The worst unbuilt project

Wyvern said:
Bristol's proposals to the program that led to the Lightning (the Type 177 series) all look remarkably awful in every single way. I have yet to find one aspect about them that would be noteworthy as "attractive".
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I’m intrigued. Any pics or references?
 
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I vaguely remind an horror like this - a boxy / angular fuselage with a nose, squared intake and no canopy...
 
starviking said:
Wyvern said:
Bristol's proposals to the program that led to the Lightning (the Type 177 series) all look remarkably awful in every single way. I have yet to find one aspect about them that would be noteworthy as "attractive".
Click to expand...
I’m intrigued. Any pics or references?
Click to expand...
British Secret Projects 1, in the chapter about Transonic flight (or as I like to call it: "The one about the Lightning"). I haven't found any photos of it on the forum as of yet. The main proposals had a nose mounted intake, with engines mounted on top of each other. The tail is extremely tall and the elevators mounted at the very ends of them, the fuselage is tall too, and the nose landing gear is longer than the aft landing gear, raising the nose up, into the air. Speaking of landing gear, they all look really thin, almost as if somebody just got a toothpick for a landing gear, and called it a day. It is safe to say it gives the design a very sill, unwieldy appearance. In summary, it looked like an early Lightning (P.1A), that got bashed with a hammer on the side, making it as flat as an aircraft can be.
 
Kolko ? sounds like kolkhoz... must have been designed by a communist aviator...
:rolleyes:
"Quand c'est trop c'est Tropico - kolkooooo ?"
 
Wyvern said:
starviking said:
Wyvern said:
Bristol's proposals to the program that led to the Lightning (the Type 177 series) all look remarkably awful in every single way. I have yet to find one aspect about them that would be noteworthy as "attractive".
Click to expand...
I’m intrigued. Any pics or references?
Click to expand...
British Secret Projects 1, in the chapter about Transonic flight (or as I like to call it: "The one about the Lightning"). I haven't found any photos of it on the forum as of yet. The main proposals had a nose mounted intake, with engines mounted on top of each other. The tail is extremely tall and the elevators mounted at the very ends of them, the fuselage is tall too, and the nose landing gear is longer than the aft landing gear, raising the nose up, into the air. Speaking of landing gear, they all look really thin, almost as if somebody just got a toothpick for a landing gear, and called it a day. It is safe to say it gives the design a very sill, unwieldy appearance. In summary, it looked like an early Lightning (P.1A), that got bashed with a hammer on the side, making it as flat as an aircraft can be.
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Hello,

I've found the horror I reminded. But it can't be what you describes, because mine is a Fairey.
 

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Archibald said:
Kolko ? sounds like kolkhoz... must have been designed by a communist aviator...
:rolleyes:
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"Proletarian names" (abbreviations of names of communist leaders or symbols), 1921:
668006_900.jpg
Arlen, Veor, Vidlen, Gertruda, Delezh, Izil', Il'kom, Kid, Last, Lenar (fem. Lenara), Leniz, Lenst, Marlen, Myslis, Pederast (PEredovoe DElo RAduet STalina - advanced work pleases Stalin), Poles, Pores, Pravlen, Rem, Remir, Stalen, Fed, Erlen, Yaslen... I don't see "Kolko" here :)
diletant.media

Даздраперма и Кукуцаполь: странные имена советских детей - Статьи

Самые необычные имена, с которыми приходилось жить рождённым в СССР.
diletant.media diletant.media
Dazdranagon, Vilenor, Serp-I-Molot, Lentrobukh, Kukutsapol', etc. Where is "Kolko" or "Kolkhoz"? :)

Список имён советского происхождения — Википедия

ru.wikipedia.org ru.wikipedia.org
Bol'zhedor, Demokrat, Zaklimena, Marenlest... But, not a Kolko or Kolkhoz :)
 

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This threat descent into Madness of ugliest Aircraft ever conceived...

