25 Bizarre Aircraft

[PingDit]

I found myself bumbling my way through the internet and came across this site. I've seen perhaps a couple of these 25 bizarre aircraft before but didn't know of the existence of the others. How on earth did some of them ever get off the ground?
25 Bizarre Aircraft That Don't Look Like They Should Fly (http://gizmodo.com/5977930/25-bizzarre-aircraft-that-dont-look-like-they-should-fly)


http://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/n608/PingDit/Stipa-Caproni.jpg (http://s1142.photobucket.com/user/PingDit/media/Stipa-Caproni.jpg.html)

[TOWTEAMBASE]

I can only see 4 :-)

[PingDit]

...and they're all the same aircraft. Go via the shortcut above to view all 25 aircraft :ok:

[TOWTEAMBASE]

Surprised the more recent beluga and dreamlifter didn't make it, they are weird looking mothers too :-)

[joy ride]

Quite a preponderance of US aircraft in that selection. I would certainly add the RR "Flying Bedstead", Fairey Rotodyne, Heinkel He 111 "Zwilling" (Twin), any number of experimental German WW2 designs, the Tarrant Tabor, Dornier DoX.

[Allan Lupton]

Yes, many are US aeroplanes/airplanes and many of the 25 look perfectly airworthy to my eye.
I presume the compiler has led a sheltered life, well removed from arcraft design.

[seacue]

You want Weird? How about the PL-12?

Transavia PL-12 Airtruck - utility (http://www.aviastar.org/air/australia/transavia_airtruck.php)

[joy ride]

Yup, the PL-12 is a real oddball!

[PingDit]

'You want Weird? How about the PL-12?'


Looks positively airworthy to me! I only used to knock about in Dominies and Nimrods. At least they both had wings!

[FlightlessParrot]

Used to see a Pl-12 as I drove past Ardmore, and boggled everytime, but I have never seen its predecessor, the Bennett Airtruck (with a c), which looks as though it was cobbled together from miscellaneous parts (which, I believe, it was).

When I was looking up the PL-12 in Wikipedia, I had a senior moment with the manufacturer's name, and entered "Panavia Airtruk." There's a thought.

[joy ride]

The GA Fleet Shadower is another oddity:

General Aircraft Fleet Shadower - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Aircraft_Fleet_Shadower)

The point though is that if a plane is designed for a very particular need, then "normal" design aesthetics may have to be sacrificed.

[Kieron Kirk]

"Bennett Airtruck (with a c), which looks as though it was cobbled together from miscellaneous parts (which, I believe, it was)."

Thanks to Bill Green's epic "The Aircraft of the World" from 1965, it became the Waitomo Airtruck with a P&W R-1340 and main wheels from a North American T-6.

"When I was looking up the PL-12 in Wikipedia, I had a senior moment with the manufacturer's name, and entered "Panavia Airtruk." "

I thought "Panavia " was a bankrupt South American airline?

Ciarain.

[treadigraph]

I thought "Panavia " was a bankrupt South American airline?

Panair do Brasil I think you mean? Panavia was the "joint venture" name behind the Tornado.

[Kieron Kirk]

"Panair do Brasil I think you mean? Panavia was the "joint venture" name behind the Tornado."

I have always thought "Sepecat" was a sensible name, whereas "Panavia" was a purveyor of flick knives.

Flight's "Roger Bacon" came up with the wonderful comment of "a bankrupt South American airline".

Ciarain.

[treadigraph]

Ah, Straight and Level, with you now! Flick knife, yes.

Mind you, RB's bankrupt airline reference might also have been Panagra.

[barit1]

The Vought Flying Pancake had a predecessor in the Arup designs. My uncle wrote some history of these. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nxz1UF67EQI

[joy ride]

I read an article in Air and Space Smithsonian about 20 years ago all about the fascinating project from shoe insert to Flying Pancake.

When I was about 8 an Aunt took me and my brother to the Science Museum and told me that Pterodactyl designer Prof Hill was a relative of ours, will have to check ancestry sometime! A Pterodactyl and an Autogyro were used when setting up and calibrating Britain's radar defence system before WW2.

