Military Planes Were Weird...
The World Wars pushed aircraft designers to solve problems that barely existed a few years earlier, and that led to some truly unusual-looking machines. Engineers experimented with giant bombers, pusher propellers, flying wings, rotating turrets, twin booms, asymmetrical cockpits, and even aircraft that looked like they belonged in a cartoon. Some of these designs were surprisingly successful, while others were abandoned after engineers discovered that looking strange was the least of their problems.
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1. Linke-Hofmann R.I
The German Linke-Hofmann R.I was a World War I heavy bomber with a remarkably tall fuselage that filled much of the space between its biplane wings. The first prototype’s fuselage was constructed from transparent Cellon with the hope of making the aircraft less visible, although it was easily seen reflecting sunlight. Cellon also turned yellow from ultraviolet exposure.
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2. Siemens-Schuckert R.I
The Siemens-Schuckert R.I looks like someone at some point just decided that mounting engines inside an airplane’s fuselage was way cooler than mounting them on the wings. The R.I was designed with engines mounted inside the fuselage, with power transmitted to its propellers through gearing and shafts. One aircraft was completed, but it never made it off the ground before the war ended, and it suffered gearbox problems after damaging its gearbox while taxiing.
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3. Siemens-Schuckert R.VIII
If three engines weren't enough, Siemens-Schuckert was happy to keep going. The R.VIII was designed as a six-engine World War I bomber, with all six engines installed inside the fuselage and connected through gearing and shafts to four propellers. One aircraft was completed, but it never got beyond ground trials before the war ended, and a gearbox failure damaged it.
4. Caproni Ca.4
Italy’s Caproni Ca.4 was a massive triplane bomber that sported a central fuselage connected to two long booms in the rear fuselage. Its enormous size allowed it to carry quite the bomb load while armed with defensive guns all over the unusual aircraft. The Ca.4 did enter service late in World War I, although it saw limited use before the war ended.
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5. Airco DH.2
The British pusher fighter aircraft DH.2 had its propeller mounted behind the pilot instead of directly in front of him like most airplanes. Having its propeller in the back allowed the pilot to have a machine gun mounted directly in front of him without having to shoot bullets through the blades. This was a problem many early fighter aircraft designers had to work around.
British official photographer on Wikimedia
6. Caudron G.4
One of many WWI-era French aircraft sporting an unusually styled flying-wing design. The twin-engine G.4 was a reconnaissance aircraft that had its two engine nacelles mounted on either side of a central crew position. Despite the strange layout, it was used extensively for reconnaissance and bombing during World War I.
Archivos de la Fuerza Aérea Colombiana on Wikimedia
7. Westland Lysander
Possibly one of the easiest airplanes to pick out of a lineup due to its disproportionately large legs. The British Westland Lysander had unusually large, faired landing gear and unusually large wings that sat high off the ground. Its odd proportions turned out to be useful because the aircraft could operate from remarkably short and rough landing areas.
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8. Boulton Paul Defiant
The Boulton Paul Defiant looked reasonably conventional until you noticed that its main fighter armament wasn't mounted in the nose. Instead, it carried four .303-caliber machine guns in a powered turret behind the cockpit, allowing the gunner to aim them independently of the aircraft's direction. The concept made sense for attacking bombers, but it left the Defiant at a disadvantage when fighting more maneuverable fighters.
B.J. Daventry, Royal Air Force official photographer on Wikimedia
9. Blackburn Roc
The naval version of Britain’s turret fighter aircraft. The Royal Navy’s Blackburn Roc sported a powered turret of four machine guns just like its cousin on land, but turned out to be even stranger. It was also relatively slow for a fighter aircraft.
Royal Air Force official photographer on Wikimedia
10. Blackburn Botha
One odd-looking reconnaissance aircraft that also doubled as a torpedo bomber. The Blackburn Botha started off with high hopes, but ended up an underpowered water hose on wings. The aircraft also developed a poor reputation because of handling and reliability problems, and its frontline career was extremely short.
San Diego Air & Space Museum Archives on Wikimedia
11. Bell YFM-1 Airacuda
A twin-engine heavy fighter aircraft tasked with finding and attacking enemy bombers during WWII. Because its engines were mounted in a pusher configuration, it awkwardly had one 37 mm cannon next to each engine nacelle. The Airacuda never lived up to its intended performance and was retired from operational service before it could become the bomber hunter its designers envisioned.
12. Vought V-173
The Vought V-173 pretty much looks like a flying pancake, so we’ll just leave it at that. The entire disk-like aircraft acted as a lifting surface, which allowed it to have amazingly low takeoff and landing speeds. It was tested well enough to get 131 hours of flight time before the Navy decided jets were the way of the future and canceled the project.
13. Curtiss-Wright XP-55 Ascender
Designed around a backward-looking philosophy, placing the engine behind the pilot in a pusher configuration. To complicate matters further, it also featured a small canard wing up front with its main wings further back still. Ultimately, it didn’t test well and was canceled after several issues arose.
14. Northrop XP-56
The XP-56 was one brave attempt at sticking it to tradition by eliminating the tail almost entirely. Fitting its pilot in behind its nose-mounted armament and placing a pusher propeller system out back gives it a very pointy appearance. Its unusual design was technologically ambitious, but the project never developed into a production fighter.
15. Vultee XP-54
Another bold attempt at fighter redesigning by Americans early in World War II. Opting for a twin-boom design and a strange nose gave it a look that isn’t really hinted at by most aircraft of the era. Like the XP-55 and XP-56, it was part of the Army's effort to explore radical alternatives to traditional fighter layouts, but it never entered production.
16. Blohm & Voss BV 141
This plane takes the cake for most easily recognizable strange aircraft. Its fuselage and cockpit aren’t even centered with the plane, with the cockpit occupying one side while the engine and fuselage take the other. This gave it an incredibly asymmetrical look and was intended to provide good all-around vision for reconnaissance crews.
17. Horten Ho 229
With the exception of a small cockpit and equipment nacelles, the Horten Ho 229 has nothing except wings. It was a sleek flying-wing design used for a jet-powered fighter-bomber during WWII. Only a small number of prototypes were built, but its unusual shape remains one of the most recognizable examples of radical wartime aircraft design.
US Army offical photographer on Wikimedia
18. Hafner Rotabuggy
Just when you thought we couldn’t get any stranger, along comes the Rotabuggy. It takes the whole idea of keeping airborne troops supplied while flying and turns it literally. The aircraft was intended to tow it through the air and land under its own power, allowing troops to drive directly to battle.
Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment on Wikimedia
19. Antonov A-40
Similar to how the Rotabuggy sought to bring an entire jeep with soldiers into battle, the Soviet Union thought air-dropping a tank would be a good idea too. The concept aimed to give ground forces something much heavier than a standard glider could carry. The concept was tested during World War II, but the aircraft needed so much power to tow the tank that the project didn't progress into operational use.
The original uploader was Tempshill at English Wikipedia. on Wikimedia
20. Zveno-SPB
The Soviet Zveno system took the parasite-aircraft concept to a particularly strange place by carrying smaller aircraft on a larger mothership. One of its most famous combat configurations used a Tupolev TB-3 bomber carrying two Polikarpov I-16 fighters, which could be released near their targets and later attempt to return independently. It was an extremely complicated solution, but Zveno-SPB aircraft actually carried out combat missions during World War II.
Ray Wagner Collection on Wikimedia
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