Slightly off topic...

The village where I grew up in Scotland is on a headland on the coast and was near a couple of RAF bases - it seemed a popular route point so my childhood had a lot of very low flying military aircraft about so I guess we were all used to the noise.

Then came the day when there was a Vulcan bomber doing apparently doing aerobatics at a fairly low level over the village - it's probably close to 40 years but I don't think I will ever forget that utterly glorious sound....

[Edit: the sight of a Vulcan being thrown around the sky isn't something I'll forget either!]

Here is a video of a Vulcan taking off - that "howl" is pretty distinctive!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzdtYU7i_jY

I have to assume that the secret UK war plan wasn't to drop H-bombs on the Soviets but to deafen them into submission.

At an airshow, I saw a US Harrier do a vertical take off. It was really loud! At a different airshow, I saw an SR-71 take off and fly around. That was pretty damn loud, too. It set off every car alarm in the parking lot.

I saw one doing tricks at an airshow at RAF Valley many years ago. It sounded like tearing silk.

The painted false cockpit was first operationally used on Canadian CF-18 Hornets, but derived from USAF research in conjunction with an aviation artist.

So the A-10 community adopted it second-hand.

Its engines are most definitely distinctive, that fan sound is some sweet music.