Worst airplanes and helicoptors ever made

[gbdolfans]

I think this is a great topic and there are some strange planes.

Also good for a chuckle or two.

https://www.moneypop.com/business/the-worst-planes-and-helicopters-ever-made/?utm_source=gd&utm_campaign=hjm-dm-us-n-sm-0-191206-mp-gd-b4&utm_medium=US-All&utm_content=blank&utm_term=blank&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIpZj22YfW5gIVQxB9Ch3INw3eEAEYASAAEgKAt_D_BwE

[Snake45]

The link's a clickbait ad site. 

I've clicked on a few of those over the years and found much inaccurate information in them. Seldom are they worth the trouble to click through. 

[89AKurt]

 I avoid clickbait sites myself.  My dad took some pictures of this helicopter, is it on the list?

[Mike999]

I can't resist books with that kind of title (and the same goes for "worst cars" books).  Have quite a few written by aviation historians, like Phil Scott's "The Wrong Stuff."  

The writers often disagree, though they all seem to agree on a few turkeys.  One of those being the Brewster SB2A Buccaneer (or Bermuda in British non-service).  That was just an awful airplane.  Its production was delayed because Brewster had a lot of orders for its little Buffalo fighter, which was probably a good thing.  Nobody was ever foolish enough to use the Buc in actual combat.  The Navy foisted some off on the Marines, who only used them as training aircraft and unit hacks, safely in Florida.  The cover of Steve Ginter's book pretty much sums up the Buc's career:

 

[Snake45]

Brewster had all kinds of problems. Conventional wisdom is that the Corsairs they built were the worst; I don't think any saw combat service with the US and most of them went either to Britain or stateside training units, but I've also read that this is largely a myth, every single one of them passed government acceptance inspection same as Voughts and Goodyears, so should have been okay. I don't think any Brewster-built Corsairs are flying today, might not even be any static airframes left in museums.  

ETA: According to Warbird Registry, there's one Brewster F3A Corsair left, "under restoration" by Ezell Avaition. 

http://www.warbirdregistry.org/corsairregistry/f3a-04634.html

ETA2: It's been restored and flown! 

http://warbirdsnews.com/warbird-restorations/brewster-f3a-corsair-takes-to-the-skies-in-breckenridge-texas.html

Edited December 27, 2019 by Snake45

[stavanzer]

Brewster had the 'reverse-Midas touch'. Everything they tried eventually went to Shi%.

Knowing what we know now, about the 'Deep State" and Money Laundering, I'd be little surprised to discover that the Brewster organization was a "Front" for other, things, and that after the first Gov't Contract was awarded, things just went downhill. It was never intended to be a viable concept, and then the war happened, and Brewster was caught in the financial crossfire.

Mind you, this is not a slander for the many fine people who worked for them before and during the war. Talented workers gave their best, even if the company was a shambles.

[Mike999]

Here's a training film on flying the Buccaneer, produced by Brewster and the US Navy.  Notice how many manual actions the pilot has to carry out in a dive. While trying to also release the bomb, with people shooting at you.  Amazing.

The thread has some good comments, including this one: "You can thank Jimmy Work, the head of Brewster, for the company's problems. He tried to turn a minor aircraft parts suppler into a major aircraft manufacturer overnight. His products were poorly designed, poorly made, and the company was poorly managed. In the end the US Navy had to take over the company after Work was sued for $10 million for financial irregularities. At one time  Jimmy Work even had hired Alfred and Ignacio Miranda as the company salesmen. The fact is they were crooks and had been involved in frauds, spending time in prison for illicit arms sales to Bolivia. Either Work was a crook himself, or in way over his competency level, or both."

 

 

[DonW]

Some would cite the F104G Starfighter as 'developed'  by Lockheed for the Luftwaffe, but 'just look at the shape of this beauty':

So in terms of aesthetics and recorded death rate per mile, easily the worst aircraft ever built (you can't really call it an aeroplane!) - the Flying Flea:

 

'... the original HM.14 revealed design flaws that could lead to an unrecoverable and often fatal dive under certain conditions; when the front wing was put in a high attack angle for climbing, the high-speed flow of air deflected by the front wing went to the rear wing upper surface, greatly increasing the rear wing's lift, and putting the nose down, the instinctive reaction of pilot being pulling even more the stick, this worsened the situation, as the way to go out of this 'vicious circle' was reducing the front wing incidence, as to command a nose down descent. Also some homebuilders attempted to simplify construction by modifying components such as the wings tips curving up, resulting in extremely dangerous airplanes and deadly accidents that forced the air authorities to ban building more of them'

 

Edited December 27, 2019 by DonW
more info.

[Snake45]

48 minutes ago, DonW said:

Some would cite the F104G Starfighter as 'developed'  by Lockheed for the Luftwaffe, but 'just look at the shape of this beauty':

The 104 was designed to be a point defense interceptor. You have to wonder about the mind that would look at it and say, "Hey, we can make a good attack/tactical airplane out of this!" 

[DonW]

Yep! Check out 'Captain Lockheed and the Starfighters' by Bob Calvert, with Lemmy on bass.

Back in the sixties I was in a German village on a family holiday. Two Starfighters flew overhead, fast and low and silent. Two or three seconds later there was thunder, the trees shook and some leaves drifted down.

[gbdolfans]

9 hours ago, Snake45 said:

The link's a clickbait ad site. 

I've clicked on a few of those over the years and found much inaccurate information in them. Seldom are they worth the trouble to click through. 

Well excuse me for trying to bring some laughter to here.

