Ugliest Plane.....

[simon]

To run in tandem with Corsarius' "Prettiest Plane", what do you reckon is the ugliest plane?

Specific models please, not vague generalisations (Too easy just to say "Anything pre-war French"), and where you can reasons why.

C'mon there were some real flying bricks back then, what do you think is the worst of the worst?

[Corsarius]

You want ugly? YOU CAN'T HANDLE UGLY, I SAY!

Avert your eyes or be turned to stone by the visages sent forthwith!

Contestant #1! The Handley-Page Heyford!
Don't you adore the huge gap between the bottom wing and the fuselage, making it look like the designer forgot something? The enormous spatted wheels, the nightmare of struts and braces that passes for an undercarriage, but was probably bought second-hand of a piano salesman masquerading as a plumber?

This plane is State-Of-The-Art. The art, in this case, is probably pottery.

http://www.fortunecity.com/tattooine/farmer/120/heyford.html

Contestant #2! The Farman F.120T, also known as the F.4x!
Such style, such sleek slab-sided lines, the innovative engine layout, the bat's-wing stretch of the trailing edge and ailerons,the out-of proportion too-large-yet-too-small rudder, ahh, you can FEEL that this baby is 1930s France. Especially becuase they apparently wanted to use these delightful nymphs of the sky as escort fighters! All they really needed was to put some spats on the beautiful spoked undercarriage and, voila! Another French Masterpeice!

France is renown for dash, verve, flair, beauty, grace, and all that je-nais-sais-pax.. Where was it in the 1920s and 1930s aircraft drawing-board rooms?

http://www.popularaviation.com/PhotoGallery/1152.jpg

Contestant #3! Boeing P-26 Peashooter!
I have always hated this aeroplane. For me, it's the perfect reason why Boeing should have stuck with bombers. The ring around the rotary engine looks strange, the spatted landing gear huge and unwieldy, the armament insufficient, the struts, braces, strings, and all other bits poking around everywhere look like it was constructed inside-out. Add to which EVERY colour scheme that it was painted in looked HIDEOUS, and the lack of a propeller spinner made it look as if someone had chopped it's nose off. I can't believe america expected their own pilots to fly these crates and call themselves 'the best in the world'. In Europe at the same time, civilian aircraft were flying faster, higher, with more weight, and were more manoeverable. Add to that they looked a lot nicer, too.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I present you with the Boeing P-26, an example of how NOT to build a good-looking fighter.

[simon]

Now this is exactly the kind of semi-rabid rant I was hoping for!

Got to agree completely, to add to this I always felt that the early B-17s (Up to, but not including the "E"), were ugly monsters completely devoid of whatever it was that made the later models look like good planes.

My own personal favourite in this catagory has to be another Frenchie though, the glorious Bloch Mb.200. It has all the beauty and grace of a Pot-bellied pig with wings. The fuselage looks like a porta-cabin, with crew positions that look to have been stuck on as an afterthought. A true testament to all that was wrong with French aircraft design in the 20's and 30's. If I ever find a picture that can convey the true horror of this Frankenstein's Monster of a plane, I'll post it.

The Heyford, now there's a plane that's so beautiful my subconcious had sealed it off from my functioning memories, cheers Corsarius, I'll email you the bill for the counselling I'll need...;)

[Corsarius]

No, please. Allow me.

Truly this aircraft did not fly. The ground simply repelled it.

http://www.heuvel22.myweb.nl/Images/Bl200x.jpg

http://www.luftwaffe-experten.co.uk/french/Bloch%20MB%20200%20autumn%201939.jpg

[simon]

Sir, you are too kind...! :)

[Victor]

Yes, the Bloch MB 210 was indeed one ugly airplane. It was obsolete as the war started, but, interestingly, it saved the lives of its Romanian crews during 1941. The 82nd Bomber Squadron of ARR operated it during that year. The airplane was too damn slow for the Soviet AAA firing charts. Another goodcandidate for the title is the Potez 543, which resembels it a bit.

[GregP]

Ugly?

The Breda Ba.88, the Dewoitine D-750, and the Loire-Bieuport LN-10.

For beyond ugly, how about the Potez 75? Now THAT's one homely attack plane! Almost as ugly as the SAAB J21A-2. Beats me how the same company that came up with the J21A-2 can come up with the Draken. Maybe they took vitamins and came out of the design coma they were in at the time.

