Airliners of my childhood/youth; I had the fun of living under the 28L, as it was, approach to Heathrow then:
Vickers VC-10 -- very elegant indeed; the Ilyushin Il-62 coming close.
Boeing 707, Douglas DC-8 -- well proportioned.
Convair 900 Coronado -- the most elegant four-engine (on wings) plane; really smoky as well, although that wasn't really such a good thing.
Of the smaller ones, the Tupelov Tu-104 was the most striking in appearance.
I've never been that keen on the Boeing 747, especially later on when the top deck was extended and winglets seemingly nailed on. The 747SP was weird with the back end of the fuselage looking like one of those 'cut and shut' jobs done in a dodgy garage, somehow its stubbiness was attractive, unlike the other early wide-body planes, DC-10, Tristar, A300, which I found too portly.
Of the propeller planes, the Airspeed Ambassador was my favourite, aesthetically ahead of its time. (I saw the ill-fated G-AMAD on its final approach on 28R, and wondered why nothing else followed it in: we didn't have instant news back then.)
Today's airliners:
Boeing 767 and 777 are nicely proportioned, they don't look as fat as the earlier wide-body planes; the longer versions look good, especially the 767-400. Looking forward to the 777-900.
I've always thought that something doesn't quite look right with the A330 and A340, although I'm not sure what. The A340-200 and 300's engines looked far too small. The A340-500 and 600 were a considerable improvement.
The A350 is a fair improvement on the A330.
The Boeing 787 is the most elegant large airliner around, the stretched 9 and 10 versions especially.
The 747-800 freighter is the most elegant of the 747 family, much better proportioned, finally got it right; the passenger version's even longer top deck makes it look very front-heavy.
As for the smaller ones, I need a very close look to tell them apart!
