Largest ever fighter or single-seat aircraft?

[quemerford]

Not an American WWII fighter, so thread creep:

USSR's Tu-28/128 "Fiddler" interceptor had them all beat at 88,000 lbs. it's generally regarded as the largest/heaviest "fighter" aircraft built. The very large borders of the USSR required a long range interceptor that had a long unrefueled range, hence the size. More here http://www.militaryfactory.com/aircraft ... aft_id=357

Yep -see Post #5.

[CAPFlyer]

As the original post was "largest fighter or single-seat," it's not thread creep to bring in the Soviet Iron, which is why I did it in post #5 as referenced before me and included the Tu-28 Fiddler as the biggest of the bunch.

Also, the size of the Tu-28 had much less to do with fuel capacity and range. It had more to do with the onboard electronics and the weapons payload. The idea of the Tu-28 was to be an autonomous bomber interceptor with a massive, powerful onboard radar, operated by the back-seat, and carrying the largest, longest range, nuclear-tipped missiles in the Soviet inventory to intercept the "mass waves" of American and British Bombers the Soviets expected. Unfortunately, even prior to the introduction of the Tu-28 the US and its allies had already abandoned massive formations and was focused much more on having the attack be spread out over the largest amount of airspace possible and most vectors possible to simply overwhelm the defenses by having too many vectors to be dealt with.

[Aeronut]

At the time of the Falklands war the RAF's Nimrod was fitted with 4 under wing AM9 missiles. With a max AUM of 192000 lb some would claim that the Nimrod MR2 was the World's largest fighter - it was far from being a single seater though.

[Rajay]

At the time of the Falklands war the RAF's Nimrod was fitted with 4 under wing AM9 missiles. With a max AUM of 192000 lb some would claim that the Nimrod MR2 was the World's largest fighter - it was far from being a single seater though.

I don't want to make any unnecessary "Nimrod" jokes but if you meant AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles, I do not think that just carrying something like that is enough to qualify anything as a "fighter" - and as you said, it's not "single-seat" either so my ruling would be "disqualified"; the Nimrod is definitely in the "transport" or patrol category instead.

[Rajay]

As the original post was "largest fighter or single-seat," it's not thread creep to bring in the Soviet Iron, which is why I did it in post #5 as referenced before me and included the Tu-28 Fiddler as the biggest of the bunch.

Also, the size of the Tu-28 had much less to do with fuel capacity and range. It had more to do with the onboard electronics and the weapons payload. The idea of the Tu-28 was to be an autonomous bomber interceptor with a massive, powerful onboard radar, operated by the back-seat, and carrying the largest, longest range, nuclear-tipped missiles in the Soviet inventory to intercept the "mass waves" of American and British Bombers the Soviets expected. Unfortunately, even prior to the introduction of the Tu-28 the US and its allies had already abandoned massive formations and was focused much more on having the attack be spread out over the largest amount of airspace possible and most vectors possible to simply overwhelm the defenses by having too many vectors to be dealt with.

As I did with other "entries" I would ask that you take the time to post some actual numbers in support of your nomination; what were its dimensions and/or max. gross weight?

Oh - ooops! Sorry. I see that it wasn't actually CAPflyer's nomination - and that someone else (TriangleP) did mention a gross weight of 88,000 lbs.

[CAPFlyer]

Actually, it *WAS* my nomination. I nominated the Tu-28 in the 5th post on this thread and included weights *AND* dimensions.

[Joe Scheil]

The "Fiddler" is not a valid choice for largest single seat aircraft because of its second seat....

And before we get to the largest "single pilot" plane, I think that was the Hughes HK-1.

The XF-11 was also a close contestant here, as she was designed for two, but was always tested "solo".

[CAPFlyer]

I would argue that it is a valid choice since the topic title has an "or" in it *AND* the OP nominates the YF-12, a 2-seat fighter (pilot and RIO), as the starting point.

Additionally, I also nominated the SU-27 (and its cousin the SU-35 by extension) as the largest "single seat" fighter and I don't think anyone's found anything bigger than that as it's bigger both in dimensions and in weight than anything from the US, Canada, or the UK.

