# Planes that didn't make it **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 6, 2006, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planes-that-didnt-make-it/355669 "2006-05-06T14:11:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planes-that-didnt-make-it/355669/21 "2006-05-07T05:24:01Z")
The de Havilland Comet which [“inaugurated the jet age”](http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/may/2/newsid_2480000/2480339.stm) for passenger travel in 1952 had really neat large, square windows. Travelers loved them. [The ones that survived](http://www.aerospaceweb.org/aircraft/jetliner/comet), anyway. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planes-that-didnt-make-it/355669/22 "2006-05-07T05:51:49Z")
> [@Beware of Doug](#): > > …and from there to cattle cars with wings. Too bad crowding and discomfort never get obsolete. Actually, it’s the desire for low fares that never gets obsolete. You can fly acrosss the country or across the Pacific in amazing hotel-like comfort. Just plan to spend a few thousand dollars per hour for the privilege. If you only want to spend $100/hour, you can only have a small fraction of the space, amenities, luxurious surroundings, or pampering. And for $50/hour (ie ~$400 NYC-London), it gets even less attractive. In the heyday of the steamship, Queen Mary & all that, steerage was a LOT less expensive than First Class. It was also a LOT less pleasant. The difference between the accomodations on an executive jet and on Brand X PackageVacationTours is equally stark. The good news is now you only have to put up with it for 6 hours, not 6 days. The funny thing is how folks somehow expect a product designed to be as cheap as possible given current technology & input costs to not be nasty by current standards of civility. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planes-that-didnt-make-it/355669/23 "2006-05-07T07:21:02Z")
I gotta go with the [Boeing 2707-100](http://www.super70s.com/Super70s/Tech/Aviation/Aircraft/SST.asp). I must say, in my humble opinion, it could have made the Concorde it’s bitch. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planes-that-didnt-make-it/355669/24 "2006-05-07T07:27:55Z")
I have a soft spot for the [Ryan Fireball](http://www.daveswarbirds.com/usplanes/aircraft/fireball.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planes-that-didnt-make-it/355669/25 "2006-05-07T11:33:22Z")
> [@detop](#): > > As a Canadian, it is my patriotic duty to mention the [Avro Arrow](http://www.maverick2.com/arrowmain.htm) . As an Israeli, I have to mention the [Lavi](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lavi) for pretty much the same reason. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planes-that-didnt-make-it/355669/26 "2006-05-07T11:50:12Z")
> [@NoClueBoy](#): > > All those wonderful [Blohm und Voss](http://www.luft46.com/bv/bv.html) designs. Hell yes. It’s only within the last year that I’ve learned that the Bv141B _wasn’t_ the weirdest of their asymmetrical flights of fancy. I’ve a soft spot for the [Kyushu Shinden](http://www.eagle.ca/~harry/aircraft/shinden/) myself. Unfortunately history doesn’t promise a dream future for a brilliantly-conceived and futuristic Japanese plane that maidens in the first week of August 1945. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planes-that-didnt-make-it/355669/27 "2006-05-07T13:22:59Z")
How about the [Boeing “Sonic Cruiser”](http://www.airpictorial.com/pages/sonic_cruiser.html). Probably just a smoke screen to divert attention from the more conventional B787, but a nice looking concept all the same. ---
**Author:** ![Bloody\_Kraut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac91a4/32.png) [@Bloody\_Kraut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bloody_Kraut)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planes-that-didnt-make-it/355669/28 "2006-05-07T13:40:22Z")
Do gliders count, too? If so, I’d like to introduce the [Antonov KT](http://www.unrealaircraft.com/roadable/antonov_kt.php) . ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planes-that-didnt-make-it/355669/29 "2006-05-07T13:43:19Z")
Do fictional planes count? Then I vote for the **Stiles Skystreak** from the movie “The Great Waldo Pepper”. I so wanted him to do the outside loop in it… ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planes-that-didnt-make-it/355669/30 "2006-05-07T14:15:52Z")
The [Boeing Pelican](http://www.boeing.com/news/frontiers/archive/2002/september/i_pw.html) ground-effect plane. At least I assume it didn’t make it, I haven’t heard about it in a while. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planes-that-didnt-make-it/355669/31 "2006-05-07T14:30:36Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Actually, it’s the desire for low fares that never gets obsolete. > > You can fly acrosss the country or across the Pacific in amazing hotel-like comfort. Just plan to spend a few thousand dollars per hour for the privilege. And be prepared to spend several times coach fares for even an incremental increase in leg or elbow room. It’s not a perfect market, **Guy;** it’s an oligopoly, and the fix has been in for decades. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planes-that-didnt-make-it/355669/32 "2006-05-07T15:04:43Z")