Radical then, but the basic shape is now so familiar thanks to hang gliders

The Westland Hill Pterodactyl:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5W1pmqLHYm4

[Shaggy Sheep Driver]

The X-3 Stiletto appeared in a 1950s annual I got one christmas when I was about 6 or 7. I thought it looked superb then; still do, though I believe it fails the 'if it looks right it flies right' generalisation.

[barit1]

The X-3 wasn't bad as a research aircraft, although with ancient J34's it was underpowered.

[Wander00]

As kid I grew up not far from Northolt and whenever I could got my Dad to drive me over to "watch the planes" - this from early 50s. I have always thought I saw the Pterodactyl land there - certainly it was something very strange - were Pterodctyls still flying early to mid 50s, and if not I wonder what it might have been

[Genghis the Engineer]

Possibly the Short SB4 Sherpa which was being operated by the College of Aeronautics at Cranfield from 1951 to 1964 - entirely possible that it went into Northolt from time to time.

http://www.ulsteraviationsociety.org/communities/2/004/007/043/072//images/4530218888.jpg

G

[BOAC]

That's a really small propellor...........

[joy ride]

I had not heard of the Sherpa before.

[27mm]

Try the Short Seamew, of which a TP reported "Entry to the cockpit is difficult; it should be made impossible". ;)

[Allan Lupton]

Quote
Try the Short Seamew, of which a TP reported "Entry to the cockpit is difficult; it should be made impossible".

Don't know what this is to do with the thread, and I think it's a recycled comment applied much earlier to the Blackburn Skua (or perhaps Roc) at Martlesham Heath.

[Stanwell]

No, Allan. It has everything to do with this thread.
I did read the relevant contemporary report in Aeroplane Monthly some years ago.
Whether the Short Seamew could be described as 'bizarre' is moot.
Many other adjectives have been used to describe this aircraft's aesthetics and its characteristics - none of which were particularly complimentary.

And besides, the Roc and Skua were positively handsome compared to the Seamew.

[27mm]

Thank you, Stanwell.
I give you the Arsenal Delanne in gratitude. ;)

[evansb]

The Curtiss SO3C Seamew, AKA Seacow,was as bad a perfomer as the Blackburn B.26 Botha, both of which were reported by test pilots to be unworthy of ingress, but this thread is about weird aircraft, NOT bad aircraft.

This is weird: The Reid RFS-1, a submersible seaplane. Dove to a depth of 2 m. and flew to an altitude of 10 m. on June 9th, 1964.
http://i1047.photobucket.com/albums/b477/gumpjr_bucket/628625019683814950.jpg

[Genghis the Engineer]

Well if we're getting into "most bizarre aeroplanes I have encountered", my logbook shows 13 hours on a couple of these...

http://photos1.blogger.com/blogger/5599/710/320/238-G-MMWL.jpg


A little under 4 hours on these...

https://c1.staticflickr.com/3/2693/4452405900_e637401802.jpg

2 hours in one of these (look at the ailerons)
http://www.jc-24c.com/weedhopper/About_Weedhopper_files/shapeimage_4.png

And an hour in this (hint: look carefully at the tail!)
https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQN72eFSrZ3TZlxDNcv_sjJLGJsuTOaInhJxydF7LM fGvuW_yeV0w


Feel free to try and compete :p


Incidentally...

Try the Short Seamew, of which a TP reported "Entry to the cockpit is difficult; it should be made impossible".
Was, in my opinion never written by a TP as the author doesn't explain the reasons for the criticism. That said, I first heard it used in the context of the Bristol Belvedere.

G

[evansb]

http://i1047.photobucket.com/albums/b477/gumpjr_bucket/q56.jpg

[Dockwell]

Came across a pic of a Bede XBD2 today whilst flicking through a book at Farnborough's FAST museum


XBD-2 (http://www.bedecorp.com/xbd-2--not-currently-in-production-.html)

[evansb]

The Bede XBD-2 looks like a practical aircraft.

[Mechta]

evansb, Isn't that last one the Wiggins Aerodyne?

[evansb]

Possibly. The caption on the deguerreotype image is illegible...

[Dockwell]

The Bede may look practical but it also looks Bizarre

[Genghis the Engineer]

I think that having read the word "Bede" on it, I'd just back away slowly !

Apart from the AA5 (which was actually somebody else's redesign of his AA1), did he ever design anything that didn't end up with either commercial failure, a significant body count, or both?

