20 of the most useless planes ever made

Toilet Golf. If only someone in the states had made a plane like that Short-action cartridges (like .308/7.62mm NATO) have a maximum length of 2.8 inches, a difference of about 0.5 inches. It was made of huge parallel tracks formed by metallic frames with transverse beams. On another occasion, one of the planes engines just fell off while it was up in the air. The PZL M-15 Belphegor was developed in Poland at a time when the Soviet Union needed a plane for agriculture. The lack of success did not stop the United States Air Force from trying their own system with the XF-85 Goblin. One such innovation was the Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.9, which was meant to act as a recon plane. In the 1920s, Italian planemaker Caproni designed the Ca 60 Noviplano to fly 100 passengers across the Atlantic. This plane was introduced during the 1970s, but thankfully since then, engineers have been able to develop much safer planes for people. The Botha was a reconnaissance aircraft, which primarily meant it was used for spying on the enemy. That was just too much money for the United States to justify spending and so the contract was canceled before too much money had been committed to it. However, so. They said the engines were so loud they were going to need earplugs the next time they ever flew it again. Considering how often luggage goes missing at the best of times, this is not ideal. Given its large tanks for pesticides, the M-15 was thought to be actually intended for chemical warfare against troops during a Soviet invasion of Europe. The WIRED conversation illuminates how technology is changing every aspect of our livesfrom culture to business, science to design. (Getty Images). Large parts of the plane were held together using glue, but the glue corroded the frame of the aircraft, and after three months, they were retired. Twice Langley tried to get his aircraft to stay in the air, and twice it ended up better as a boat than a plane. Most useless products of all time #17: Gear 2. Squadrons could barely keep their fighters in the air due to their intense maintenance requirement and lost many planes due to takeoff and landing accidents. The plane first came into service in 1983, and its still operational today, even though it went out of production in 1999. On its second flight it only managed to make it 60 feet before crashing. With its anemic engine, poor maneuverability and gunner blocking the pilot's view, the British B.E. After only 50 commercial flights, Aeroflot discontinued passenger service, and the Tu-144 was relegated to cargo transport. To get in the air, the Flaming Pencil needed a very long runway, which only made the leaking fuel problems worse. It floods the market with products of various flavours, sees what works and then concentrates only on the winners. There are countless books, dvds and websites about the great aircraft of World War Two. Oh, and to make your day worse, there's no reverse gear. The Komet could fly 100mph faster than any Allied fighter plane, but it had only three minutes worth of fuel the aircraft had to glide back to base under its own power. This plane had weapons of its own, but that was kind of the problem. But the Chevrolet's engine was even weaker, only putting out 92 hp, Autoblog reports. Early Comets had square windows, which were subject to extreme fatigue at high speeds, causing buckling of the fuselage. But there were flaws in the Comet design, chiefly with the square cabin windows, which added more stress on the airframe than rounded windows. And yes, we know we overlooked the Caproni Stipa Flying Barrel, Short Seamew, Airspeed Ferry, Armstrong Whitworth Ape. The festive name has nothing to do with Christmas, it just happens to be the developers surname. Only one unit was built and it had a speed of 3 kph. Despite its name, the Fairey Battle was unable to put up much of a fight. If we learn one thing from this list, its that most of the time, VTOL fighter planes are bad ideas. De Havilland scrambled to redesign their airplane with circular windows, but by that time, the damage was already done. From the outset, the Tu-144 had issues. Fun fact, its nickname was "the bubble car.". Finally, the design of the plane was so bad that from the air, the crew was unable to actually see out of the compartment, making it useless for spying. The first jet airliner in the world was British, the de Havilland Comet, which entered service in 1952, long before Boeings 707. Yakovlev engineers placed two small thrust vector jets at the end of the fuselage and two lift jets behind the cockpit. In fact, the Yak-38 ended up becoming one of the most useless naval airplanes ever put into service. It was soon very clear that the Flying Bedstead VTOL technique was not going to work out. It took to the air in 1989, but Beechcraft only sold a few of the 53 it built. Despite the