Aviation Geeks unite?! Anybody else care about planes here?

Not the best idea in aviation history:

 

Did whoever approved this get punished?

 

Yeah.. that was quite a dissaster..

Is it a boat? Is it a plane? NO! its is an Ekranoplan!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lun-class_ekranoplan

 

A modern version

 

^^ I know Airfish, they had a smaller kinda flying saucer looking model for ages, it was featured in a Dutch science magazine in the '90's I think.

 

Some company in Singapore called WigetWorks bought up all that over a decade ago, spent years bringing the design to a commercial grade*, and now they are trying to sell them as water-taxis.

*(by this I mean a finished product that could be manufactured)

 

It is an interesting concept, the Russians or better Soviets did put quite a bit of effort into it.

One of my favorite aircraft, the S-14
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fokker_S.14_Machtrainer

 

I dunno, always seamed like a concept with a very limited market.

 

IIRC they were busy with a 1000 ton Ekroplan which probably can deliver a whole load of tanks and other nasties in one go so I think they were thinking in that direction.

As for another nice aircraft, the Mirage F1, always liked it, like most Mirage jets it is quite elegant.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dassault_Mirage_F1

 

Another plane flight-sim junkie here. Il-2 Great Battles and DCS.

 

and not a Delta wing in sight

 

Another beautiful plane that I've always liked is the Northrop F-5 (and the T-38 Talon trainer variant).

 

And the cancelled F-20 Tigershark:

 

The Talons always accompanied the Space Shuttle, right? At least on early flights.

 

The T-38s have a long history with NASA. They've been in use since the 60s as a way for astronauts to ferry between the various NASA facilities across the US, as well as allowing pilot astronauts to maintain their flight hours. And you're also right that the first Shuttle missions (and the Approach and Landing Tests that preceded them,) always used the T-38 as a chase plane.
They're pretty ancient now, to the point where student pilots can no longer do certain aggressive maneuvers because of excess stress on the airframes. I find the T-38s upcoming replacement; the T-7, to be a very pretty little plane though.

Right now, I've been really enjoying watching videos of C-17s flying to McMurdo Station. There's something very cool about unglamorous workhorse planes, and seeing the C-17 carry a bunch of scientists, engineers, plumbers, cooks etc to an inhospitable place ticks all the right boxes for me.

 

Ha! Then you get a really nice double delta instead..
the infamous Saab Draken. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saab_35_Draken
And the lovely flying barrel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saab_29_Tunnan

 

I liked the Draken (though only seen pictures of one), but I preferred the Viggen. (Had a model of one of those back in the day)

 

I've seen a Viggen up close, really nice aircraft, next to it stood a Mig 21, sturdy little bugger.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan-Gurevich_MiG-21

 

I like the Draken/Griggen/Viggen.

They were featured in a documentary series that I saw years ago but unsure of the name.

It might have been A Century of flight but my google fu isn't quite there.

 

Man, love the Draken.

The Draken looked so futuristic when I was a kid. It's one of the few aircraft models I built back then (I was more into ships than planes).

Edit to add:
@SCE2Aux Watching the c-130 land on its skis is kinda cool too.