The 10 Worst Fighter Jets Ever

Many writers have shared their thoughts on the relative merits of various fighter aircraft. Look at our list of the worst fighter planes, in our opinion.

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[DIREWOLFx]

The Lightning wasn't BAD, it was exactly what had been requested and was extremely good at its intended mission. Not the fault of the plane that politics and doctrine changed.

And NO, the Yak-38 was NOT in any way shape or form the "answer to the Harrier". USSR wanted something for vaugely the same reasons as the UK, but with lesser mission requirements, and it was roughly developed from the Yak-36 which in turn was based on the non-VTOL Yak-30 prototype for a trainer.
It's a matter of convergent design, because at the time, VTOL was being tested and even flown in lots of variations.
Most notably however is that Yakovlev WANTED to build something much more similar to the Harrier, single engine with movable nozzles specifically, but because there was no suitable engine available, they had to go a very different path.
And no, the Yak-38 was specifically limited to mach 0.95 to avoid the issues with supersonics.
And it didn't have TWO engines, it had THREE. 1 for propulsion and 2 for lift.
How could you get so much wrong with this plane?

[michaelnaisbitt]

This is ridiculous the Messerschmitt 163 Komet is not a jet aircraft but is rocket powered and only had a flight endurance of 9 minutes

[MarioEsquivel]

WTF? Bae Lightning, MiG-23 and F-35? the worst by far in deaths pilots was the F-104 G in Germany and i dont see it in the video

[deanstephens]

English electric lighting was fantastic at doing what it was designed for.

[chrischannon]

English Electric Lightning, one of the best British fighter aeroplanes ever produced, break the sound barrier going vertical.

[ExUSSailor]

The Mig-9 belongs on this list. Any time the main cannon was fired, the gases from it would cause the engine to flame-out.

[srblackbirddr]

Lightening was designed as an interceptor and it was the best in the world at the time.

[catjudo]

Considering the F 35 is a recent addition to the US armed forces and that it has not been through any major conflicts to really prove all that it can do, it seems a bit premature to put it on this list, particularly at number one. Just my opinion.

[ollie]

The lightning managed to get so many kills on US aircraft of the same era. Very effective, so no clue why it has been included

[Moggy]

The EE Lightning was designed for one job. To shoot down Soviet bombers over the North sea if the cold war got hot.
It would have been astounding at this.
The Sea Vixen on the

[sisquack]

Very odd list, can't say I agree with much if any of it.

[AndreiTupolev]

Lightning? An early 1950s design that remained in service until, I think, 1988, and one of the fastest and highest-flying fighters ever?

[WeSRT]

The F-35 had its problems, but in no way should it be on this list. The F-35 would kill just about anything in the sky without the other aircraft even knowing it was there.

[pauldavidson]

The lightning didn't need long range it needed climb speed which it had, it was designed as a point defense interceptor, something it did very well.the me 163 isn't a jet

[rothotborski]

This list is just weird and a sign of incompetence...

[idkwhattomakemyname]

This dude must have picked the top 50 worst planes and then hit shuffle and put the top 10 after the shuffle on the list

[everypitchcounts]

The SU-57 & SU-75 should be on this list before any F-35.

[evilguy]

I get why the F-35 is on the list but it most definitely is not the worst. The B model is easily an engineering marvel (even tho it’s existence has held back the other two variants) and all of them are very easy to fly.

[tidepoolclipper]

Putting F-35 on the first place makes no sense. F7U Cutlas, Komet, Delta Dagger, and Heinkel 162 are easily more lethal towards their own pilot or displayed a notably more disappointing performance than the F-35.

[peterhuxley]

Interesting to see that the aircraft chosen are in many cases prototypes or little more than that. Some of the others are first generation jets which, unsurprisingly have been improved upon since. Its rather like saying that designs were bad when engineers were still trying to decide what would work at all.