[Kyleb]

I would argue that it is a valid choice since the topic title has an "or" in it *AND* the OP nominates the YF-12, a 2-seat fighter (pilot and RIO), as the starting point.

Additionally, I also nominated the SU-27 (and its cousin the SU-35 by extension) as the largest "single seat" fighter and I don't think anyone's found anything bigger than that as it's bigger both in dimensions and in weight than anything from the US, Canada, or the UK.

The OP retrenched his question since his initial ask. The A-12 stands as the largest (by weight) single seater out there at 120-128k lbs, depending on your source, and probably the longest too, at over 101'.

[quemerford]

Jeesus! The question was largest fighter OR largest single-seat. Not largest single-seat fighter or largest aircraft that someone might have flown solo or any other red herrings.

Just sayin'

[CAPFlyer]

I would argue that it is a valid choice since the topic title has an "or" in it *AND* the OP nominates the YF-12, a 2-seat fighter (pilot and RIO), as the starting point.

Additionally, I also nominated the SU-27 (and its cousin the SU-35 by extension) as the largest "single seat" fighter and I don't think anyone's found anything bigger than that as it's bigger both in dimensions and in weight than anything from the US, Canada, or the UK.

The OP retrenched his question since his initial ask. The A-12 stands as the largest (by weight) single seater out there at 120-128k lbs, depending on your source, and probably the longest too, at over 101'.

If he retrenched it, it was to largest single-seat fighter, and the A-12 is not a fighter.

[old iron]

While not the heaviest aircraft mentioned, the MiG-25 weighed 81,000 pounds (36,700 kg) loaded, and was without question single-seated and a fighter, also built in substantial numbers and used by numerous countries for many years.

[CAPFlyer]

The MiG-25 certainly is, which is why I listed it in my nominations of Soviet Fighters back on post #5.

[Rajay]

Actually, it *WAS* my nomination. I nominated the Tu-28 in the 5th post on this thread and included weights *AND* dimensions.

My apologies - I didn't mean to deny you any due credit - I simply failed to read all the way back to the first page.

In any case, I never "retrenched" anything. From the "get-go" it was "largest fighter OR single-seat aircraft" so two-seat fighters count too, but by way of clarification, if there is more than one seat, I want it to be a "real" fighter aircraft and "single-pilot" was never part of the paradigm so the Spruce Goose does not qualify on any counts.

BTW I also never said anything about the "single-seat" Lockheed A-12 which was the CIA's initial surveillance variant before the type was further developed for the USAF into the later SR-71 variant. Instead, I actually mentioned the YF-12A variant which was nominally speaking a "fighter" or interceptor, but which was in fact a two-seat aircraft.

I am not saying that the A-12 is not a valid nomination because it is and for the most part it was certainly a single-seat aircraft (there was a two-seat "trainer" variant as well) but I never said anything about it...

[CAPFlyer]

Rayjay,

I think there's been confusion because people have read the question differently. I was responding to "kyleb" who nominated the A-12 and said that the Tu-28 didn't count because it wasn't "single seat", but I stated that if he was going to say that was the interpretation, then he was incorrect as well as the question would have been an "and" (i.e. Single Seat AND Fighter) versus the "OR" that is clearly stated on the OP by you. I'm glad you've cleared it up and reiterated that the question is "Single Seat" OR "Fighter" so there are two possibilities.

As we sit now, I would put forth that the following are your "winners" -

The Myasishchev M-55 "Mystic" as the largest Single Seat aircraft built with a wingspan of 122' 11", Length of 75', MTOW of 52,470lb.

The Tupolev Tu-128 "Fiddler" as the largest Fighter built with a wingspan of 57' 7", Length of 98' 7", MTOW of 96,342lb.

The YF-12 as the largest and heaviest Experimental Fighter built with a wingspan of 55' 7", Length of 101' 8", MTOW of 140,000lb.

The MiG-25 as the heaviest Single Seat Fighter built with a wingspan of 45' 11.5", Length of 64' 10", MTOW of 80,952lb.

The Su-35 as the largest Single Seat Fighter built with a wingspan of 50' 2", Length of 72' 11", MTOW of 76,060lb.