25 Bizarre Aircraft
 

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://i1142.photobucket.com/albums/...pa-Caproni.jpg

25 Bizarre Aircraft
 

I can only see 4 :-)

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

25 Bizarre Aircraft
 

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

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.

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.

You want Weird? How about the PL-12?

Transavia PL-12 Airtruck - utility

Yup, the PL-12 is a real oddball!

'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!

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.

The GA Fleet Shadower is another oddity:

General Aircraft Fleet Shadower - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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

"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.

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

"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.

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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