Well from a former ground
pounder who came to know and love forward air support,
The most beautiful warbird currently flying in active duty is (drum roll please) the A-10 , or more affectionatly known as the Warthog.
It's slow and not real nimble, but when it speaks something gets disintigrated, it takes a licking and keeps on ticking, several of the A-10's in the Desert Storm Op, were hit, damned hard too, and got their pilots home.
All them fancy supersonic fighters may look better, but as in the case of the "34" beauty takes a second seat to performance when it comes to keeping me breathing regular.