Picture of the day

[Dark Alley Dan]

A contender for fugliest airplane...

I kinda like it. It's out-of-the-box thinking. It's what happens when you tell a German aeronautical engineer "I bet you can't do this" and he's most of the way through a bottle of peppermint schnapps and three schnitzels.

For really truly inspired flying hideousness, for airplanes so ugly they fly via the power of the earth pushing them away from itself, we must go to the French. The Loire-Nieuport LN-40 series answers the question "Can I make a Stuka more homely?"

Or the shipping crate the LN40 was delivered in, the Block MB 210:

(Poor thing should see a doctor about that growth on her nose. Looks malignant.)

And although I picked on the Amiot 143 a mere 20 or so posts ago, I can't leave it out of a conversation about ugly airplanes.

 

[donor]

IMHO one of the ugliest stingbags ever made: Caudron G.3

Build in incredible numbers ,in many places around the world and trained pilots sometimes well into 1930s.I pity the fool charged with tensioning all those wires.

 

[Dark Alley Dan]

In fairness to the wire-stringin sumbiches at Caudron, it was pretty early in the game. They were trying all kinds of loopy sh!t in those days.

Behold the Kennedy Giant:

Unlovely in all dimensions and from every angle.

But it did keep the lads down at the lumberyard very busy indeed.

 

[Brookwood]

Not quite military, though it was demonstrated for consideration to the Italian Air-force. WAY outside the box thinking - presenting the 1933 Stipa-Caproni.

Brookwood

 

[Halger280HVMag]

Pretty good proof of concept for the ducted fan!

Not quite military, though it was demonstrated for consideration to the Italian Air-force. WAY outside the box thinking - presenting the 1933 Stipa-Caproni.

Brookwood

 

[Dark Alley Dan]

Coming soon to a Miyazaki film.

 

[diopter]

Arsenal-Delanne 10

 

[Ganderite]

A contender perhaps, but hard to beat this Westland P.12 offshoot of the Lysander.

OMG. How can the Brits have so many beautiful planes; and some of the ugliest? I don't which of these two is the worst, but it would hurt my brain to have to compare them...

 

[grelmar]

Arsenal-Delanne 10

Perfect for the pilot with no interest in seeing where he's going or what's below him, just what's above and behind....

Seriously, that looks to have suicidal vision issues.

 

[Dark Alley Dan]

Thanks to the layout of single-engine aircraft, it's a PITA trying to give the pilot any kind of clear view out the front. We seem to have decided that tractor engines applying thrust through the center of the fuselage is the way to go. But when we go with two engines, things improve vastly. Witness the evolution of the JU 88 family.

The JU88:

Not bad - not much out in front to screw up the line of sight. But could be better.

The Ju188:

Better yet - all one long curve. Positively spacious.

The Ju288:

More glass yet!

The Ju 388:

But why the hell would you want gobs of forward vision in a bomber? Well, so you can better aim your 75 mm gun at other bombers, tanks, and random annoyances. Behold the Ju88-P1. Not many made, slow and vulnerable to fighter interception when deployed in the anti-bomber role, but about as much gun as the Ju88 could carry. Apparently there were attempts made at mounting the 88 Flak in the same spot, but they just weren't successful.

(Of course my theory regarding forward vision goes out the window (no pun intended) when they tinned in the nose on the p series attack bombers, but what the hell. )

 

[Dark Alley Dan]

Once we swap jets for props, it gets better instantly. Witness the XF-86 prototype:

That's an office with a view.

 

[grinder08]

OMG. How can the Brits have so many beautiful planes; and some of the ugliest? I don't which of these two is the worst, but it would hurt my brain to have to compare them...

Lets take a bit from this plane , a bit form another, throw a few special design bits in to stick them together and voila. Look what ugliness we have. Mum look what I made.

 

[grinder08]

Now the Sabre, she is one pretty plane.

 

[Still alive]

Now the Sabre, she is one pretty plane.

Yup!
Can anyone post a pic of the Hawker Hunter? IMO, the cleanest lines from the 60s.

 

[Rod B]

I like these two old bombers from the '60's, RAF Vulcan & Victor

 

[CV32]

Yup!
Can anyone post a pic of the Hawker Hunter? IMO, the cleanest lines from the 60s.

 

[Still alive]

Thanks CV! But did you have to pick that color scheme? LOL!!

 

[diopter]

 

[Sharps '74]

The Dehavilland "Dragon" Rapide of the Rhine Army Parachute Association was photo'd by the retiring RAF pilot who flew her on weekends at Sennelager, Germany. We met him at 13,000' on our way to a demo jump at Bielefeld.

He took three passes with his photo recce Hawker Hunter, each one successively slower until he was falling out of the sky with flaps and gear down. He still passed us at our top speed of 125 knots.

The image of the beautiful RAF camo Hawker Hunter is still sharp in my memory .....

BTW - he told us that after a mission, the interpreters put more value on what he saw with the naked eye rather than his pics. That always puzzled me .....

 

[donor]

I think everyone knows of Ju-52 but very few know first version use to be single engined, and like many other Junkers products it resembled nothing designed before or since.

I have been looking into old Junkers machines and it looks like there use to be a lot of them buzzing around Canada before WW2. Many examples of early Junkers products ended up flying in bush and all over the country.