Aircraft type and owner personality

I say nothing of Mustangs, but…

If you are not at all moved by the sight and sound of a merlin engined spitfire doing a classic curving approach, low pass, climb, and departing roll, then you have no soul…

Silvaire wrote:

The form of a plane is driven by function

To paraphrase Saint Exupéry: the aeroplane is beautiful because everything unnecessary has been removed and only the essence remains.

Il semble que la perfection soit atteinte non quand il n’y a plus rien à ajouter, mais quand il n’y a plus rien à retrancher. Terre de Hommes (1939)
[Perfection is finally attained not when there is no longer anything to add but when there is no longer anything to take away. Wind Sand and Stars]

Or alternatively, as the American aviators apparently said during WW2: If it’s ugly, it’s British. If it’s weird, it’s French. And if it’s ugly AND weird, it’s Russian. (Though I’m sure they made an exception for the Spitfire).

And +1 to @skydriller, the Merlin just makes a wonderful sound. There is nothing quite like it. On the other hand, the Russian radials are like flying a tractor.

Any of the aeronautical V12s are great to watch and hear making a fly-by, I agree, but my interest in planes is more about operating them than watching them. Flying in a Mustang, I found the Merlin a negative and a turboprop would have been much better. With a good headset plus ear plugs it’s doubtless less annoying because you can’t hear it as well