591266_original-jpg.652557


The Airspeed A.S.31
was one of worst fighters proposal i ever seen !
i have no idea why pilot is a gondola behind the Aircraft
Next the terrible front view for pilot were the extrem G-forces on Pilot during dog fights


Another madness of we need more wings much more wings is this monster:
The Caproni Ca.60 Transaereo
CaproniCa.60.jpg


and there the Phillips Mulitplane and CAEA Cygnet aka Aerodrome #5...
 
Ugly Russian planes:
Gribovskiy "Utka" ("Duck"), 1934 (project):
Proekt-samoleta-Utka..jpg
Utka.-Shema..jpg
"Blokha" ("Flea"), 8 HP engine, 1920s ("Hobbit Aircrafts Factory" :) ):
1.IgA-1-Bloha-v-variante-parasol..jpg
The Russians also had a project of an aircraft similar to the I-16, but even smaller in size, but I cannot find it.
 
Justo Miranda said:
Supermarine (Pemberton-Billing) P.B.31E
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Dear God, the horror ! Aerodynamic heresy ! Wind tunnel outrage... BLASPHEMY !! Very much a "flying IKEA shelves" (flying might be an unapropriate word...)

Allow me to present its lost brother in sheer ugliness, the Loire 70. Two engines pulling, one pushing. And note all the cockpits: two asymetrical in the nose, plus three more stacked on top. You can never get too many cockpits ! :eek:

It looks like a freakkin' flying tug boat !

The Italians for once in WWII did a fine job demolishing those horrors at North Africa Karouba naval base in June 1940.


d223ae49382271ea112a892436a3099e.jpg
 
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Forgot to add: its flying characteristics made it a death trap. It really had everything going against it. Wonder why France lost that war in 1940... even by obsolete navies floatplanes standards, it was the bottom end of the pond scum.
 
Iron Felix said:
Austrian-Hungarian Lloyd 40.08, 1916-1918
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This beautiful aircraft, with a weight of 4.85 tons, had only 200 kg of bombs, absolutely everything was perfect in it, absolutely zero visibility for the pilot sitting in the depths of the structure, the inability to take off, and constant attempts to capsize. Flying... I don't even know what to call it. Flying coffin? Flying toilet? I could call it what I want, but I don't want to be banned. Scheissebomberflugzeug...
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Good Lord, that's a nose-over ready to happen at the first chance. It makes the Barling Bomber look good in comparison.
 
elmayerle said:
Iron Felix said:
Austrian-Hungarian Lloyd 40.08, 1916-1918
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This beautiful aircraft, with a weight of 4.85 tons, had only 200 kg of bombs, absolutely everything was perfect in it, absolutely zero visibility for the pilot sitting in the depths of the structure, the inability to take off, and constant attempts to capsize. Flying... I don't even know what to call it. Flying coffin? Flying toilet? I could call it what I want, but I don't want to be banned. Scheissebomberflugzeug...
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Good Lord, that's a nose-over ready to happen at the first chance. It makes the Barling Bomber look good in comparison.
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Ah, the Barling bomber ! the heavy bomber that couldn't get its arse over the appalachian mountains...
 
Not really unbuilt, and probably not the worst (but in my vocabulary, worst usually means ugly).

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present to you, the La-200B-1


It's terrible looking, it looks like it has a nose infection, a swollen nose, and a massive pimple all at the same time.
 

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Blimey, I forgot to put air intakes on that one ! Oh well... let's add them... one here... another one... and another one... JOB DONE.

The Su-24 and MiG-21 with the lift-jets were pretty bad, too. Lift jets already sucks for VTOL, but these two got them for STOL... firing two jets vertically while lifting off at 150 mph, what could possibly go wrong ?

The Yak-36 and Yak-38 were abominations, too. With such DNA it is some kind of miracle the Yak-41 ended as a decent aircraft... for nothing: Cold War ended just as it prepared to enter service. D'OH !

Overall, Yaks (except for the brilliant WWII fighters, obviously) sucked a lot.

The Pe-2 light bomber was a good aircraft, the Tu-2 was truly excellent, but the Yak-2... was a widow maker. It was cannon fodder for Expertens like Hartmann, no surprise he got 352 (supposed) aerial victories.

Just like Hanriot in France before WWII or Supermarine in the jet age, Yakovlev was a five-legged-sheep. Also Curtiss, post- P-40.
 
