IMO basically every Soviet / Russian jet has looked better than American jets.
I like the look of the MiG-15, the 21, etc. But, IMO the jets really got beautiful right as the Soviet Union was collapsing.
The SU-27 is a beautiful plane, the MiG-29 too. It just seems like with some of these jets, the American equivalents were designed by computer and manufactured precisely to spec. While, it feels like some of the Soviet planes involved guys with hammers trying to make a beautiful curved surface.
It also helps that the Russians often use colourful paint jobs, while the US uses flat boring grey that shows every flaw.
The raptor definitely looks better than the felon imo, but for 4-4.5 gen, yeah, I’d agree in terms of looks for the most part. Though there are a couple exceptions - the F-104 looks cooler than the MiG-21, imo.
Edit: surprised nobody called me out for citing 2nd gen jets lol
I dunno. The nose of the MiG-21 looks weird, but I really like the look of the delta wings, the rudder and the ailerons. The F-104 with nothing mounted on the wingtips looks like a dart, which is cool I suppose. With the typical big fuel tanks on the wingtips it looks like some kind of catamaran.
Don’t get me wrong, nearly every fighter plane looks cool. But, it’s just different varieties of cool. Like, a lot of the US planes look Lamborghini-cool, with hard surfaces and so on. The Russian / Soviet planes just look more sculpted.
And, if the rule of cool doesn’t apply, then why did P-40 fighter planes have shark’s mouths?
IMO basically every Soviet / Russian jet has looked better than American jets.
I like the look of the MiG-15, the 21, etc. But, IMO the jets really got beautiful right as the Soviet Union was collapsing.
The SU-27 is a beautiful plane, the MiG-29 too. It just seems like with some of these jets, the American equivalents were designed by computer and manufactured precisely to spec. While, it feels like some of the Soviet planes involved guys with hammers trying to make a beautiful curved surface.
It also helps that the Russians often use colourful paint jobs, while the US uses flat boring grey that shows every flaw.
The raptor definitely looks better than the felon imo, but for 4-4.5 gen, yeah, I’d agree in terms of looks for the most part. Though there are a couple exceptions - the F-104 looks cooler than the MiG-21, imo.
Edit: surprised nobody called me out for citing 2nd gen jets lol
I dunno. The nose of the MiG-21 looks weird, but I really like the look of the delta wings, the rudder and the ailerons. The F-104 with nothing mounted on the wingtips looks like a dart, which is cool I suppose. With the typical big fuel tanks on the wingtips it looks like some kind of catamaran.
Luckily the rule of cool doesn’t apply IRL
Don’t get me wrong, nearly every fighter plane looks cool. But, it’s just different varieties of cool. Like, a lot of the US planes look Lamborghini-cool, with hard surfaces and so on. The Russian / Soviet planes just look more sculpted.
And, if the rule of cool doesn’t apply, then why did P-40 fighter planes have shark’s mouths?
Because Americans are kinda like W40k orcs and think painting something makes it stronger, although it actually works for the orcs.
/jk
It works for America too. Confidence is a hell of a drug.
F-86 is a work of art, and the Mig-15 looks like a 3D printed copy found on Etsy.