setbacks, the Mirage III was developed and is still in use today in the Pakistan Air Force. Oddly, these two feats never occurred in the same flight. It must rank as one of the ugliest things to ever take to the air: it had no. Be better than your predecessor The Fairey Albacore was a carrier-based torpedo bomber designed to replace the venerable Fairey Swordfish, a canvas-covered biplane with open cockpits that served on the front line at the beginning of World War II. 9. Car Exhaust Grill. The plane was incredibly loud and expensive to run, which is why it never really took off. But it was slow, difficult to fly and a bear to maintain. Boeing B-29 Superfortress (1944-1960). This 1950s plane was a disaster in the skies just waiting to happen. I have questions. When the Cold War ended, many air forces ditched their MiG-23s, whereas hundreds of MiG-21s are still in service two decades later, and production of Chinese-built versions only recently stopped. (US Navy), The Fairey Albacore was intended to become the Royal Navys standard torpedo bomber; it ended up being edged out by the plane it was supposed to replace. Crinoline structures were sometimes made out of steel, making walking with them an extremely taxing prospect. Chief of these was the design of the planes cargo door. The doors needed to be closed with heavy bolts and then locked with pins on the outside of the aircraft. 164,130 views Dec 27, 2016 1.3K Dislike Share Save Keepin it Karl 1.11M subscribers Most bizarre planes ever made! It was a great idea to have a defense interceptor that could be deployed from just about anywhere, but there was a flaw in the design. This means more emphasis on targeting battleships, a. But before the rebel alliance could show the world how easy it is to trip a giant robot with legs, General Electric was developing their own AT-ATs. Tupolev flew the Tu-144 two months before the Concorde took flight. One problem was the fuel; an oxidising agent called T-Stoff helped power the plane, but it was so volatile it would combust on contact with clothing or leather. Women in the Victorian era faced a lot of fashion pains. Not . Still, considering its history of failure, its amazing to see that the Embraer EMB 120 Braslia is still taking to the skies in the modern world. Supersonic airliners were all the rage in the 1960s and 1970s. That means that not everyone who flies on a filled flight gets to land with their luggage. The plane is thought to have had around 55 accidents during its existence with many injuries and fatalities due to the Douglas DC-10s failings. It is the famous creation made by the Wright brothers, and this plane is proudly exhibited at the Smithsonian Museum, as it should be. Due to the difficulty of flying the plane, test pilot Godfrey Auty earned the superlative most likely to eject in the coming year from his fellow test pilots. On December 17, 1903, this plane took off into the sky four times, but after that, it never made it off the ground again. Pre-peeled . Probably no other airplane in history has had a more devastating forward firing gun. Even fuelling the aircraft was a hazard. As far as Langley could tell, his design was perfect, the only thing he needed to do now was test his 52hp Aerodrome. Even the eight engines on board were not enough to keep this flying giant airborne for very long. The history of aviation is littered with aircraft that failed to live up to expectations. It was also incredibly difficult to fly, and while teenage pilots were being put in control of them, it required someone with a bit more experience. The two jet engines used thrust vectoring to control the Flying Bedstead. The Soviet MiG-23 was the backbone of Warsaw Pact fighter fleets in the 1970s and 80s, and equipped many other air forces around the world. These two features were good for bombers but bad for passenger planes, since the configuration barely left any room in the fuselage for passengers. The aircraft had to be flung from a catapult, and whenever it was, it would sink like a stone all the way into the river it was launched over. The helicopter itself was designed very well, and from that point of view, you cant really fault it. slide1. For starters, the Il-96 is far more sluggish than even the A340 (as mentioned earlier!) Couple this with the fact the engine liked to tear itself into pieces without any warning, and the Lockheed XFV-1 Salmon is one plane that was scrapped to the junkyard. This prototype had only two flights before it crashed. This made corpses glow. The Toilet Paper Hat. Of the 114 Comets built, 13 were involved in fatal accidents, most of them attributed to design flaws and metal fatigue. A few months later, disaster struck. German pilots had no problem shooting them down during the First World War, making it just about useless as a fighter. The Goblin was a diminutive and strange airplane, looking like a squashed F-86 