Military Channel's "Top 10 Fighters of All Time"

You may have noticed that I have been building a lot of fighters lately, many of them jets. I watched an interesting program on the Military Channel on the subject of the top 10 fighters of all time. Since I already had a model of a few of them, I decided that I wanted to build all of them and have a display of them on my blog. The following is a listing of the fighters in descending order, with a discussion of whether I agree with the Military Channel or not. Just click on the plane's link to go to my blog page on that model.

10. F-22 Raptor - The Military Channel chose this aircraft because of its new technology. However, the Raptor has not, as of yet, been battle tested. I would not have put it in the top 10 because of this. It may be a fast, maneuverable, and stealthy fighter and perhaps will be a great fighter, but many potentially great fighters in history have failed when put to the test.

9. Harrier - Again, the Military Channel chose this one because of its uniqueness. It has been battle tested, unlike the F-22, but mostly in ground support missions. There needs to be a disdinction made between a dogfighter or multirole fighter. As a multirole fighter the Harrier has been superb and definitely in the top 10; as a dogfighter, probably not.

8. Sopwith Camel - A great fighter in its short service-time, the Camel had more kills than any other Allied fighter in WWI. However, it nearly killed as many of its own pilots as it did enemy pilots because of its poor stability. I feel the Fokker D.VII was a better, more stable fighter from that era and should have been in the Camel's place.

7. Me 262 - Another short-lived fighter which got its inclusion because of its first jet fighter status. However, I don't disagree with the choice. When compared to its contemporary jet fighters (the Gloster Meteor and P-80), it was still far superior in speed, firepower, and manueverablility.

6. Supermarine Spitfire - Along with the Hawker Hurricane, the Spitfire staved off sure doom from the Nazi Luftwaffe air attacks on Great Brittain despite inferior numbers and less experienced pilots. Of course I would put this aircraft in the top 10 of all time, and I'm a little surprised that it wasn't ranked higher.

4.5. F-86 Sabrejet - A sure choice for top 10 status, the Sabre brought air superiority back the the Americans in the Korean War. Tied with the MIG-15 in rank, these two aircrafts' histories are tied at the hip.

4.5. MIG-15 - A devastating fighter for the early American jets, the MIG-15 owned the skies over Korea until the appearance of the F-86. Many say that the MIG-15 was the better fighter but the F-86 had better pilots. It's difficult to say either way.

3. F-4 Phantom II - As a multirole fighter, the F-4 was one of, if not, the best. As a dogfighter, the F-4 was middle-of-the-pack. Having said this, however, one cannot argue with the longevity and war record of this venerable behemoth. It is definitely a top 10 fighter of all time.

2. F-15 Eagle - The first air-superiority jet-fighter built to be maneuverable as well as fast, this aircraft is an excellent dogfighter as well as multirole fighter with the advent of the F-15E. An easy choice to make as a top 10 fighter.

1. P-51D Mustang - Not suprisingly, this aircraft is considered the best-ever fighter. Using the same engine as the Spitfire and a laminar flow wing, this aircraft escorted Allied bombers deep into German teritory were it faced the best of the Nazi fighters including the Me 262 and performed admirably. This would be my choice for #1 as well.