Ugly aircraft

UngaWunga said:
How could y'all leave this one out?

Beech-Bonanza-V35..jpg
Click to expand...

38845525_257587001529056_5211684940762798413_n.jpg
 
Stephen Poole said:
I figured that. I guess I should have used the word "fantasticAL." :)

Y'all've been doing this a lot longer than me. I'm still getting used to all of the small companies that announce a new plane design, publish fantasticAL specs for it (including an unbelievable price) .. .. ... and then they go bankrupt.
Click to expand...

The frequency of such claims will increase as the allure of battery powered airplanes beckons.
 
Ok, who's got the photo of the hideous/wild jungle-paint (IIRC) STOL plane?...I thought that one always won the ugly contests. My google-fu is off and I can't seem to find it.
 
AKBill said:
10.jpg

Does this count..??...:)
Click to expand...


This is what's known as a short coupled aircraft!

I'm happy to have had the opportunity around 2003 to see the Goblin at the USAF museum in Dayton, along with other famous aircraft. At the time I visited the museum, you could stand under the XB-70 and be looking at the X-3 Stilleto and a B-58.

When I was a kid in the mid 60s, there was no airplane on Earth cooler than the XB-70. The B-58 was a close second. It was almost a religious moment to be so close to them. :D
 
Comanche. Just ask most posters on here.
 
3393RP said:
At the time I visited the museum, you could stand under the XB-70 and be looking at the X-3 Stilleto and a B-58.
Click to expand...

What a great place. At the time of my visit in 2008, the XF-85 was tucked under the wing of the B-36. It was hard to get a good photo of the XB-70, since it was so big and the hangar was crowded.











When I was a kid in the mid 60s, there was no airplane on Earth cooler than the XB-70. The B-58 was a close second. It was almost a religious moment to be so close to them. :D
Click to expand...

Yes, indeed.
 
Lowflynjack said:
Bellanca T-250 Aries
Click to expand...
No argument that it's ugly! The only all-metal airplane ever built under the Bellanca name, which in and of itself is a travesty. :D Only four were built. Remember the goofy little Anderson-Greenwood AG-14 twin-boom pusher two-seater? Designed by the same guy.

I thought that pic looked familiar! It's a reverse of the pic I took at Grants Pass, Oregon, in September 2003. That's the first pic I ever had accepted on airliners.net (#0433555). A few years ago an air traffic controller in Australia contacted me about it. He was compiling an identification guide of rare aircraft for controllers and wanted to use that shot.

0433555.jpg
 
Last edited:
Pilawt said:
No argument that it's ugly! The only all-metal airplane ever built under the Bellanca name, which in and of itself is a travesty. :D Only four were built.

I thought that pic looked familiar! It's a reverse of the pic I took at Grants Pass, Oregon, in September 2003. That's the first pic I ever had accepted on airliners.net. A few years ago an air traffic controller in Australia contacted me about it. He was compiling an identification guide of rare aircraft for controllers and wanted to use that shot.
Click to expand...
That's funny. I can see the reversed N-number now. It was pretty much the first photo I found when searching. Someone asked me what a T-250 was and I actually remembered it.
 
Jeff, You should sue for copyright picture theft. :D
 
EdFred said:
Comanche. Just ask most posters on here.
Click to expand...

Comanches and Twin Comanches are the most elegant designs ever from Piper. Ironically, Piper tried to modify the Twin Comanche to "improve" it in handling and visibility, and turned it into one of the ugliest Piper airplanes ever, the PA-40 Arapaho. The original PA-40 prototype looked okay (larger windows, longer main gear legs, modified airfoil), but crashed during spin tests. The PA-40 was ultimately certified and readied for a 1975 debut, but not before it was soundly beaten with an ugly stick:

pa-40-160_1808.jpg

Some heathen at Piper made sketches of a similarly-hideous treatment of the single-engine Comanche, but the company decided to go forward with PA-28 and PA-32 derivatives instead.
 
Pilawt said:
What a great place. At the time of my visit in 2008, the XF-85 was tucked under the wing of the B-36. It was hard to get a good photo of the XB-70, since it was so big and the hangar was crowded.













Yes, indeed.
Click to expand...

Looking at the clamshell escape pod under the wing of the B-58 makes you realize the guys that flew it were committed, kinda like the joke about ham and eggs... the chicken is involved, but the pig's committed.
 
Last edited:
I've seen it in videos before but until that picture I couldn't appreciate the Valkyrie's size.

P1030920.jpg
 
Can you imagine seeing it fly? That had to be freekin' cool, six big 28,000 lb thrust turbojets shrieking as it rolled down the runway and lifted off.
 
Pilawt said:
No argument that it's ugly! The only all-metal airplane ever built under the Bellanca name, which in and of itself is a travesty. :D Only four were built. Remember the goofy little Anderson-Greenwood AG-14 twin-boom pusher two-seater? Designed by the same guy.

I thought that pic looked familiar! It's a reverse of the pic I took at Grants Pass, Oregon, in September 2003. That's the first pic I ever had accepted on airliners.net (#0433555). A few years ago an air traffic controller in Australia contacted me about it. He was compiling an identification guide of rare aircraft for controllers and wanted to use that shot.
Click to expand...

There was a horribly rainbow painted T-250 in the CTC hangar at the Killeen airport that the A+P students were using for non-destructive testing. It looked like a fake mock up of an airplane for a parade or static display. It may have flown for a while, but it was a prototype...

Bellanca_Aries.jpg
 
Staggerwing Beech - ugly GA airplane, the aardvark of the skies. Looks like a fat guy with skinny arms, trying to wipe his butt.
 
Sundancer said:
Staggerwing Beech - ugly GA airplane, the aardvark of the skies. Looks like a fat guy with skinny arms, trying to wipe his butt.
Click to expand...

Grounds for immediate revocation of Pilots certificate and mandatory medical review for psychosis and uncorrected vision!
 
SoonerAviator said:
Grounds for immediate revocation of Pilots certificate and mandatory medical review for psychosis and uncorrected vision!
Click to expand...
Agreed. The Staggerwing is one beautiful plane. It, along with a P-51, would be sort of a bucket list of planes I would love to take a ride in.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top