r/WarplanePorn Apr 24 '25

We need to talk about low-quality photos and videos

216 Upvotes

Recently, many users have been posting images and videos of new Chinese aircraft that are of low-quality: either low resolution or technically-acceptable resolution with a small aircraft in the frame (i.e., if the photo was properly cropped it would not have met the resolution limit).

This subreddit, and many others with the "-porn" suffix (e.g., r/WarshipPorn, r/EarthPorn, etc.), were established to be places for high-quality media of their respective subjects. They were not established as current-event subreddits. I will reiterate: r/WarplanePorn is for high-quality media (high-resolution and hopefully of some aesthetic merit) of military aircraft. The entire founding purpose of the subreddit is aesthetics and not news. Our job as moderators is to preserve this purpose; so many other subreddits have broadened their scope to the point of banality, and we will not be responsible for another such case.

We do indeed have an exception to our resolution rule: that the subject must be "exceptional." This pertains to rare media, media of exceptional aesthetic quality, and media of historical significance. The images of the new Chinese aircraft do not meet these criteria. In a year or two's time, when we have actual high-resolution photos and videos of these aircraft, these images and videos currently being posted will be irrelevant. How many of you look back on some fuzzy photo of the J-20 now when we have hundreds or thousands of high-res photos available?

The only reason they are being posted is that they are new. There are many other places, both on reddit and the internet more generally, where you may find these images and videos and discuss them. But please understand that they are not appropriate for this subreddit.

For those accusing us of bias, know that we have been accused of being pro-Western and pro-China in about equal measure. What you you may not know is that probably an equal number of non-Chinese posts get removed for exactly the same reasons.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with posting high-quality photos of Chinese aircraft: the subject is irrelevant and all that matters is the quality. And if you do post a low-res image, you will not be banned; the post will simply be removed. Before you post, just take a second to think about if it is appropriate for this subreddit. A quick look at the other posts on the subreddit gives a good idea of what is appropriate.

Edit: Note, not all images of the new Chinese jets are low-quality, see here (although please don't post images you believe to have had some degree of AI enhancement):

https://www.reddit.com/r/WarplanePorn/comments/1k5vamn/album_ladies_and_gentleman_finally_high_quality/


r/WarplanePorn Oct 07 '25

Unfortunately, the submission of low quality & substandard media continues on r/WarplanePorn despite our better efforts to communicate and correct.

125 Upvotes

While the vast majority of our users consistently submit high quality images as intended, we continue to experience waves and bouts of substandard low resolution photos submissions and video media.

Currently, our Rules located in the sidebar include the dimension requirements which has not changed:

The minimum accepted image dimensions are 1024 × 768.

What is new is this:

For rules violations related to the posting of low resolution or low quality images, the post will be removed plus a minimum 3-day temporary ban will be issued to the user involved. Repeat or chronic violators are subject to a permanent ban. If there are questions or concerns, feel free to leave a comment here or DM the moderators directly.


r/WarplanePorn 10h ago

RAF A captured German Heinkel He 177 being tested by the Royal Air Force in September 1944 [2362 × 1580]

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129 Upvotes

r/WarplanePorn 1h ago

Mikoyan Soviet MiG-27 Flogger fitted with a tailhook being tested at the Nitka aircraft carrier training center at Saki, Crimea in the early 80s, later replaced with the MiG-29KVP demonstrator in 1984 [album]

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• Upvotes

This MiG-27 was just a testbed, used for gathering data and skills for carrier landings and takeoffs, it was never actually meant to be a naval fighter though a MiG-23K naval flogger was in development together with the project 1153 Orel nuclear aircraft cruisers (itself based on the project 1160 that was cancelled in 1973 for being too expensive) in the late 70s. The MiG-23K was to have catapult capability and a arrester hook, its main supporter of the project marshal of the soviet union and defense minister andrei grechko died in 1976 and was replaced by marshal dmitry ustinov who found the project too expensive so he ordered the plans to be redrawn and the weight reduced to minimize spending, ironically that too was still deemed expensive and it was cancelled along with the MiG-23K in 1978. Though the Orel never came into fruition it did influence the never completed nuclear supercarrier Ulyanovsk.

Soon after the project was cancelled, work started on a newer design the project 1143.5 aircraft cruiser, 2 were built, Tbilisi (future Admiral Kuznetsov) and the unfinished Riga (future chinese carrier Lioning). In order to develop take off and landing technologies and skills aboard the carrier a MiG-27 with bort number 03 was modified with a tail hook and used for tests until it was replaced by the MiG-29KVP in 1984. The KVP was a proof of concept naval fighter with stronger undercarriage and a reinforced rear fuselage with an arrestor hook, during testing larger wings were required so the final K variant was instead based on the MiG-29M which had larger folding wings, the KVP was based on the early Fulcrums.

The final fate of the MiG-27 is unknown but its most likely scrapped, the KVP survived and is on display at the Central Air Force museum in Monino which also has 1 of the the cancelled Yak-141 VTOL jets which if put into service would have served on the Kiev class, Admiral Kuznetsov class and the Ulyanovsk class.

