love it.  Yeah, it can crack open a tank like a coconut with it's cannon, but it has very little loiter time.  Only about half an hour tops.  A-10 also cannot bomb accurately.  I love it's daddy a lot more.  The Douglas A-1 Skyraider.  Originally built to take the war to Japan as a torpedo/dive bomber from aircraft carriers, she entered the war too late.  The Skyraider then became an important ground attack aircraft.  The Skyraider had all the necessary assets; speed, ordnance carrying capability, communications, and the ability to withstand punishment.  The Skyraider could also loiter around all day and be called upon when needed.  At the time helicopters were not capable of doing these kinds of missions.   Not only that, she was also credited with shooting down a couple of MIGs.  Not bad for a prop.  Maybe the reason I love the Skyraider so much is because I might not be here today without it.  

As for the Harrier, she was the main reason the UK was able to win back the Falklands.  Without it, the Brits would have had no air cover over their fleet.  

[Bad Kitty]

J-35? Drakken? very pretty plane, but not a vtol
(ya ya, i know, f-35 )

[luvdemwhoppers]

^^A10 was not designed to be a bomber but rather to support ground troops It was designed to be a hammer, not a wrecking ball. I does nicely. It's so ugly I fell in love at first sight.

[Bad Kitty]

^^A10 was not designed to be a bomber but rather to support ground troops It was designed to be a hammer, not a wrecking ball. I does nicely. It's so ugly I fell in love at first sight.

rather aptly put.

[TysonWarm]

^^A10 was not designed to be a bomber but rather to support ground troops It was designed to be a hammer, not a wrecking ball. I does nicely. It's so ugly I fell in love at first sight.

Here is a wrecking ball.  B-52, aka BUFF.  She has a payload as heavy as a house with those 8 Pratt & Whitney turbojets.  Dropped the first airborne hydrogen bomb over Bikini.  Under SAC (which is in my backyard) in Operation Chrome Dome, B-52's were constantly airborne to strike targets deep within the Soviet Union.  They performed Arc Light missions in Vietnam and were instrumental in in nearly wiping out enemy concentrations besieging Khe Sanh.  When Operation Desert Storm began delivered the first strikes from the USA, covering only 12,000 miles.  The B-52 has been in service for almost 60 years. 

[mcgarp]

While I do find this thread interesting, I'm gonna pull it away from jets.  This doesn't qualify as a "modern" marvel but more of an engineering marvel.  This tractor that was my late grandfathers is my most prized posession.  It is now exactly 70 yrs old and after some work done, it is still working.  It amazes me that after 70yrs it still is working in the fields of the heartland, although not too often.  
When these tractors were made, they made them right.  It was a simple plan, with only 2 cylinders, but I think that is why so many of them are still running these days.  This is my beloved 1941 John Deere B before it got rebuilt.
I spent six hours on it the last weekend hauling over 100 bales.  Not bad for a 70yr old tractor!

[solvegas]

That is a beauty. On my mother's side of the family my grandfather, grand uncles ( all dead now ) spoke highly of John Deere products and would buy nothing else. I have old photos of Papa George proud as a peacock while riding his first tractor in 1938 when he finally replaced the mule with a mechanical mule. Increased productivity massively and was a godsend as far as he was concerned. Kept a few mules just in case though and I remember getting a mule ride when I was a small k1d from Papa George. God, I still think barnyard animals smell awful though. 

[luvdemwhoppers]

B52 is certainly a modern marvel. still flyin since yesteryear, retro fitted mit the latest tech gismos, It's really the heavy bomber that keeps on going, and that mavalous, simply mavalous

[homevintner]

There is no substitute for payload.

[pedonbio]

If we're talking about warplanes, let's not forget the DC-3. Only passenger airliner to score a combat kill while on a regularly-scheduled passenger flight. It arrived on time, too. That's durable.

[TysonWarm]

If we're talking about warplanes, let's not forget the DC-3. Only passenger airliner to score a combat kill while on a regularly-scheduled passenger flight. It arrived on time, too. That's durable.

Where did you find the information on the DC-3 combat kill?  I would like to read about that.  If that's true, that's incredible.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFXtb9jBaBM

[solvegas]

I believe that there are about 800 DC-3's still flying. Considering the last one rolled off the assembly line in 1946, that's incredible !  One reason for its longevity is that it is not a pressurized aircraft, which limits its altitude, but it doesn't suffer from the metal fatigue of pressurized aircraft.I flew in one back in 1976 when I took a short hop from New London, Conneticut to La Guardia in New Tork so I could get a flight back to Houston. We never flew above 5,000 feet and we followed the road which we used for navigation. Within minutes after take off and once we were on a even keel, I stood up and walked into the pilot's compartment and shot the shit with him. We were flying slow enough so that his windows were open in the pilot's compartment and he gave me atour of the instrument panel. Nothing which would be recognized as modern electronics, that's for sure. To insure his landing gear was in place, he not only looked at the indicator light but he would stick his head out the window and use his own peepers to verify they were housed in the nacelles. A DC-3 can land wheels up because its front landing gear protrudes from the nacelles, they don't go into the fuselage.

[TysonWarm]

The book "Lost in Shangri-La" is a story about a plane that crashes during World War II and the rescue attempt that strands 3 of the survivors and the rescuers in a Stone Age society in New Guinea.  The plane that crashed was a Douglas C-47 Skytrain, that was the military version of the DC-3.  They were the planes that carried vital supplies to Berlin during the Berlin airlift.

[pedonbio]

Where did you find the information on the DC-3 combat kill?  I would like to read about that.  If that's true, that's incredible.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFXtb9jBaBM

Expect me to prove my bullshit?!? Sheeesh!

Okay. I found two references, neither citing sources:

www.fontainebleauveteransassociation.co.uk/dc3/dakota.htm (Scroll down to paragraph 41)

and

www.douglasdc3.com/amaze/amaze.htm (Paragraph 3)

Both those refer to the military version; when I first heard the story, it was a civilian airliner with passengers. I note, however, that Singapore Airlines didn't use DC-3s until 1947, and I think the only passenger airline operating in the area was China National, which only had two DC-3 airliners on the Burma-to-Nanking route. I'm still looking.

[TysonWarm]

Expect me to prove my bullshit?!? Sheeesh!

Okay. I found two references, neither citing sources:

www.fontainebleauveteransassociation.co.uk/dc3/dakota.htm (Scroll down to paragraph 41)

and

www.douglasdc3.com/amaze/amaze.htm (Paragraph 3)

Both those refer to the military version; when I first heard the story, it was a civilian airliner with passengers. I note, however, that Singapore Airlines didn't use DC-3s until 1947, and I think the only passenger airline operating in the area was China National, which only had two DC-3 airliners on the Burma-to-Nanking route. I'm still looking.

Hey, I can prove my Skyraider claim downing a MIG-17.  Which is even more incredible, a prop downing a jet.  I can even name the lead pilot.  Clint Johnson.  The following link shows what happened.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVtvtOFNJTA&feature=related