"Best" likely gets too technical for me, although I think of the SR-71 and the B-1 Lancer should be high on the list. A spyplane you can't catch and a long-range strategic bomber you can't see had to be unsettling to the Soviets in a way that our typical hardware wasn't.

Recognizable to pretty much anyone including non-aviation buffs? Here's my list with two caveats: (a) you're old enough to have actually seen these once or twice and (b) you've lived somewhere you'd see these military planes which are mostly flown by U.S. or NATO forces. (As a kid, I roughly knew which MiG mapped to which NATO plane capability-wise, but I've long since forgotten it.)

- Super Connie - still a beautiful plane!
- 747
- 727
- A380
- C-5
- B-2
- Concorde
- F-4
- A-6
- F-14 & F-15 (I'll call it good even if people can't tell the difference )
- Space Shuttle
- Apache...I know nothing about choppers but I know one of these when I see it