How do you get three thousand chatting (like the old tarts they are) Dutch planespotters silent during a spotter’s day which was in effect a reunion? The beautiful, goosebumps-giving sound of one or more Starfighters. Absolutely wonderful, and by far the best sounding Western jet i know.
Second comes IMHO the Lightning (only seen/heard one flying once, but i can assure you it’s even louder than a Fitter), and i’d put either the Vulcan and the pre-F-4E Phantoms on a split third position.
But there’s more joy for your ears on the other side of the LFKAIC (Line Formerly Known As Iron Curtain). The MiG-23UB’s R27F gives a wonderful howl, and it’s a nice method of spotting-the-variant since all other Floggers have R29s which aren’t half as nice.
The MiG-31 spooling up for takeoff gives a wonderfull howl as well, although my impression might be somewhat subjective considering i witnessed those against a setting sun, hidden in some bushes halfway between the runway and the fence – about 100-150 metres from the centreline 😀 Nice purple afterburner blaze too on those D30Fs, for a modern-ish jet it definately has very cool sounds and pyrotechnics. While the MiG-25 definately makes a wonderful roar and has two very impressive suns lit up at the rear, i do prefer the -31 in this respect.
Really nice are An-22s too. Unfortunately i’ve never seen a Bear in action, but i guess those are pretty comparable. Besides, seeing an An-22 doing touch and gos (three days before the MiG-31 experience, that was a fun trip!) does have a certain charm of it’s own.
But the best sound i can think of is actually that of a Mi-6 spooling up. The turbines start out quite low, and slowly increase in pitch to a whistle, which then is accompanied by a slow but gradually getting faster whooooop……. whooooop….. whoooop…. whooop… whoop.. whoop. whoop whoop whop whop whop whop whop from the blades. And if you visited the withdrawal of the Russian Mi-6s from Oranienburg in 1994, you could have heard more than twenty Whistling Giants (the nickname that sound has earned them) performing that trick.
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