The skies over Britain were no longer accompanied by the sound of Concorde flying overhead, and everyone was sad. It’s not so much the lack of superfast service to New York, but the regret that aircraft don’t seem to be evolving as much as they once did.
Sure, bunk beds and double beds are impressive, and planes have become quieter and more economical, but where was the early innovation? Where are the new biplanes and fireless balloons, or at least extremely fast jets like the Blackbird?
Leonardo da Vinci designed the helicopter (or air propeller) in the 1480s. You’d think by now they’d have five rotors and could carry hundreds of people.
Not all modern engineers play it safe, though. What follows is a review of eight left-field aviation experiments. Some of them can be seen in museums, one or two are in the air, and some cannot be seen anywhere.
Hotel Novi Plano
Noviplano crashes on second flight – it will never fly again – Marka/Universal Images Group Editorial
Almost as bulky as its name suggests, the Caproni Ca.60 Transaereo (better known as the Noviplano) was an experimental prototype of a large nine-wing flying boat, intended to be a transatlantic airliner capable of seating 100 passengers. It has eight engines and three sets of three wings. Panoramic windows offer passengers stunning views of the land below and surrounding thunderclouds.
Only one of the aircraft was produced, designed and built by pioneering Italian engineer Gianni Caproni. It was tested at Lake Maggiore on February 12 or March 2, 1921, and made its second flight on March 4. Shortly after takeoff, it crashed into the water and broke apart on impact. It suffered further damage when it was towed away. The project was abandoned as too costly.
Where can I see it?
The surviving parts are on display at the Gianni Caproni Aviation Museum, Italy’s oldest aviation museum, in Trento.
V-22 Osprey
U.S. Marine Corps MV-22 Ospreys have been used in the Trump administration’s anti-drug operations in the Caribbean – Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo/AFP
Airplanes and helicopters have their cult followings, but only a few designers have tried to combine their engineering skills to get the most out of their airframes. The Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey is an American tilt-rotor military aircraft that combines fixed-wing and rotary wings. Aimed at transporting people and cargo, it is capable of vertical short takeoffs and landings and can fly long distances at top speeds of up to 316 mph.
It first flew in 1989 and entered service in 2007 after a lengthy development process. The rotors can rotate to achieve helicopter-style hovering. The V-22 is based at RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk and is flown by pilots from the US Air Force’s 7th Special Operations Squadron.
Where can I see it?
One is on display at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force in Dayton, Ohio. They sometimes visit the Muckerberg Military Collection at Weyburn, North Norfolk.
NASA Ad-1
Its inventor, Robert T. Jones, hopes his aircraft will inform future supersonic designs
The sloping wing design may remind you of Wallace from 62 West Kangaroo Street, Wigan. However, swinging or tilting wings can rotate when movable to reduce drag at high speeds and return to vertical when the aircraft needs to slow down. This is a variation on the swing-wing idea used in some fighter aircraft.
The Ad-1, nicknamed the “Scissor Wing,” was a one-off aircraft built in 1979 and flown 79 times during a three-year research program. Its inventor, Robert T. Jones, an aerospace engineer at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California, hopes his prototype will inform future supersonic designs.
He built models showing that a supersonic tilt-wing aircraft would be twice as fuel-efficient as a conventional airframe, make less noise during takeoff, have a softer sonic boom and have a longer range. Ultimately, the mechanisms and materials (such as titanium) required to apply it to supersonic jets proved too costly for further development.
Where can I see it?
Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos, California.
british rail flying saucer
In March 1973, British Rail obtained a flying saucer patent – SOLENT NEWS AND PHOTO AGENCY
British Rail’s 1970 “space vehicle” patent aimed at the interstellar market was inspired by science fiction, as was its intended fuel – a “controlled thermonuclear fusion reaction… ignited by one or more pulsed laser beams”. Featuring an upstairs passenger compartment, round windows and a “monopole generator,” the disc was cheap to run and ultra-fast, according to its designer, Charles Osmond Frederick.
