What is the coolest SEL plane ever made?

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E-man, I am still puzzling - is it a Moonanza or a Booney?
 
PC12 is cool and all but so main stream. At least go for a TBM

But if we're talking "coolest" ASEL? Well that's highly relative, but mine would be either the Grumman X29 or... to go really unusual, then

PZL M-15 Belphegor followed by the Edgley Optica

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Stingray Don said:
What in the name of Scooby-Doo is that thing?
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It's the BV-141. It was designed by Richard Vogt of Blohm und Voss during WWII in response to an RFQ for a single engine observation aircraft. The idea was that by offsetting the crew from the engine you could have the same downward visibility of a twin engine aircraft, while only using a single engine.

Unfortunately the design used the same engine as the FW-190 (BMW 801) and the Luftwaffe wanted to save those engines for the fighters. The FW-189 ended up winning the competition, in spite of being a twin engine design.

Somewhere north of 12 BV-141s were completed and flown (the exact number is unknown as there are many conflicting reports). It allegedly flew surprisingly symmetrically. At the end of the war Captain Eric "Winkle" Brown (a British test pilot) found one in flyable condition and did a brief evaluation of the aircraft. He talks about the experience in one of his books, Wings of the Weird and Wonderful (I forget which version).

Further details of the design are allegedly contained in Richard Vogt's autobiography, "Weltumspannende Memoiren eines Flugzeugkonstrukteurs". I've got a copy of the book, but unfortunately don't speak (or read German). Anyone interested in translating it? An interesting point about the book is that I've read (I forget where) that the book was actually initially penned in English (Richard Vogt was brought to America after the war as part of Operation Paperclip), but it was translated into German before publication.

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For those into RC, there have been a few kits/plans made available over the years. Nick Ziroli had plans for a .40 size one. There was also a large-scale kit that was made.


Sorry for writing a novel, but it's a really interesting bird. For a while I've thought a Homebuilt version would be pretty cool. 1/2 scale is pretty close in size to a Sonex. Make it single seat with a Rotax for power.
 
Star Wars had a lot of asymmetrical ships, I often wondered how much of the inspiration came from the BV-141 and other odd WW2 and Cold War era designs..
 
X-15. Aircraft, spacecraft, ballistic projectile, glider, science/engineering experiment platform. Faster than heat, single seat, throttle-able engine. Gad. . .
 
I like the Corsair and Skyraider.... but then there’s the Vought F-8 Crusader. Too many good ones to pick!
 
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