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To be honest, the aircraft that people picture when they think of the K-7 is the one with battleship turrets and guns everywhere, the one made in photoshop. The actual K-7 is much more interesting, in my opinion, and isn't as ludicrous.
 
galgot said:
How about the Griffith VTOL SST ?
View attachment 653016
it's a looker... what could possibly go wrong? It's difficult enough to make an SST, but make it VTOL with 68 engines.
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Be careful what you wish for...! Add a nuclear engine to it, of course. :p :p
Oh, and make it hypersonic and orbital.

By this metric, it is hard to beat M(G)-19 "Gurkolyot" and the US project that triggered it: Robert Bussard ASPEN.

Imagine...

-jet engines (mach 0 to mach 4)
- ramjets (mach 4 to mach 6)
- scramjets (mach 6 to mach 12)
- NERVA NTR (mach 12 to mach 27, that is, orbit)

And all those engines run of Liquid Hydrogen
- a fuel with an horrible density (0.3 and thus three times the volume of a similar weight of kerosene)
- a fuel with an horrible temperature to keep it liquid (-269°C)

Of course the engines and kinetic energy from the atmosphere heat the airframe like crazy, up to +230°C. Thus the airframe has close from 500°C temperature extremes on each side...

A non-nuclear variant of these beasts also existed: Rockwell Star-Raker. Which also had, for good measure, a tilting forward fuselage not unlike a Super Guppy; to ease orbital cargo loading at ordinary airports. Yeah.

"oops, the hinges failed, and I lost my cockpit and forward fuselage during re-entry..."
 
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Belated thought: given the degree of misinformation spread to convince Germans that invasion was so headed for Calais, 'The Great Panjandrum' and its potential for Atlantic Wall busting was a perfect fit.

They'd already seen 'impossible' dam-buster bouncing bombs, 'impossible' sub-pen busting 'earthquake' bombs etc etc. How were they to know that clever Mr Wallis was not going to wave his magic slide-rule over yet-another frightful project ??

In truth, the Panjandrum was a bit like the TOG 'mega-tanks': Sorry, wrong war...

Where-as Hobart's 'funnies', many of which were (IMHO) sadly misused, inappropriately deployed due to near-criminal lack of 'joined-up thinking'......
 
I remember reading about that "rocket-powered & explosives laden wheel" thing that was to explodes its way across a beach...

I swore Wile E. Coyote used a similar device to try and blast the roadrunner. A "dynamite wheel" and of course the wheel went away leaving the dynamite at the Coyote feet and BOOM went the silly thing... with the blackened Coyote collapsing into cinder afterwards. :D:D:D
 
Nik said:
Belated thought: given the degree of misinformation spread to convince Germans that invasion was so headed for Calais, 'The Great Panjandrum' and its potential for Atlantic Wall busting was a perfect fit.

They'd already seen 'impossible' dam-buster bouncing bombs, 'impossible' sub-pen busting 'earthquake' bombs etc etc. How were they to know that clever Mr Wallis was not going to wave his magic slide-rule over yet-another frightful project ??

In truth, the Panjandrum was a bit like the TOG 'mega-tanks': Sorry, wrong war...

Where-as Hobart's 'funnies', many of which were (IMHO) sadly misused, inappropriately deployed due to near-criminal lack of 'joined-up thinking'......
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Hitler authorises 2 x maus to push them back into the sea! They would still be sitting on the beach today.
 
Grey Havoc said:
Archibald said:
A thermonuclear power plant running on H-bombs ! Who needs ITER, really ?
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As crazy as it sounds, it more than likely would have worked. Would have driven the green movement to insanity though!
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Given the likely results of successively hitting the surrounding rock with intense pressure waves, followed by steam infiltration into the resulting cracks, I'm going to suspect this one would make all the issues with earthquakes around fracking plants look trivial - most people don't want sinkholes leaking radioactive steam in their back gardens, or indeed on the same continent.
 
