Goofiest looking plane of all time?!

[dr wogz]

In theme with a few airplane threads..

What do you consider to be the goofiest looking plane ever to fly? Some weird asymmetrical thing from Blumm & Voss in 1943(?) or a sorta-bi-plane-twin-boom-tail thing from a certain 3rd movie about a man named (Mad) max Rocketansky?

Or more practical / functional weirdos, like NASA's 'Guppy' or the 'flying bed frame'?

Post 'em if you got em!

 

[BABAR]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNECMA_Coléoptère

 

[Mugs914]

Wow, no shortage of material for this one!

Here are a few mildly goofy ones, just to get a start:

Fairey Gannet:


Shorts Seamew:


Blackburn B-54:


All are British ASW airplanes from the 50s era. Like I said, only mildly goofy in the overall scheme of things...

 

[neil_w]

I swear this was the first thing that came to mind.

 

[rstaff3]

rather than download and repost...https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...y-should-fly&usg=AOvVaw3Zo4t6xlkYU5B3nwD2D9eS

 

[Amsterdam]

Italy’s Stipa-Caproni

 

[Mugs914]

 

[jrkennedy2]

I swear this was the first thing that came to mind.

+1 Aztec, I'd heard they later had the same guy do the Corvette. Many cringed at that...

 

[hornet driver]

Italy’s Stipa-Caproni

Yea , that was my vote.

 

[pyrobob]

I swear this was the first thing that came to mind.

:rofl:

 

[LithosphereRocketry]

Only slightly weird, but with a bit of weird trivia... The A-10 Warthog. (Official name Thunderbolt II, but it will always be the Warthog to me)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairchild_Republic_A-10_Thunderbolt_II

The whole plane was built around the GAU-8 Avenger rotary cannon (like a Gatling gun but huge), which takes 30mm rounds. So imagine stuffing a 29mm reload case with lead and shooting it at Mach 3. This creates a lot of recoil- so much so that if it were to be fired with one of the ridiculous looking jet engines out, the plane would accelerate backward.

Because of the size of the gun, the forward landing gear was side mounted, adding to the ridiculousness. Also, the gun made up so much of the forward weight that when it was being repaired the plane had to be put on a jack to avoid it tipping over backward.

Randall Munroe's What If article on machine gun jetpacks cites the GAU-8 as a good choice, though of course the Russians have a better one: https://what-if.xkcd.com/21/

 

[K'Tesh]

Nice try guys... But it really does have to be the Transavia PL-12 Airtruk "The Flying Jalopy" from the Mad Max movies.

Unless you're being literal...

 

[Mugs914]

Yeah, the Skytruck is tough to beat for goofyness...

 

[krislhull]

I've always been partial to the PZL M-15. It is the only jet crop duster and jet biplane to enter production.

 

[neil_w]

Some great examples here, keep them coming.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the completely batsh!t crazy SNECMA Coléoptère that BABAR posted.

 

[EXPjawa]

I know classifying as a "plane" is debatable, but it still flies...

 

[rstaff3]

I know classifying as a "plane" is debatable, but it still flies...

This gets extra points for barely flying

 

[Bat-mite]

There are a lot of goofy planes here! But ... you can't get any goofier than a plane with no wings. :fly:

 

[K'Tesh]

There are a lot of goofy planes here! But ... you can't get any goofier than a plane with no wings. :fly:

 

[dr wogz]

Didn't Steve Austin fly that thing? had a really bad landing.. then had an operation.. then fought crime in a really really bad suit?!

 

[Bat-mite]

Didn't Steve Austin fly that thing? had a really bad landing.. then had an operation.. then fought crime in a really really bad suit?!

You nailed it! Although his was the HL-10 (in the stock footage), or the M3-F3 (novel) which was probably the M2-F3.

BTW, the novel Cyborg upon which the "Six Million Dollar Man" was based is one of my favorite sci-fi/spy books of all time. Much more realistic -- no superpowers -- and a good psych study. I highly recommend it.

 

[MaxQ]

Jet:





Prop:

 

[krislhull]

You nailed it! Although his was the HL-10 (in the stock footage), or the M3-F3 (novel) which was probably the M2-F3.

BTW, the novel Cyborg upon which the "Six Million Dollar Man" was based is one of my favorite sci-fi/spy books of all time. Much more realistic -- no superpowers -- and a good psych study. I highly recommend it.

The crash seen on the TV show was the crash of the M2-F2, and after the crash, it was rebuilt and modified into the M2-F3. The HL-10 never crashed, but it did have some stability issues on the first couple of flights that nearly caused it to crash.

A good source of info on the lifting bodies is Wingless Flight by Dale Reed, the NASA engineer who developed the concept, and Flying Without Wings, by Milt Thompson, the NASA Test pilot who served as the chief project pilot for the program, and also flew the X-15.

I had a chance to photograph the M2-F1 at NASA Dryden (Armstrong) a few years ago.

 

[hornet driver]

I imagine this should be in the top ten--

 

[jlabrasca]

https://www.aviastar.org/air/usa/rutan_quickie.php

 

[PBic]

I think there's a message with this one. Anyone know what that might be? I think he's got a chicken in the cockpit as well.

 

[PBic]

opps

 

[markkoelsch]

Didn't Steve Austin fly that thing? had a really bad landing.. then had an operation.. then fought crime in a really really bad suit?!

And fought Bigfoot...


Sent from my iPad using Rocketry Forum

 

[rharshberger]

I imagine this should be in the top ten--

Tacit Blue, the flying shovel, hard to believe stealth aircraft can from that.

 

[krislhull]

I imagine this should be in the top ten--

I actually think that Tacit Blue is a much better looking aircraft than Have Blue, the demonstrator for what became the F-117, was.