Originally Posted by
chornedsnorkack
Your choice of military planes is, putting it mildly, unrepresentative.
What do you think are the 11 most produced jets?
The list is:
1) Mig-15
2) Mig-21
3) Mig-17
4) F-86
5) F-84
6) Boeing 737
7) T-33
8) Mig-19
9) A320
10) F-4
11) Mig-23
While I can't quarrel with your "numbers of jets produced", the thread title refers to "Best" and "Most Recognizable" "planes (a/c, civil and/or military), and says nothing about production numbers or power plants....
Numbers? I can list a dozen or so a/c familiar and recognizable to me built in far larger numbers than any on your list.... DC-3s/C-47s, for Europeans, the Bf/Me109 series.
Recognition? I doubt that 1% of the world's population and not many more of frequent air travelers could accurately ID an A320 on sight. On the other hand, seen and used around the Western world and in countless movies and TV shows, the F4 series would likely be the most identifiable of military jet a/c (while for me, no military jet can ever be so quickly recognizable - especially on the ground, wing angle of attack "up" - than the F8 Crusader).
I'd have no trouble recognizing individually the Mig-15, Mig-17, Mig-29, Mig-21 or Mig-23 (but then I was trained to do so). How few people really could correctly ID all of them?
Probably, for anyone over 60, it would be hard not to ID a B-29 (unless it was a B-50 w/scoops or a Tu-4)
I'll stick with 2 a/c which share a common ingredient, seen and identified once, neither could be mistaken for anything else, the Ju52 and the Ford Trimotor (except it could be a Fokker!). Let's face it...the use of corrugated metal roofing for skinning does limit the field, Ju34s being thin on the ground and in the air)