Sabre. DSC_1166. While the Komet was rolled out, many pilots lost their lives during the testing phase of the planes development. The paper published a whole list of problems with the McDonnell Douglas MD-80 over the years. Produced by the famous Yakovlev design bureau, the Yak-38 bore an outward resemblance to the Harrier but was an inferior airplane in every aspect. Crinoline is sometimes referred to as a hoop skirt. Furthermore, if a gunner was flying on this ship, then they had no way of escaping if the plane was going down due to the placement of the propellers. When aviation company Blackburn developed its Botha, it was meant to help British troops in the Royal Air Force. Its just in pretty much every other area where this plane was a big issue for the people flying inside it. When the projected cost of each plane ballooned to $165 million, a Secretary of Defense named Dick Cheney killed it in 1991. When the Harrier Jump Jet entered British Naval service, other world powers saw the advantage of having a Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) fighter. That wasnt all though, and the torpedoes could only be shot when the Devastator was flying at 115mph or else it was completely destabilized. It was first introduced to the world by Swissair, and even though that aviation company no longer uses it, others insist on keeping it in their fleet. For all of the good things about the plane, there were also plenty of bad features too. With such poor features, the Devastators could not handle either Zeros or AA guns from Japanese ships. The Comet was the premiere commercial jet airliner and a landmark in British aeronautics when it first flew in 1949. The Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II and Supermarine Spitfire (retired from US military service in 1952) are two of the most famous - or indeed infamous - strategic fighters used by the US military to date. Unfortunately, most of these research planes ended in disappointment, but none failed as spectacularly as the Bristol 188. Engineers proposed various solutions to the speed problem, but by that time, the RAF had sunk 20 million into a useless airplane, and the government pulled the plug. Pilots struggled so much with the controls of the plane that it only covered a maximum of 852 feet in the air. The XTBD-1 with the original flat canopy in 1935 The last time the Devastators saw combat was during the Battle of Midway in 1942. Between the two supersonic airliners in service, the Tu-144 was undeniably the worse. After another 50 flights, Aeroflot grounded all airframes. During that time, certain designs have become lauded for their far-sighted strengths the Supermarine Spitfire; Douglas DC-3 Dakota; or the Anglo-French Concorde supersonic airliner, to name a few. We cant really fault the people who tried their best to innovate the aviation industry in the past, but some of the ideas were always destined to fail. They also explained that the seats are horrible to sit on because they fold flat forwards with little room for comfort. The ship was finally launched in . Thats a lot of money spent per flight, and we can pretty much guarantee the United States Airforce failed to recoup their costs on this. It was mothballed in 1985 but briefly brought back a few years later as a research plane. The first jet airliner flew in 1949, but it was not until 1956 that German aircraft designers began work on their own jet airliner. Pilots sat practically on top of the propellers, which meant if they got too close it would cause them serious injuries. The only thing it can do is scout and since scouting doesn't win battles (or get points) it's worse than useless. By William Robert Jun 19, 2016. It was like buying Google stock 20 years ago. RAF commanders wanted the Bristol 188 to spend a large part of its flight at Mach 2.6, where the skin of the airframe would reach 300 degrees Celsius (570 F). At this point it should be clear that this flight simulator, one squadron at a time gameplay never made sense, and is wholly incompatible with the game design choices WG have made for the rest of the ships. Instead, it became a training aircraft for pilots during World War Two. Feel free to call this car "cute" because I would probably agree with you. The De Havilland Comet was actually the worlds first jet-powered airliner, which is something to be celebrated. air warfare, also called aerial warfare, the tactics of military operations conducted by airplanes, helicopters, or other manned craft that are propelled aloft. The Soviet Navy got real jealous and asked for their own VTOL plane. If that wasn't enough, it couldn't take off with a payload much heavier than a few cartons of cigarettes. The 188 had a takeoff speed of 480 kilometers per hour (300 mph), which is high for any airplane. Pilots joked that Westinghouse toasters had more power than Cutlass engines. Needless to say, the aircraft was a major pain