Then again, just looking at the Sud SE.100 can give you indegestion. Think about being assigned to FLY it! Ughhhh. All the other pilots would laugh at you and call you all manner of uncomplimentary names.

[simon]

Hmmm..... Looks wise I always quite liked the Ba88 myself, it looked kind of sleek and agile in a way it really wasn't.

I have to admit that early SAAB product really does nothing for me, it's got everything right for a nice looking plane, just put together in the wrong places!

Victor, I think a similar thing applied to Fairey Swordfish crews when attacking warships, no-one believed a "modern" aircraft would be made to fly that slow!

Other nominations I'd like to tender: Early He-111's, don't you just love that stepped cockpit? Ju87A Stukas, those trousered undercarriage legs look like they double the volume of the aircraft! Polikarpov I-16 Rata, Short, pug nosed and ugly, but there is something about it, like a certain breed of dog, that pulls it out of the worst of the contenders.

Has to be said though, so far I think Corsarius is in the lead with the truly monsterous Farman F.120T. If Dr. Frankenstein had been aircraft designer, this would have been his baby, although the Bloch Mb.200 cannot be far behind. Unlike the Breda Lynx and SAAB J.21, at least the latter don't stick two fingers up at the laws of gravity and the principles of aerodynamics!

[GregP]

I recently saw a picture of the Farman F.120T.

Corsarius is right. That IS one butt-ugly airplane.

Looks like someone built a plane out of Leggos and then crushed it onto three Coke cans.

Ugghhhh ....

[simon]

Something the three of us can agree on then? A truly awful plane? ;)

[GregP]

Think of all the wonderful things the French have given us, then think of the Farman (resembles the North end of a South bound Mandrill).

Guess they can't win 'em all.

[Corsarius]

Sure, I'll agree with that. It's why I posted it!

Hey, didn't Henri Farman used to be English before he migrated to France?

[simon]

Can't shed any light on Henri Farman, but I think we have a winner, subject to review in the light of any other monsters out there.

The Farman F.120 is hereby officially declared the Ugliest Plane.

Congratulations Henri, you would be so proud...

[tenmmike]

here is one the Westland Lysander http://cloud.prohosting.com/hud607/uncommon/aircraft/ugly/lysander_01.jpg but alas i vote for the f-120.. it is voted here as well as another board i frequant as the ugliest..

[tenmmike]

here is a very shot bio of farman.......







1874-1958


Henri Farman was born in Paris of English parents on May 26, 1874. Although educated at the Paris School of Fine Arts as a painter, his first honors were as a bicycle racer and later an auto-racing champion.

With his brother, Maurice, Henri learned to fly in a Voisin and shortly thereafter, in 1907, ordered his own aircraft incorporating his design modifications of a dihedral in the wings and the reduction of the tail to a single plane. These intuitive rather than scientific modifications were the first steps in a long career in which Henri Farman diagnosed and solved a myriad of aircraft control and structural problems.

On January 13, 1908, in his modified craft, Henri Farman won the prestigious Archdeacon prize by demonstrating his ability to fly a circuit of one kilometer, even with lateral control problems. In 1908, the incorporation of the first efficient ailerons provided the solution to this enormously difficult and dangerous problem.

In 1909, Henri Farman began one of the first formal, flight training schools and in 1914 founded the Farman Aviation Works that produced more than twelve thousand military aircraft for France in World War I.

In succeeding years the brothers Henri and Maurice, now joined by Dick, enjoyed both financial and technical success with a series of advanced designs, including the twin-engined Goliath capable of carrying twelve passengers. With this aircraft, they established their airline, Farman Lines, which was a forerunner of Air France.

Henri Farman was at the forefront of European aviation development from its infancy to maturity. His analytical skills, piloting ability and uncommon business acumen, contributed to France's major role in world aviation until his death in 1958.

Invested 1988 in the International Aerospace Hall of Fame

[simon]

Well I got "Page Not Found" with your link which is a shame.

Why the poor Lysander? Personally I always quite liked the Lysander, it may not have had the sleek racing type lines of the Bf109 or Spitfire, but I thought there's something distinctly likeable about its pudgy little appearance. Definitely prefer it to the almost insect like Fiesler Storch which I suppose would be its German equivalent.

Ah, well, 'tis all in the eye of the beholder I s'pose... ;)