G

[evansb]

The Bede BD-4 was a conventional design, a successful amateur build, and has a good safety record.

The Mississippi State University's XV-11 Marvel,
http://i1047.photobucket.com/albums/b477/gumpjr_bucket/300px-XV-11A_Marvel.jpg

and the Anderson Greenwood AG-14 are similar in configuration to the Bede XBD-2
http://i1047.photobucket.com/albums/b477/gumpjr_bucket/andersongreenwoodag-14.jpg

and somewhat similar to the Lockspeiser LDA-01: http://i1047.photobucket.com/albums/b477/gumpjr_bucket/6880L-4.jpg

[Flybiker7000]

My favourite to the subject is the Edgley EA7 Optica:
http://tighar.org/smf/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=1376.0;attach=7068

[Mechta]

Not much roll over protection on the Farnham Flycycle:

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b142/cringe_/unk42a.jpg

It was ridden like a motorcycle with all controls on, or by moving, the handlebars. A friend built a free-flight model of it which flew well, if rather more aerobatically than the original, thanks to having pendulum balanced elevator & rudder.

More about the full-size here: Popular Mechanics - Google Books (http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Bd0DAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA115&lpg=PA115&dq=farnham+flycycle&source=bl&ots=SkX23qrp4c&sig=sA43O7IZQQEDUF1i4t0ASHox98U&hl=en&sa=X&ei=wvGGVNC7N8e6Uf69g4gH&ved=0CCUQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=farnham%20flycycle&f=false)

[seacue]

Edgley EA7 Optica

I crested the hill on Interstate 270 heading into Frederick, Maryland. There was an obvious buzzing sound in the air ... looking around I saw an Edgley Optica. A very rare sighting for the USA. I suppose they were demonstrating it to the AOPA (Aircraft Owners & Pilots Assoc), which has headquarters at the Frederick airport.

It didn't sound anything like an unducted prop.

seacue

[Flybiker7000]

The Transavia PL-12 Airtruck is so bizarre that it apeared in the Australian futuristic and post apocalyptic movie 'Mad Max beyond thunderdome' :-o

[Noyade]

The Transavia PL-12 Airtruck is so bizarreFrom an early age Australian kids were taught there was nothing odd or bizarre about the Airtruk - "children, stop ya bitching and just colour it in!".

I never finished colouring mine in - too bizarre...

http://i58.tinypic.com/wup8w1.jpg

[Noyade]

G'day Brian.

http://i59.tinypic.com/11mepaf.jpg

Mate, I think your illustration on the previous page is the Mississppi Marvelette...

Mississippi State University XAZ-1 Marvelette - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippi_State_University_XAZ-1_Marvelette)

Here's the Greenwood...

Anderson Greenwood AG-14 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anderson_Greenwood_AG-14)

[India Four Two]

Definitely qualified to be in the "bizarre" category is the Tarrant Tabor:

http://www.aviastar.org/pictures/england/tarrant_tabor_1.jpg

Originally designed as a biplane with four 600HP Siddely Tiger engines. Redesigned with an extra wing and six 450 HP Napier Lion engines, when the Tigers were not ready in time!

Crashed on its first flight, due to the pitch-couple of the upper-two engines, combined the ballast in the nose(!), killing the pilots.

I've seen a Transavia Airtruk at the Ashburton NZ museum. According to a retired Kiwi ag pilot I know, it was very nice to fly and very effective in its job.

[Stanwell]

Re the Transavia Airtruk:

I really don't understand why so many people describe that beautiful flying machine as 'bizarre'.

To me, it is the epitome of 'fit for purpose'.

[Stanwell]

The Tarrant Tabor:

Umm, yeah - but don't forget yer tie-downs!

[Flybiker7000]

@Stanwell: Even at 'fit for purpose' there can be talked about bizarre constructions!
Designers and engineers might be the ones who desire function but even though taste is difficult to discuss, interresting airplanes as the Airtruk; the A10 tankbuster and the Optica is hard to think as beautifull.
By the way: bizarre - definition of bizarre by The Free Dictionary (http://www.thefreedictionary.com/bizarre)

[joy ride]

Piasecki PA97 Helistat, bizarre and ridiculous! From 1 minute 27 seconds:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvY0kglVDXE&index=7&list=FL_42elZmeQYNhrsdb26xVAg