I was thinking to myself the other day and I know this will vary depending on your view point but what 10 Western aircraft would you say define the Cold war 1948 - 1991.
No Soviet/Warsaw pact built or operated in this list
My take;
Sepecat Jaguar
Hawker Hunter
F-14 Tomcat
EE Lightning
Mirage III
SR-71 Blackbird
F-86 Sabre
F-104 Starfighter
Panavia Tornado
F-4 Phantom
Now there are others, but I’m limiting this to TEN.
So over to you and lets have your 10 iconic western Cold war aircraft.
Interesting discussion.
It’s hard to choose just 10, but I would go with:
F-4 Phantom
F-100 Super Sabre
U-2
C-130 Hercules
Blackburn Buccaneer
Sepecat Jaguar
BAC Harrier GR.3
BAC Nimrod
Dassault Mirage III
And not strictly a NATO type, I’d go with the Saab Viggen for my tenth.
My top 10 list would be
F-4 Phantom
F-104 Starfighter
F-16 Fighting Falcon
F-84 Thunderstreak
Hawker Hunter
Panavia Tornado
Dassault Mirage III/V
Lockheed T-33
Northrop F-5A/F-5E
Canberra/B-57
my main reasoning for these is that they were all flown by air arms of more than just their home design countries. Otherwise I would have replaced one with the iconic aircraft of the Cold War, the B-52
A shame you don’t include the opposition - I remember all those grainy black & white pics in my Observer’s Book of Aircraft of such sinister-looking aircraft as the many Migs, the Sukhois and those strange looking Yak bombers - with the massive twin engines and the glazed nose!
But if it’s NATO stuff, well, I can’t run to 10, but will just recall the aircraft I used to see, fairly regularly, during my childhood, and these were mainly craft flying out of Boscombe Down; where I was dumped with relatives for the school holidays was within an area whereby those flying out of the establishment, flew over our heads, as we paddled about in the river Ebble, catching minnows and freshwater crayfish.
So:
Sea Vixen
Buccaneer
Javelin
Hawker Hunter
and I know it’s an experimental aircraft, but the mighty TSR-2, which I was lucky enough to see in flight
Harrier - although back then was still in its P1127 guise
Once I’d joined up, I recall F-104 (Luftwaffe)
Phantom
Buccaneer - again - but flying so low it thought it was getting in the back seat of my Mini (again, in the vicinity of Boscombe Down) as I drove along the A345.
Seems like the Berlin airlift should get a nod here….
The C-47 at least.
How could you forget the Bombers? B-36, B-47, B-52, B-58, Vulcan, Victor, Valiant.
I didn’t I just couldn’t fit them into a list of TEN, I also left out the F-105, Harrier, Canberra, Vulcan, A-6, Meteor, G.91, Hawk, Mirage IV, U-2.
If you are so concerned about the bombers make it a list of ten but only ten.
When I think of the Cold War my first image is of the guy riding the nuc that was dropped out of his B-52 and waving his cowboy hat so that kicks off my ten.
keeping it strictly to US:
U-2
SR-71
F-86
F-102
F-106
F-101
F-4
A-10
B-52
F-104
Problem is, the Cold War is a very long time period, during which aircraft development proceeded at a terrific pace. If I were asking the question, I’d have separate categories for other nationalities. For all nationalities, I wouldn’t limit it to ten.
The Cold War began in 1945, shortly after the end of World War II, and officially ended in 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed. It involved, one way or another, most of the planet. Not only warsaw pact countries, and NATO countries, but also many other countries “under the influence” of one of the two blocks, nd it includes a few hot wars too like Korea and Vietnam.
Hence, more or less anyhting will do for a related campaign.
Maybe it would be an option to restrict to “quantum leap” aircraft? Meaning ircraft that introduced a serious step forward in technology and capabilities for one or the other side?
I would mention here:
MIG-15, MIG-25, MIG-29, SU-27
F-86, F-15, F-16, F-22
Not what I asked and it is not a campaign suggestion.
My thought as well. The B-52 would be first on my list. And the U-2 would be in the upper ranking as well.
Another one baffling in its first appearance so far down in the thread. It’s the first Soviet one I think of.
It appears some people can’t read the original post!
if you can read then you will know it says no Soviet/Warsaw pact built or operated aircraft, now go and learn how to read and try again with your list of TEN ‘Western’ Cold War 1948-1991 aircraft.
B-52: as much as I appreciate the other ones and love the B-58, when someone says Cold War strategic bomber, who does not mentally envision the BUFF?
F-4: do everything and do it everywhere Western fighter.
Mirage III/V family: classic Delta scene widely around the world.
F-104: love it or hate it, they were everywhere and a lynch pin in Western defense doctrine.
F-14/F-15: unbeaten champions of air-to-air that scared the Reds, and all but guaranteed that whatever Western aircraft were behind them would get through to the target unmolested by MiGs and Sukhois.
C-130: nothing else flies/flights if the trash does not get hauled.
C-141: where did these NOT show up?
Vulcan: wasn’t it Breshnev said the Vulcan V-bomber was what kept him up at night?
Hunter: the subsonic F4/Mirage of its day that was everywhere, and a serious problem for the bad guys.
Harrier: developed into something beyond a “novelty A-4” take you up there Reds one more headache to solve.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Every other carrier based fighter and attack plane, without which there be no purpose to have the aircraft carriers.
F-100: the main plane for TAC until the F4 supplanted it. Practically everyone flew it and cut their teeth on it.
BAC Lightning: THE interceptor.
Century Series: as extraordinary as the series was, and while some of them could do one or two things a little better than the F-4, these aircraft were all purpose-built limited-mission aircraft that were eventually wrapped up and meld together into what the mighty F-4 Phantom was.
F-80/-84/-86/F9F/Jaguar/Super Mystier/SR-71/U-2/ everything else: some incomparables, some were superb and adaptable in what they did, some were jack of all trades. Many of the third and fourth generation aircraft were designed for the shoulders of those aircraft. But I believe that they were too specialized or not ubiquitous enough.
No, I read these threads like I read other things - I skip the fluff and read the things in bold print - like the title.
These I think of as “Cold War”. If it came in silver with U.S. AIRFORCE in giant letters all over it, it was cold war.
F 86
F100
F101
F102/106
F104
F105
F 8
A 4
B 36
B 47
B 52
B 58
C 124
C130
C133
That makes 10. 
Saab Viggen
Vulcan
English Electric Lightning
B-52
F-4 Phantom
F-5A/E
F-86 Sabre
F-104
BAC Harrier
Mirage III / IV
My choice and in order of how much love I have for them lol
A1-SKYRAIDER
A4-SKYHAWK
A6-INTRUDER
F-1O5 THUD
A26/B26 COUNTER INVADER (HOPEFULLY COUNTS)
LIGHTING
PHANTOM
A-10 THUNDERBOLT II
F-14 TOMCAT
C-130