I think its been almost a week since the coolest fighter thread started, bit shorter for the bomber thread and now we must logically include other aircraft that may be cool in their own right , but do not fit into the two main categories.
These can include Civ or Mil , fixed or flutter wing, air breathers or vaccum breathers
I start friends, with the shorts sunderland flying boat.
Seems our German bretheren called it the flying porcupine for the amount of .303 sticking out of anywhere that had a hole.
The Catylina Flying boat, simply one of the weirdest looking aircraft, but did yeoman service in all theaters.
the AC-47 , nicked named puff the magic dragon, simply one wonders what this variation of the Dakota could have done in WW2.
Ok, this may not count since it isn’t exactly a plane…just sort of a plane (flew using a thing called “ground effect” so it stayed a mere few feet above the earth…technically flying).
Among the many aircraft that I’ve always liked, some have remained on the drawing board, like William Samuel Henson’s & John Stringfellow’s
Aerial Steam Carriage: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerial_Steam_Carriage
Another neat aircraft I kinda’ like, that finally became airborne (though NOT with a “human engine”) is the
De Laurier Ornithopter: ornithopter.net/
Another aircraft that I really like, deserves special mention, namely Louis Bleriot’s Bleriot XI aircraft, which became the first heavier-than-air aircraft, to cross the English Channel under it’s own power.
This was in July 1909, so the 100th Anniversary of this flight is coming right up.
Of course, another type of aircraft I really love are KITES!!! (I could talk about them all day, but I’d rather be building them and flying them!!)
My real answer is the DC-3. They are beautiful and still in service in some parts of the world. Not bad for a 1930’s aircraft.
A novelty example is the aerocar. People keep bitching and asking “Where is my flying car”. Hell, there have been working ones since the 1940’s. This is the first.
The Grumman OV-1 “Mohawk” was always my favorite krazy-looking military plane. I even have a model of it for Microsoft Flight Simulator X that someone made but it’s really buggy - I wish someone would make one that worked right, because it looks really cool.
Speaking of lifting bodies, I have a special fondness for them. Especially the M2-F1 Lifting Body.
I’ve actually seen it in person, as it’s in a hangar (along with the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle, which is cool in its own right). The thing about the M2-F1 is that, conceivably, anyone can build one. It has a tubular frame and a plywood body. If I had the disposable income, and more importantly, the time, I’d love to build one of my own.
I’ll throw in a vote for some homebuilt planes I just love:
The Rutan Long-Eze. This is an amazing aircraft. Built out of foam and fiberglass in your garage, it still kicks the butt of most factory planes in terms of efficiency. With a 160 Hp engine, this airplane could go almost 200 mph, and has a range of 1200 miles. The canard design means it can’t stall and spin, and in fact the Long-EZE has an excellent safety record. It’s unfortunately known as the airplane that John Denver died in - but that wasn’t the fault of Rutan’s design. The builder of Denver’s plane put the fuel selector behind the pilot’s head - a dangerous and ultimately fatal modification which ensured that if a pilot needed to switch tanks on final approach, he’d have to put himself in a position that would maximize the chance of losing control of the aircraft.
The Long-EZE airframe is the basis for the aircraft in the Rocket Relay racing league.
The Bede BD-5. Was the aircraft I fell in love with as a kid. Gorgeous to look at, it unfortunately was incredibly dangerous to fly - especially the original with the short wings and fuselage. It was featued in the James Bond film Octopussy. Ultimately, the BD-5 turned into one of the biggest fiascos in homebuilt history - 5100 kits were sold, but only a couple hundred ever flew because the kits were incomplete, engines were almost impossible to find, and after the first four customer airplanes all crashed on their maiden flights, a lot of people lost the nerve and desire to put in the thousands of hours required to build one from the poor kit materials.
The homebuilt I lust after as an adult is the Van’s RV-6. An eminently practical, safe, and efficient flying machine, and the most successful kit airplane ever made, with over 2,000 currently flying.
Also, the Glasair III was the first of the high-performance composite homebuilts. Sexy as hell, with amazing performance not that far off a P51 Mustang in some respects. I got to fly one of these for a couple of hours about 20 years ago, and it was amazing.