Just because it is click bait,there are some weird planes that I bet most here did not know about.

Sorry about the thread !!

[Ace-Garageguy]

9 hours ago, 89AKurt said:

 I avoid clickbait sites myself.  My dad took some pictures of this helicopter, is it on the list?

I fondly remember the Kaman H-43 Huskie, both the early recip powered and the later turbine-powered (as in your photo) ships. They functioned well in the crash rescue / firefighting and general utility roles they were intended for.

Interesting design, with no tail rotor required because the counter-rotating main rotors canceled out any helicopter-typical tendency towards yaw-axis rotation of the airframe due to torque.

[DonW]

13 hours ago, gbdolfans said:

Well excuse me for trying to bring some laughter to here.

Just because it is click bait,there are some weird planes that I bet most here did not know about.

Sorry about the thread !!

Don't apologise, this is a good thread!

[Mike999]

Many years ago, HAWK did a 1/32 scale kit of the H-43 Husky.  It had counter-rotating rotor blades just like the real things.  As a product of the 1950s it was simplified.  But the Cobra Company fixed that with a resin upgrade set for the interior and other parts.  I have both of those kits in the stash, but my H-43 is the much later TESTORS re-issue.  One of these centuries, I'd like to build a Vietnam rescue version of the H-43.  Some of those had a six-barreled mini-gun mounted inside.

Edited December 28, 2019 by Mike999
goof

[Snake45]

15 hours ago, gbdolfans said:

Well excuse me for trying to bring some laughter to here.

Just because it is click bait,there are some weird planes that I bet most here did not know about.

Sorry about the thread !!

I apologize. Please don't take it personally. 

I've just become very contemptuous of those clickbait sites that make you click through 40 screens to read a four-paragraph story of some sort. 

And three times now, I've been taken in by a clickbait that said something like "50 Amazing Photos from the '70s You've Never Seen!" or "Uncensored Photos from America's Past" and baited with a picture of...Jungle Pam! All three times I clicked through all 50 pics and not a single one, or a word about, Jungle Pam! GRRRRRRRR!

[89AKurt]

2 hours ago, Mike999 said:

Many years ago, HAWK did a 1/32 scale kit of the H-43 Husky.  It had counter-rotating rotor blades just like the real things.  As a product of the 1950s it was simplified.  But the Cobra Company fixed that with a resin upgrade set for the interior and other parts.  I have both of those kits in the stash, but my H-43 is the much later TESTORS re-issue.  One of these centuries, I'd like to build a Vietnam rescue version of the H-43.  Some of those had a six-barreled mini-gun mounted inside.

Hey, that's pretty cool!  Never heard of that kit manufacturer.  Appreciate Bill Engwer's comment too.  Here is another picture (got 4).

[GLMFAA1]

Here is the 'Huskie" at the USAF museum

 

[Mike999]

2 hours ago, 89AKurt said:

Hey, that's pretty cool!  Never heard of that kit manufacturer.  Appreciate Bill Engwer's comment too.  Here is another picture (got 4).

HAWK was big in the 1950s and 60s, mostly in aircraft kits.  I just did a quick eBay check. Those H-43 kits are always available, especially the later TESTORS re-issues.  Sometimes they even go for reasonable prices.  On Nov. 14, one got 10 bids but only sold for $12.50.

 

 

[Ace-Garageguy]

2 hours ago, 89AKurt said:

Here is another picture (got 4).

Great photos. Was your father flying those?

[89AKurt]

4 hours ago, Ace-Garageguy said:

Great photos. Was your father flying those?

Think he flew in one, not that time, for a burro eradication mitigation mission.  He was a Park Ranger at Grand Canyon.

[stavanzer]

I'll submit this one.

http://www.aviastar.org/air/usa/christmas_bullet.php

https://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/the-christmas-bullet-was-the-worst-plane-ever-made-1825187889

The Christmas Strutless biplane. Easily one of the worst planes ever built. Two Built. Two Take-offs. Two crashes. Two Dead Pilots. Horrible plane.

Edited December 29, 2019 by alexis

[Snake45]

8 hours ago, alexis said:

I'll submit this one.

http://www.aviastar.org/air/usa/christmas_bullet.php

https://foxtrotalpha.jalopnik.com/the-christmas-bullet-was-the-worst-plane-ever-made-1825187889

The Christmas Strutless biplane. Easily one of the worst planes ever built. Two Built. Two Take-offs. Two crashes. Two Dead Pilots. Horrible plane.

Yeah. I believe there was just a detailed writeup of this backbirth in Air Classics magazine in the last year or so. 

[GLMFAA1]

I'd have to add any of the vertical take off planes, Ryan x3, Convair xfy 1 'pogo' , etc

and they had models of these aircraft!

greg

Edited December 29, 2019 by GLMFAA1
added text and pics

[stavanzer]

I did not know that Air Classics was still around.

I'll need to dig up that copy.  The Aero-Bullet was easily the worst American plane ever built.

 

[ChrisBcritter]

The Brewster Buccaneer/Bermuda is a favorite of mine, since I read a 1970s story in Air Classics about the discovery of the remains of five of them (former RAF trainers) out to pasture in Tullahoma, TN. The author referred to them as looking like "Mack truck dive bombers"; to me it was a tough-looking aircraft, even if it wasn't much good in reality. At least the Navy's air museum in Pensacola was willing to do an excellent restoration job on the best of the five:

As new: RAF serial FF-841, nineteen away from the recovered one (FF-860).

As recovered:

As restored:

 

 

Edited December 29, 2019 by ChrisBcritter