in the neck because it had the capacity to explode and cause devastating damage to anything in its path. This giant flying boat, made of wood and fitted with eight engines, was. The 8 Most Useless Pieces of Gear Ever Issued. The Rolls-Royce Thrust Measuring Rig (known colloquially as the Flying Bedstead) tested the feasibility of VTOL aircraft. You might expect a military plane to make a lot of noise when it is flying, but most commercial airlines are at least comfortable to sit in. The Zubr was as useless as it was ugly. After four years of production, the Albacore was due to become a major part of the Royal Navys defensive fleet. As the pilot took the plane into the air, the wings collapsed on themselves, turning the plane pretty much into a bullet. The XB 15 was the largest plane ever built in the United States until the Spruce Goose came along. Tupolev Tu-22 'Blind John the man-eater' The Tu-22 medium bomber, first flown in 1962, was a dangerous hotrod with a litany of design flaws. Black Leather Gloves with Wool Inserts. On a clear, moonless night, never fly between the tanker's lights. The idea is too simple to hold any value. De Havilland propelled the United Kingdom into the future with its Comet airliner in 1949. It was designed to replace the delta-winged MiG-21, which had been serving since the late 1950s. On the second test flight, the prototype 152 was lost in a crash, killing the entire crew. Flown between 1931 and 1934 only, the Italian-made experimental plane did what it set out to do: become the fastest aircraft ever to fly. The two-wing Albacore had a modern, more battle-friendly enclosed cockpit and was more aerodynamically streamlined, and it began replacing Swordfish units in 1940. Zachery Brasier is a physics student who likes to write on the side and is very interested in aviation history. The idea seemed good on paper but was an utter disaster in practice. 18. Most planes are equipped with defenses against ice, but not the Ilyushin Il-62. During this period, the Spruce Goose plane had the biggest wingspan in the world, at 320 ft 11 in (97.82 m). Losing just one lift jet doomed the airplane. 6. It might sound like something from a science fiction movie, but the Starship had some serious flaws. This aircraft that was built in the 1930s had two engines, and three major flaws, which deemed it a failure. Read about our approach to external linking. As part of the design, the pilot was given a wider field of view, but this also happened to be the aircrafts Achilles heel. However, not every jet is an awesome airplane like the F-16. This was the first fatal jetliner accident. Vought produced 320 examples of their futuristic fighter plane, but once they reached squadron service, reports of problems poured in. If you're going to night fly, it might as well be in the weather so you can double count your exposure to both hazards. The plane was considered inefficient largely due to its mass, which made it unpredictable to fly. Embraer EMB-120. To top it all off, the stairway rattles during the flight and makes the pilot think that their aircraft is going to fall to pieces before they make it back to the ground. Again, the name gives a lot away about this invention- a toilet roll holder which sits comfortably on your head, allowing you to pull down sheets as . The fuel leaks would often cause fires and explosions, making it almost impossible for pilots to fly these planes effectively. No passengers died, but the airframe was irreparably damaged. Taking off was not a problem, but returning the plane to a standstill mid-air was not easy. In fact, the Yak-38 ended up becoming one of the most useless naval airplanes ever put into service. They are only a matter of inches away from his feet, and one slip could be the end of this pilot. While the regular Murano is a sensible crossover SUV, this one features a drop-top roof and an all . Jamie founded Listverse due to an insatiable desire to share fascinating, obscure, and bizarre facts. The Christmas Bullet was built in 1919, and the inventor of it asked Cuthbert Mills to test it for him. All kinds of innovations had to be made during World War One to try and help the Allied Forces overcome the German Army. The placement of the guns and engines was considered a revelation, but unfortunately that engine would constantly overheat, making it next to impossible to fly. There is no slacking off for the pilots inside the cockpit of this plane as they are flying the entire route. Fuel leaks would often cause fires and explosions, making it almost impossible for pilots to fly and a in... Needed a plane for agriculture night, never fly between the tanker & # x27 ; s no reverse.... Things about the plane was considered inefficient largely due to the air & quot ; because I probably! Inches away from his feet, and to make your day worse, there were plenty! 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