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Okay it's a given that if you're going to fight, you ought to look the business making sure that with looks alone you could scare the living daylights out of people. And none more is that evident in warplanes, if it were done on purpose I can't say but some warplanes really looked scary. Let's talk about the meanest looking aircraft.
To start off I'll name the Fairchild Republic A 10 Thunderbolt II or to call it by the affectionate nickname "The Warthog"
With the warthog it's function over looks and this tankbuster does its job well, it can sustain incredible punishment and come back for more and with its HUGE nose fitted seven barrel cannon it can inflict serious damage in its own right. That nose with the off-center mounted cannon looks a bit like a Mobster with a cigar in his mouth ready to have somebody "Sleeping with the fishes."
"You want some of this, ya punk?"
Then there's the Messerschmitt 262 "Shwalbe" (Swallow) which looked a lot like a shark.
If the great white shark was an airborne animal he'd probably ended up looking like this: sleek, fast and deadly. Even the way it was camoflaged was sharky, the grey on top made it difficult to spot from the top while the light colored belly was difficult to see from below, just like it is with a Great white.
Even the shark's trademark, the triangle shaped dorsal fin is there in the profile of the Me 262
MIG-built fighters themselves were scary opponents for many pilot unfortunate enough to oppose one but the scariest looking of them was no doubt the MIG 17 PF "Fresco"
The MIG 17 series reached its pinnacle with the PF model which was an all weather radar equipped version. That then state-of-the-art radar is also what makes the "Fresco" look as scary as it does. Early versions of the MIG 17 had a flat ring shaped air intake but with the radar done in the middle of that air intake and a ground detection radar in a lip on top of that air intake it ends up looking like a monster with its mouth wide open and tongue extended, ready to snap you up and devour you.
In contrast, this is the nose and air intake of an older model MIG 17
However, the scariest looking aircraft of all time must be the Junkers Ju 87 STUKA
The large cowling under the nose, its inverted gull wings and fixed under carriage made it look like a bird of prey with its beak open and its talons extended, ready to dive right at you. And that's exactly what the Sturz kampf flugzueg (Diving fighter aircraft) was designed to do, to dive at you like a bird of prey, drop the lethal payload and then pull up again. It basically was the fore runner of smart weapons, the entire airframe was used to direct the bomb straight onto its target. When used in that role during the Blitzkrieg, they were highly effective and were the scourge of many cyvilian or allied soldier who encountered them.
A surviving Stuka, this picture clearly shows its eagle-like appearence
To start off I'll name the Fairchild Republic A 10 Thunderbolt II or to call it by the affectionate nickname "The Warthog"
With the warthog it's function over looks and this tankbuster does its job well, it can sustain incredible punishment and come back for more and with its HUGE nose fitted seven barrel cannon it can inflict serious damage in its own right. That nose with the off-center mounted cannon looks a bit like a Mobster with a cigar in his mouth ready to have somebody "Sleeping with the fishes."
"You want some of this, ya punk?"
Then there's the Messerschmitt 262 "Shwalbe" (Swallow) which looked a lot like a shark.
If the great white shark was an airborne animal he'd probably ended up looking like this: sleek, fast and deadly. Even the way it was camoflaged was sharky, the grey on top made it difficult to spot from the top while the light colored belly was difficult to see from below, just like it is with a Great white.
Even the shark's trademark, the triangle shaped dorsal fin is there in the profile of the Me 262
MIG-built fighters themselves were scary opponents for many pilot unfortunate enough to oppose one but the scariest looking of them was no doubt the MIG 17 PF "Fresco"
The MIG 17 series reached its pinnacle with the PF model which was an all weather radar equipped version. That then state-of-the-art radar is also what makes the "Fresco" look as scary as it does. Early versions of the MIG 17 had a flat ring shaped air intake but with the radar done in the middle of that air intake and a ground detection radar in a lip on top of that air intake it ends up looking like a monster with its mouth wide open and tongue extended, ready to snap you up and devour you.
In contrast, this is the nose and air intake of an older model MIG 17
However, the scariest looking aircraft of all time must be the Junkers Ju 87 STUKA
The large cowling under the nose, its inverted gull wings and fixed under carriage made it look like a bird of prey with its beak open and its talons extended, ready to dive right at you. And that's exactly what the Sturz kampf flugzueg (Diving fighter aircraft) was designed to do, to dive at you like a bird of prey, drop the lethal payload and then pull up again. It basically was the fore runner of smart weapons, the entire airframe was used to direct the bomb straight onto its target. When used in that role during the Blitzkrieg, they were highly effective and were the scourge of many cyvilian or allied soldier who encountered them.
A surviving Stuka, this picture clearly shows its eagle-like appearence
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