DWG said:
Grey Havoc said:
Archibald said:
A thermonuclear power plant running on H-bombs ! Who needs ITER, really ?
Click to expand...
As crazy as it sounds, it more than likely would have worked. Would have driven the green movement to insanity though!
Click to expand...
Given the likely results of successively hitting the surrounding rock with intense pressure waves, followed by steam infiltration into the resulting cracks, I'm going to suspect this one would make all the issues with earthquakes around fracking plants look trivial - most people don't want sinkholes leaking radioactive steam in their back gardens, or indeed on the same continent.
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Tell that to Edward *Nutty* Teller ! Seriously, at times I wonder what was in that man's mind.
I can't help thinking his mentality at times was that of a kid playing with matches and fireworks

(we seemingly all went through that "explosive phase" in our young lives - I did, with my sister, in the glory years 1994-1995, aged 12 - we blasted everything, from flowers to cockroaches to tuna cans)

Except Teller's fireworks had megatons of explosive force.

The kind of guy that would invent the atomic BBQ - just to prove sausages can be fried using atomic power ROTFL.

(I also discovered The Simpsons the same year, and this memorable gem fits Teller vision of nuclear bombs like a glove)

Project Plowshare = Homer list (yeah, every shore can be done faster and funnier, with explosives)


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JBYRDcT2Yik

Homer Simpson

"It's gonna take a lot of fireworks to clean this mess up"

Edward Teller

"It's gonna take a lot of nuclear bombs, to clean up the mess made by all those nuclear bombs"
 
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Fluff said:
Nik said:
Belated thought: given the degree of misinformation spread to convince Germans that invasion was so headed for Calais, 'The Great Panjandrum' and its potential for Atlantic Wall busting was a perfect fit.

They'd already seen 'impossible' dam-buster bouncing bombs, 'impossible' sub-pen busting 'earthquake' bombs etc etc. How were they to know that clever Mr Wallis was not going to wave his magic slide-rule over yet-another frightful project ??

In truth, the Panjandrum was a bit like the TOG 'mega-tanks': Sorry, wrong war...

Where-as Hobart's 'funnies', many of which were (IMHO) sadly misused, inappropriately deployed due to near-criminal lack of 'joined-up thinking'......
Click to expand...
Hitler authorises 2 x maus to push them back into the sea! They would still be sitting on the beach today.
Click to expand...
Hmm, Maus vs 15" firing in direct support, my money's on the battleships. And for that matter the 290mm Petard Mortar on the Churchill AVRE would make a pretty mess of the inside of a Maus.
 
galgot said:
How about the Griffith VTOL SST ?
View attachment 653016
it's a looker... what could possibly go wrong? It's difficult enough to make an SST, but make it VTOL with 68 engines.
Click to expand...
September 1948 advertisement for the Vanadium Corporation of America.
"This supersonic plane is based on a prototype already in the planning stage. It's calculated that it will cross the
Atlantic in a mere 2 1/2 hours!"
VANAD_RR_GRIF_VTOL_01.jpg
 
Bottleship said:
Austrian-Hungarian Lloyd 40.08, 1916-1918
View attachment 652490
View attachment 652491
View attachment 652492
This beautiful aircraft, with a weight of 4.85 tons, had only 200 kg of bombs, absolutely everything was perfect in it, absolutely zero visibility for the pilot sitting in the depths of the structure, the inability to take off, and constant attempts to capsize. Flying... I don't even know what to call it. Flying coffin? Flying toilet? I could call it what I want, but I don't want to be banned. Scheissebomberflugzeug...
Click to expand...
That thing belongs in a cartoon, or some dark alternative-universe WW1 drama where it's kept aloft by sheer faith in the cause.
 
Bottleship said:
Ugly Russian planes:
Gribovskiy "Utka" ("Duck"), 1934 (project):
View attachment 652805
View attachment 652804
"Blokha" ("Flea"), 8 HP engine, 1920s ("Hobbit Aircrafts Factory" :) ):
View attachment 652806
The Russians also had a project of an aircraft similar to the I-16, but even smaller in size, but I cannot find it.
Click to expand...
Hard to believe that anyone could build a canard uglier than that built by the (American) Granville Brothers ... but the Russians succeeded!
 

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