The 4 Strangest Airplanes Ever Developed

Since the first airplanes were developed and flown by the Wright Brothers, aeronautical engineers and developers have been on a quest to design and build the best-performing, fastest, and most useful aircraft possible. This has led to some extremely interesting aircraft. After all, you may have heard of the Spruce Goose and Super Guppy airplanes. The Spruce Goose was large and contained eight engines. It was also made entirely of wood and designed to carry 700 passengers. The Super Guppy was bulbous with a shape that resembled a guppy. However, unlike the Spruce Goose, which only ever completed one flight, the Super Guppy was flown regularly as a cargo plane from 1962 to 1977. NASA most famously used it to carry equipment for the Apollo moon program. Let’s look at some other weird airplanes that have been developed over the years.

1. The Flying Pancake

The Flying Pancake, officially known as the Vought V-173, was developed during WWII by Charles H. Zimmerman and the Vought Company. It was an experimental test aircraft that took its first flight on November 23, 1942. It was essentially a wing with a cockpit, which is how it earned the nickname “Flying Pancake.”

Who Was Charles Zimmerman?

Charles H. Zimmerman was an aeronautical engineer who developed and designed discoidal aircraft. These airplanes have a single disc wing and do not have a tail or a discernible fuselage. In other words, they are essentially flying saucers. The aircraft that Charles H. Zimmerman designed were sometimes referred to as Zimmer Skimmers or Zimmer’s Skimmer, and the Flying Pancake was one of those designs.

What Made the Flying Pancake Unique?

The design incorporated two propellors at the tips of the wings and two rudders. This was done intentionally to maximize the flow of air over the wing and improve handling. With this design, Zimmerman believed that it would land well at low speeds and provide exceptional maneuverability at high speeds.

Selling the Concept of a One Wing Aircraft

Charles H. Zimmerman presented the idea to the Navy, but they weren’t entirely sold on the concept and didn’t want to fund the development stages. Zimmerman then approached the Vought Corporation. At the time, the Vought Corporation was known for its conventional airplane designs, but Zimmerman’s pitch must have been a winner because the company agreed to build a concept model. The model they planned to pitch was one-fourth the size of the actual aircraft, and after successful testing, they persuaded the Navy to build a full-scale prototype. This was named the Vought XF5U-1. However, once completed, the aircraft was never flown. In the time it took to build the plane, the Navy switched to turbojet engines due to their increased speed over propellor-driven aircraft.

2. The Flying Russian Fortress

The Flying Russian Fortress, officially known as the Kalinin K-7, was a beast of an airplane that resembled a massive tank in appearance and required a minimum crew of 11. It was 91 feet, 10 inches long, with a wingspan of slightly more than 173 feet and a wing area of 4,886.8 square feet. It was designed to carry up to 120 passengers and had an empty weight of 53,793 pounds. When fully loaded, it had a maximum gross weight of 83,776 pounds. 

Where the Flying Russian Fortress was Designed

This beast of an aircraft was designed in the Soviet Union by Konstantin Kalinin. However, the Soviet Union wasn’t the Russia we know today. It also included Ukraine, where this monster aircraft was designed and built at that time. Of course, you might be surprised that the Russian Flying Fortress wasn’t designed and built in the last 50 or 60 years. It was designed almost 100 years ago, in the 1930s. To power this beast, the designers originally envisioned six engines. However, they later added two more pusher engines on the back. The Flying Russian Fortress holds the distinction of being one of the largest airplanes ever built before the invention of the jet engine.

Did the Flying Russian Fortress Fly?

The Kalinin K-7 did fly. Unfortunately, its first flight revealed severe instabilities. After a thorough inspection, it was determined that the airframe was resonating at the same frequency as the engines. To fix this, the tail booms were shortened and strengthened. After those adjustments, the aircraft flew an additional seven test flights. Unfortunately, on the eighth test flight, the Russian Flying Fortress crashed. It appeared that one of the tail booms experienced a structural failure. With that being said, two more flying fortresses were ordered in 1933, but the project was canceled in 1935 before those additional aircraft could be built.

3. The Beluga

If you know anything about airplane history, you know that the Super Guppy was used primarily between 1962 and 1977. However, Airbus used these aircraft to transport airplane parts well into the 1990s. Unfortunately for them, by the 1990s, these aircraft were starting to show their age, and maintenance was becoming increasingly costly. This prompted Airbus to begin designing a new super transporter that would later be named the Beluga. Their new aircraft was officially known as the Airbus A300-600ST, a modification of the Airbus A300-600. It gets its name since it has a bulbous front end resembling a Beluga whale. 

The Beluga’s Design and First Flights

Airbus began designing this aircraft in 1992 and took its first flight in 1994. As a result of its size and cargo capacity, it quickly became classified as a super transporter, which was precisely what Airbus needed. This massive aircraft has a cargo capacity of 103,617 pounds. It has a wingspan of just over 147 feet and a height of just under 57 feet. Despite its size, it only needs two crew members to operate. Five of these aircraft were manufactured, and they are still transporting aircraft parts for Airbus today.

4. The Dreamlifter

The Dreamlifter is another modern airplane. The first one was built in 2006 and flew its first test flight on September 9 of that same year. Its official name is the Boeing 747 Large Cargo Freighter, and it was modified from the Boeing 747-400. Four of these massive cargo airplanes were constructed in total. They are 235 feet long and have a wingspan of 211 feet, five inches. They cruise at 474 knots.

The Dreamlifter’s Claim to Fame

Its claim to fame is the fact that it has the world’s largest cargo loader. Like the Airbus Beluga, Boeing needed these aircraft to deliver large aircraft parts for the final assembly of the 787, and they worked like a dream. In addition to delivering aircraft parts, this massive aircraft was also used to deliver medical supplies. These airplanes are still flown and used to deliver enormous aircraft parts.

The world is no stranger to weird and unconventional aircraft. Some were built because an individual had a dream, like Charles H. Zimmerman and the Soviet Union. Others were purpose-built due to the need for better flight characteristics or the need to haul lots of cargo and people. In the future, we can expect more wild designs to be created by aeronautical engineers and private businesses.