Unusual aircraft

The invention of aircraft - one of the greatest events in the history of mankind. Aviation and aeronautics sectors have always been considered that challenge insurmountable problems and offer radically new solutions. But the aircraft listed below may surprise even the most experienced.

11 photo.





10. Convair V2 Sea Dart

Work pilots are not always limited to just a plane. A control fighter that can land on water in the middle of the ocean, turning the pilot still in the driver's giant water bike.

Convair Sea Dart - an experimental American fighter designed in 1951 as a prototype for a supersonic seaplane.

It was equipped with a waterproof shell and two hydrofoils. Convair Sea Dart was discontinued after an accident with a fatal outcome.

But before that, under the control of Sam Shannon, this aircraft was the first (and only today) seaplane broke the sound barrier.



9. Goodyear Inflatoplane

As the largest manufacturer of tires trying to do aviation, remains only expect something unusual.

In 1959, Goodyear Tire extraordinary to meet the requirements of the market supply of compact jets. Inflatable aircraft with open cockpit pilot was completely made of rubber, with the exception of the motor and electrical control cables.

The plane safely fit in a box one meter in length and is easily inflated using a conventional pump for bicycles. This machine has made the present furor aerodynamic once flew into the air.

Unfortunately, the company failed to convince the military to take this aircraft into service when it became clear that it's easy to knock down using bullets or even a good slingshot.



8. Aircraft NASA A1 Pivot-Wing

With the advent of the airplane NASA A1 Pivot-Wing standard strangeness of aircraft has been raised to a new level.

The plane was designed in the early 1980s to test the theory of a rotating wing. He had long wings that rotate at an angle to the moment when the right wing tip is not subjected to parallel the cockpit.

This was an unusual and innovative design has been hidden attempt to neutralize the influence of turbulence and increase streamlining.

The plane was surprisingly good number of tests, but the results were not so impressive to approve its mass production. However, modern drones are designed based on this model.



7. Vought V-173

Vought V-173 was developed in 1942 as a prototype vessel with vertical takeoff and landing, as well as the ability to intercept enemy fighters directly from an aircraft carrier.

A strange design first test pilots nicknamed him "flying pancake." He had the right fuselage almost circular shape, which also served as the wings for the aircraft.

Two engine supports a huge propellers that do not touch the ground only because of exaggerated size rack chassis and power supply system located at the ends of the wings (in contrast to all existing aircraft).

Limited demand and accident decided the fate of the project, but it served as the progenitor of the famous jet VTOL Herrier (Harrier Jet).



6. Bell P -39 Aircobra

Sometimes the experts need to be engaged with what they are well versed.

During the Second World War, the company Bell Helicopters has created a powerful, super-maneuverable fighter with excellent opportunities to attack both ground and air targets.

In most aircraft engines are located in the front of the cockpit. However, as a company for the production of helicopters, Bell has created a body of the vessel with the engine behind this cabin.

This design provides extraordinary power of the plane, and a long shaft rotating propeller in front. But the construction of the casing around the power source as in helicopters, has led to unusual center of gravity. Therefore, some of them even broke the enemy without firing a shot

And yet, with this air "Cobra" Soviet troops were shot down more enemy aircraft than with any other American aircraft received under Lend - Lease.



5. SR 71 "Blackbird»

Even before the era of universal satellite technology was created by SR 71 "Blackbird" - first-class reconnaissance aircraft with unprecedented speed, strength and ability to reach the stratosphere

Terrible, almost alien, this aircraft had just fantastic abilities. However, by a strange idea of ​​special leaky fuel tanks leaking explosive jet fuel, while fever (t = 482 ° C), do not cause friction seals them.

When the airplane has reached a height of about 10,000 meters and the speed of almost 5,000 km / h, the surface of cockpit began to glow bright red. Terrifying view outside was no better inside, where in the cabin with asbestos insulation was a pilot.

Even the canopy is heated to 300 ° C, and at landing the pilot had to wait for more than an hour to exit from the cab of his legs are not melted.



4. Convair Pogo

Grumman X23 or "Pogo" is a radical departure from the norms of aircraft engineering: from simple eccentricity to the point of absurdity. The hull was built almost like a conventional aircraft, with the exception of the rotor attached to the nose cone, which rises vertically in the air plane.

Unlike most aircraft vertical takeoff and landing, Pogo nose flew up like a rocket with wheels attached to its caudal keel. Lantern cockpit was constructed at position 90 degrees outside, which is why the pilot had to lie perpendicular to the ground when the car is lifted into the air.

Then, after alignment of the flight, "Pogo" continued flying as conventional aircraft. This vessel has been a series of successful tests, but like all the "strange" projects he has not received further development.



3. McDonnell Douglas X-15

Model X-15 is an even more old project, but it was such an unusual and significant breakthrough in aviation, it remains unsurpassed to this day.

For the first time passed the test in 1959. Aircraft missile X-15 was 15, 5 meters in length, with three-meter tiny wings on both sides. In a series of tests of the aircraft lift to a height of 30, 5 miles, and two of them were counted as space flight.

During passage through the atmosphere, its speed is six times the speed of sound. The body of the aircraft was covered with nickel alloy, similar in composition to that found in meteorites. This allowed the aircraft did not burn when entering the Earth's atmosphere.

Huge weight and high power X-15 formed the basis for the description of the characteristics of extreme aircraft.



2. Blohm und Voss BV 141

In nature, symmetry is important in everything - from the eyes and to the wings. In reverse engineering principles inspired by the rules of nature, this axiom is equally valid for the engines, the keel and the tail of the aircraft.

But during the Second World War, the German company Dornier aircraft builders created from reconnaissance aircraft and light bomber with only one wing, tail boom with the engine on one side and the cockpit immediately behind them.

This design, which has a significant deviation from the accepted norm, may not be reliable, but, nevertheless, the location of the cab on the right side of the propeller torque counteracts and helps the plane fly straight.

This strange aircraft is not only off the ground, but also served as the inspiration for the design of modern sporting airplane with similar design.



1. Caproni Ca.60 Noviplano

Imagine floating house combined with the aircraft. This idea was the basis of the project Caproni Ca.60 Noviplano. Mahina, established in 1920, has changed all existing standards for assessing aircraft with multiple wings. So much so that Red Fokker Richthofen (Richtofen's Red Fokker) would have looked just mediocre.

This huge floating aircraft (21, 5 m in length and 55 tons weight) was to become the first transatlantic aircraft in aviation history. Borrowing a concept from the theory that a sufficient number of wings can make fly anything to the body in the shape of a ship fastened three wings in front, three in the middle and a third set of wings behind - instead of the tail.

This strange unearthly machine can be described as a triple triplane. Nothing like this has ever been built.

Takeoff was not a problem for this aircraft, but the first flight ended in disaster when the plane gained altitude of 18 meters. Kaprioni said that to fix it, but the wreckage were burned that night.

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