The application was filed on behalf of British Railways and the patent was granted in March 1973. The proposals were exposed on the European Patent Office website in 2006. The inventors say that “space travel sickness may be avoided” because “in some cases, prolonged acceleration of the vehicle may be used to simulate gravity.”
The patent later expired due to non-payment of renewal fees and British Rail continued to design advanced passenger trains, but also without success. The United States and the Soviet Union also patented flying saucer designs, including some models that flew within the Earth’s atmosphere.
Where can I see it?
Alas, you can’t.
Hughes H-4 Hercules
Spruce Goose remains the largest seaplane ever built – Bret Lundberg/Images Press
The H-4, commonly known as the “Spruce Goose,” is a prototype flying craft designed and built by the Hughes Aircraft Company, owned by business magnate and film producer Howard Hughes. The aircraft was originally intended for transatlantic service during World War II, but was not completed in time and the aircraft made a brief flight on 2 November 1947, after which the project was shelved.
Due to wartime restrictions on the use of aluminum, and to control weight, the Spruce Goose was constructed from plywood. It remained the largest seaplane ever built and had the largest wingspan ever flown until 2019, when the twin-fuselage scale composite model 351 Stratolaunch debuted, used to carry air-launched rockets into orbit.
Where can I see it?
The H4 is on display at the Evergreen Air and Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon.
Convair B-36 Peacemaker
B-36 Peacemaker on display at the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona – Tom Cassidy/Alamy Stock Photo
This behemoth holds the record for the most engines on a production aircraft: 10 – six piston engines and four jet engines. It was a strategic bomber built between 1946 and 1954, originally conceived as a back-up aircraft for the Germans in the event of a blockade of U.S. Air Force access to British bases. In fact, B-36s were used in the Soviet Arctic and Manchuria for nuclear deterrence, aerial reconnaissance, ultra-high and long-range exercises, and image collection.
A total of 383 Peacemakers were built in Fort Worth, Texas. The aircraft was sometimes spotted darkening the skies above Burton Wood base in Lancashire. The Peacemaker still holds the record for the number of engines in a production aircraft, although there were some experimental designs, such as the boomerang-shaped Rolls-Royce Griffith VTO concept, which featured dozens of powertrains – 12 main engines and 56 lift engines.
Where can I see it?
A B-36 on display at the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson, Arizona.
Antonov An-225 Mirya
The An-225 Mriya is the only aircraft of its kind ever produced – Andrey Rudakov/2016 Bloomberg Finance LP
To date, only one “Mriya” (Ukrainian for “Dream”) has been built. It is the world’s largest cargo aircraft and the only aircraft equipped with six turbofan engines. It can transport up to 250 tons of cargo, and a single piece of cargo can weigh up to 200 tons, twice that of the Boeing 747 freighter.
Its original mission was to transport the Buran spacecraft, a cousin of the Soviet space shuttle, and carried the shuttle on its first international landing at the 1989 Paris Air Show. The aircraft’s last commercial mission took place between February 2 and 5, 2022, collecting nearly 90 tons of Covid-19 test kits from Tianjin, China.
Where can I see it?
You can’t. Later that year, Russian forces destroyed the aircraft during the Battle of Antonov Field.
Starr Hornet II
Hornet II is the smallest manned aircraft ever flown
Ever hear someone argue that the flight of a bee is illogical given the size of its body and wings? Robert H. Starr decided to reveal the science behind this seeming miracle by building the world’s smallest airplane—earning him a Guinness World Record.
His experimental biplane had a wingspan of only 5 feet 6 inches and weighed less than 400 pounds when empty. Power comes from an 85-horsepower engine. Although the Hornet II broke the record for the smallest manned aircraft on April 2, 1988, it crashed on its third flight a month later, seriously injuring Starr.
Where can I see it?
The tiny aircraft is on display at the Pima Air and Space Museum.
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