The 25 most bizarre and adventurous aircraft ever invented
THE 25 most bizarrer and adventurous aircraft ever invented.
The Falling Cone is a device for thrill seekers. More here.
R. J. Spalding’s Flying Machine, 1889.
“Nuclear-powered aircraft” (“Применение атомных двигателей в авиации”), published in 1957, by G. Nesterenko, A. Sobolev, and Yu. Sushkov.
Fig. 60: Heavy helicopter with nuclear engine
Fig. 68: Nuclear carrier capable of launching orbital satellites.
The Sky Bike (via Jim Barker’s Flickr)
Mr Charles H. Zimmerman, inventor
Jean Piccard’s stratospheric cluster balloon “Enterprise” “Pleiades”, Soldier’s Field, Rochester, July 1937
Ballon competition Lyon 1784
Edwin Pynchon, Inventor, 1883
The Slate Dirigible Company’s concept of air travel in 1929
“1911: An early single-framed ‘multiplane’ aircraft, built after designs by Horatio Phillips.”
“Ornithopter and creator George R. White at St. Augustine” (1927)
Constantinos Vlachos in his “Tri-phibian” – a craft which, the inventor claimed, could navigate through air, water, and on land. It caught fire during a public demonstration outside the Library of Congress in 1935 – Vlachos was dragged from the craft by a policeman and spent nine months recovering in hospital.
The Williams X-JET, or “Williams Aerial Systems Platform II”, 1982
The previous WASP was evaluated by The US Marine Corps eight years earlier. This version was extensively tested by the US Army, who turned it down due to – it is believed – the fact that it could not compete with the faster and more versatile helicopter.
Design drawing shows front and side elevations and plan of balloon with devices designed to facilitate navigation and maneuverability while in the air. 1784
Albert Robida, 1883
“Albert Tissandier (left), Gaston Tissandier (right), and an unidentified man in the basket of their airship demonstrating an electric navigational system featuring a propeller. Wood engraving between 1880 and 1900”
(from the Library of Congress Tissandier Collection)
The Couzinet RC-360 Aerodyne (3/5 scale model), Circular VTOL aircraft project, 1955
“Broadside announcing the exhibit at the Palais de l’industrie, séances expérimentales in Paris of a fish-shaped, steam-powered airship “Le Poisson Volant” designed by Camille Vert. 1859(?)”
(from the Library of Congress Tissandier Collection)
Luigi Colani hypersonic passenger plane, 1983
Sir Barnes Neville Wallis, Swallow concept, circa 1957
Samuel Franklin Cody. On 16 October 1908 Cody’s British Army Aircraft Number One – known as the ‘Cody Flyer’ took off on Farnborough Common. It made it to a height of 16-20 feet above the ground, flew over a clump of trees before crash landing after being hit by a gust of wind. He had been in the air for just 30 seconds but it is credited as being the first powered, controlled flight ever in the UK.
Stereograph of man with device designed for flying” (via the Library of Congress and Thiophene_Guy’s Flickr
Spotter: X-planes
Posted: 16th, March 2013 | In: Key Posts, Technology Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