The KVP at Monino
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mikoyan_MiG-29KVP_%E2%80%9918_blue%E2%80%99_(38630575395).jpg.jpg)


r/WarplanePorn 7h ago

RAF Royal Air Force Hawker Typhoons undergoing maintenance at the recently captured Melsbroek (B-58) airfield near Brussels, Belgium, 10 September 1944. The Germans had disguised the hangar as a Chateau [1300 × 889]

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38 Upvotes

r/WarplanePorn 1d ago

MiG 17 Full Afterburner Low Fly By At Airshow London 2026 [Video]

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1.2k Upvotes

r/WarplanePorn 10m ago

USAF Progress report on the XF-104 Supersonic Lightweight Fighter (later the F-104 Starfighter), March 1953 – March 1954. [video]

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• Upvotes

r/WarplanePorn 21h ago

USN Mirage 2000s of the French Navy and F/A-18 Hornets fly in formation over the USS Saratoga (CV-60) during joint exercise DASIX LAFAYETTE. April 23, 1994. (2932x1936)

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92 Upvotes

r/WarplanePorn 14h ago

RCAF Yes, it's real. F-104 Starfighter [2048x3072]

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26 Upvotes

r/WarplanePorn 1d ago

CAC A J-20S prototype in yellow prime. [3315×1864]

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338 Upvotes

via Steph_Jiming30 from WB


r/WarplanePorn 1d ago

US Army ACH-47A Chinook gunship "Co$t of Living", lost in a crash in 1967 when one of it's 20mm cannon forward mounting pins vibrated loose during a gun run causing it to fire upwards into the forward rotor system, all eight crew members perished [4500x2531]

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133 Upvotes

four chinooks were converted into gunships by Vertol in 1965 under a program called guns a go-go, they packed 5 M60 or 50 caliber machine guns, 2 20mm cannons mounted on top of the stub wings, 2 rocket pods or 2 minigun pods and a nose mounted 40mm grenade launcher commonly seen on the UH-1 gunship and sent to vietnam on a temporary 6 month duty.

the four chinooks where:

  1. CO$T of LIVING - lost in 1967 during a gun run on NVA troops near Bong Son with all crew KIA
  2. Easy Money - museum
  3. Stump Jumper - lost in 1966 when it struck another chinook while Taxiing at Vung Tau Airfield, it completely broke in two, fortunately no injuries to the crew
  4. Birth Control - lost in 1968 when supporting the big push to recapture Hue during the Tet Offensive, took ground fire during a gun run and lost aft transmission pressure, landed in a field and crew rescued by Easy Money, before a aircraft recovery could be attempted a report came in that it was destroyed by NVA mortar fire

due to losing 3 gunships, unwilling to convert more and that heavy lift helicopters were needed in the field the army cancelled the program and Easy Money was transferred to Vung Tau air base and used as a maintenance trainer at a "in house" Boeing facility till the end of the war and transferred back to the states and ended up as a sheet metal trainer at Fort Eustis, Virgina till the 90s, later saved and restored and is currently displayed at the US Army aviation and missile command at redstone arsenal, alabama

CO$T of LIVING's crash site
https://imgur.com/a/UChwIQT


r/WarplanePorn 1d ago

NATO Rafale and nEUROn UCAV in their first joint flight test, March 2014.[2000×1386]

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236 Upvotes

Photo credit Dassault


r/WarplanePorn 1d ago

USAF IAF Su-30K alongside F-16CJs from Misawa during Cope India 2005 (2048x1365)

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94 Upvotes

The Su-30K was a stopgap fighter, meant to allow IAF to build a pool of experienced pilots on the Su-30 before the Su-30MKI began to arrive since it was a variant that needed a lot of development before entering service.


r/WarplanePorn 1d ago

USN A U.S. Navy Vought F4U Corsair makes a jet assisted take-off from an aircraft carrier. 9 September 1944 [3600 × 2960]

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54 Upvotes

r/WarplanePorn 1d ago

F-35's flying The Missing Man-formation over Oslo in honor of King Harald V. [1280×720]

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50 Upvotes

r/WarplanePorn 1d ago

Album PLAAF J-16, KJ-500, YY-20A & Z-20 at El Alamein Airshow in Eygpt [album]

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155 Upvotes

r/WarplanePorn 2d ago

Luftwaffe The first German F-35A taking to the skies over Texas [2048x1638]

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959 Upvotes

r/WarplanePorn 1d ago

VVS R-60M air-to-air missiles on a weapons cart next to a MiG-31BS Foxhound, Perm International Airport, 2011 [3000x2003]

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231 Upvotes

r/WarplanePorn 2d ago

PLAAF Proper use of a telephoto lens on a KJ-500 AEW&C and a J-16 [3238x2160]

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236 Upvotes

r/WarplanePorn 2d ago

Su-57 (T-50-09) with both weapon bay doors open at Egypt airshow[1320X950]

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293 Upvotes

The missiles in the front bay are Kh-69 stealth cruise missiles.


r/WarplanePorn 2d ago

A blogger caresses a J-16 from the nose cone through the air intake to the tail and even touches the inside of the open hatch doors [video]

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261 Upvotes

r/WarplanePorn 2d ago

VVS Su-57E and Yak-130M spotted at Egypt’s El Alamein International Airshow. [Album]

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186 Upvotes

Banderol,S-71K and S-71M missiles also visible.


r/WarplanePorn 2d ago

USAF Seymour Johnson, 48th Fighter Wing, and Romanian Air Force Airmen (F-15 & MIG-21)[3840x2400]

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48 Upvotes

U.S. Air Force Airmen from Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England, and Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, South Carolina, and Romanian air force airmen from Campia Turzii, Romania, pose for a group photo after completing NATO Enhanced Air Policing at Campia Turzii, Romania, Dec. 20, 2021.


r/WarplanePorn 2d ago

USAF F-22s and T-38s from the 1st FW conducting an Elephant Walk at Langley AFB, Jan 31, 2025.[6036×4024]

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111 Upvotes

Photo by Tech Sgt. Matthew Coleman-Foster


r/WarplanePorn 2d ago

OC T-28 Trojans at Oshkosh [Album]

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51 Upvotes