The worst aircraft ever...

I divided this competition into three categories. My nominations are:

Worst performances and characteristics: Boeing GA-2




Worst looking: MiG I-320




Worst concept: Boeing supersonic fighter

The worst looking? Boeing's JSF entry was pretty darned ugly.

Originally posted by FredT
The worst looking? Boeing's JSF entry was pretty darned ugly.

I second that:






[edit on 9-5-2005 by American Mad Man]

Wow that mig looks like a fat man with missing tooth laughing. Sure is ugly alright.

I think those are also pretty ugly
Tacit Blue
Tarielka

[edit on 9-5-2005 by Taishyou]

Oh crap that looks awful. Doesn't even look aerodynamic in any way. A Hercules C-130 looks more maneuverable than that

while i don't know if it realy qualifies for the worst aircraft. how bout mis-understood aircraft the ww2 airocobra. one of the first aircraft with nose mounted landing gear.also items of notewere the fact that instead of a canopy it had "car type"doors, reminding me of the doors on a vw bug, the engine was mounter BEHIND the pilot prop was still in front. this aircraft was considered junk to the us forces and was eventualy "lend-leased" to the russians, who by the way rather liked it. one of the main complaints that i remember was it was tricky to taxi with the "weird" landing gear. what it realy was though was the forerunner of the warthog, one of the first "tank buster" aircraft. i can't remember the exact specs of it, but it had a cannon that fired through the prop hub. the russians used it mainly against tanks. just leave it to the russians to love an aircraft hated by the west.

The worst looking? Boeing's JSF entry was pretty darned ugly.

I have to disagree there. I think it was the most original aircraft ever made.
It was the way forward and i would have loved to have seen it in action but sadly it just wasnt to be.

As for the worst aircraft, are we talking military or civilian aswell???

Worst looking: F-117 Nighthawk! It looks like a prop from the horror movie "The Fly". Even the Test Pilot (Bill Park) from Lockheed said the plane looks ugly! Kelly Johnson went and Kicked Ben Rich in the A$$ when he saw the drawing for the first time. (The last statment can be found in Ben Rich's Autobiography: Skunk Works.)

Tim
ATS Director of Counter-Ignorance

[edit on 9-5-2005 by ghost]

Worst Looking- The F-117 wins HANDS DOWN!!

Are you mad???

Its gorgeous, It's evil and its just gorgeous!

Brilliant machine and looks to die for!

A B-2 leading and two F-117's behind is the most beautiful aircraft formation that will ever fly!

YOu guys are way off this is the worst looking plane by far

let me introduce you to the israeli Phalcon AEW

Originally posted by chinawhite
YOu guys are way off this is the worst looking plane by far

let me introduce you to the israeli Phalcon AEW

That is one HIDEOUS plane.



Shattered OUT...

Originally posted by chinawhite
YOu guys are way off this is the worst looking plane by far

let me introduce you to the israeli Phalcon AEW

What the hell is that nose for? Headbutting enemy planes out the sky???

None of these planes are truly ugly, but they are funny looking. lol ... I wouldnt mind fliying in them.

[edit on 9-5-2005 by beyondSciFi]

Originally posted by MickeyDee
What the hell is that nose for? Headbutting enemy planes out the sky???

Probably houses directional radar or something.

Funnily enough, I quite like that aircraft! Goes with the Nimrod, which I also like.

The worst performing aircraft has to be the old B.O.A.C Comet doesnt it?
How many crashed due to metal fatigue??? LOTS???

As for the worst looking......I think the U-2 was ghastly but ive probably seen worse. I'll edit this when i think of one!!!

Originally posted by MickeyDee
The worst performing aircraft has to be the old B.O.A.C Comet doesnt it?
How many crashed due to metal fatigue??? LOTS???

Noone knew about metal fatigue and its effects on high altitude, fast pressurised aircraft until the Comet, and the BOAC tests into it basically made the entire aerospace industry a lot safer, because the results were shared with anyone who made aircraft, including Boeing and others.

The Comet lives on today as teh RAF Nimrod - the worlds best multirole maritime patrol aircraft, so its safe to say that its a very good performer, once metal fatigue was dealt with.

As for the worst looking......I think the U-2 was ghastly but ive probably seen worse. I'll edit this when i think of one!!!

Again, thats a plane I like Am I just wierd or something?

Wow it'll be cool for christmas if you paint the nose bright red...

Originally posted by RichardPrice
Noone knew about metal fatigue and its effects on high altitude, fast pressurised aircraft until the Comet, and the BOAC tests into it basically made the entire aerospace industry a lot safer, because the results were shared with anyone who made aircraft, including Boeing and others.

No doubt Richard, and the Nimrod is a excellent a/c, but I think the Comet would fit in this category for one reason. It pretty much doomed indegious comercial aircraft production in the UK. We can debate the various reasons for that that but the issue was the precipating factor in this I think

At the risk of going off topic too far I disagree Fred. I believe the first nail in the coffin of UK airliner production was the decision to scrap the VC-7 while the last was the cancellation of the BAC Three Eleven. The Comet 1, while not ultimately successful in its own right, was an important step in the learning process along the road to the 707 revolution ( could have been the VC-7 revolution, tsk).

Even more silly, probably, was the fact that Hawker Siddeley designed the original A300 (looking almost exactly as built, but a little larger) and then the UK Govt pulled us out of the project, forcing us to rejoin years later as relatively minor partners. Not a good decision.


As to worst aircraft, I feel I have to offer something after butting in , I would nominate in the following categories;

Worst civil, prototype only = VL-DDR 152

worst civil, in service = Avro Lancastrian, I mean come on! Avro was having a laugh surely?

Worst military, prototype = Yak-1000 a supersonic fighter so advanced it couldn't even lift itself up off the ground.

worst military in service = Messerschmitt Me 323 "Look! Here I am please shoot me down!"

Worst concept = Hawker Siddeley HS.881. MoD circa 1965: ""Yes, clearly you are going to build a Hercules sized VTOL transport to carry tanks and it will take off powered by 4 R-R pegasus' Hahahaha - next! ......Anyone got Lockheeds phone number?"

waynos, I am going to give you some link which may help you to get the resolvation to that flyingboat. I am sorry that I also couldn't understand Russian.
I really hope this will help for your quiz board.
combatavia.com1.ru...
www.airwar.ru...
www.dubna.ru...

by the way , I think that if Boeing could be given them opportunity to meliorate their X-32, that will be beautiful
www.globalsecurity.org...


[edit on 10-5-2005 by emile]

[edit on 10-5-2005 by emile]

[edit on 10-5-2005 by emile]