Ah, but for a plane with **real** potential (unfulfilled), try the [DOUGLAS XB-42 MIXMASTER](http://www.daveswarbirds.com/usplanes/aircraft/mixmastr.htm)! A medium bomber, with tail-mounted, contra-rotating pusher propellers! Top speed **over 400mph**! 4 2000lbs bombs! Doubled as an attack aircraft! How I wish the US had that at the start of WW2. 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planes-that-didnt-make-it/355669/33 "2006-05-07T15:50:45Z")
The Pittw Sky Car. > [@aerofiles.com](#): > > Sky Car 1928 = 1pOH; 90hp Curtiss OX-5. > The best thing that could be said about this machine is that it was a nice try. Each blade of the 60-blade rotor had a full-radius vane attached to it that was free to flap about its radial hinge. Rotation caused the drooping vanes to swing out, closing the space between blades and forming a solid rotor disk. The point was that the rotor was forced by the engine to reciprocate up and down. When the rotor suddenly went up the vanes were flung open, allowing the air to pass between the blades; when it then moved downwards, the vanes closed and a good portion of air was thrown downwards, thus supposed to create a lifting force. A motion picture record of a flight attempt appears in film clips of odd flying machines. The invention is seen jumping up and down heavily, but it is dubious if this was caused by air downwash — after all, when one heavy part of the machine is forced down some other part must go up, according to the laws of mechanics. This appears to be the first helicopter in which vibration was designed into it ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planes-that-didnt-make-it/355669/34 "2006-05-07T15:51:53Z")
Pitt **s** Sky Car. Damn typos. ---
**Author:** ![AncientHumanoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ancienthumanoid/32/278_2.png) [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planes-that-didnt-make-it/355669/35 "2006-05-07T16:03:59Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > By the end of WW2 […] paved airstrips capable of handling heavy four-engine planes were more common. Can’t say this enough in answering the question of the demise of huge flying boats. Why would an airline continue to pay for their own exclusive dock/port facilities when they could now use government subsidized land facilities? Also, they no longer needed to look for sheltered, calm waterways to expand their routes. Large airstrips were virtually everywhere anyone wanted to go. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planes-that-didnt-make-it/355669/36 "2006-05-07T16:47:37Z")
Lets not forget rotary winged aircraft. How about the [AH-56 Ceyenne?](http://www.internetage.com/cartercopters/pics9.htm) it was way ahead of it’s time. It never got beyond the prototype stage because of problems with it’s advanced weapons systems and because Bell started saying “lookee here we built you a Cobra.” The Army decided to go with the proven technology of the Cobra which was basically a Huey in a narrow body. They then adapted the Cobra to fit the anti-Soviet/Fulda Gap mission that the Cheyenne was designed for. It wasn’t until the Apache came along that the US Army had a true Attack Helicopter that was designed for that role from the ground up. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planes-that-didnt-make-it/355669/37 "2006-05-07T16:55:27Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Lets not forget rotary winged aircraft. How about the [AH-56 Cheyenne?](http://www.internetage.com/cartercopters/pics9.htm) I had a model of that when I was a kid. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planes-that-didnt-make-it/355669/38 "2006-05-07T17:04:39Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > I have a soft spot for the [Ryan Fireball](http://www.daveswarbirds.com/usplanes/aircraft/fireball.htm). If you think carefully about it, would you like to be in an airplane nicknamed “The Fireball”? 😃 I’d read that counterrotating propellers, although nifty, have always had enough problems that they’ve been of limited use. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planes-that-didnt-make-it/355669/39 "2006-05-07T18:19:28Z")
How about the “GOBLIN” mini-fighter (it was launched and recovered from a B-52 bomber. Unfortunately, it was too small to do a whole lot. Does one survive? ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2006, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planes-that-didnt-make-it/355669/40 "2006-05-07T18:22:57Z")
How about the [Convair XC-99?](http://www.air-and-space.com/xc99.htm) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planes-that-didnt-make-it/355669.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/planes-that-didnt-make-it/355669.md?page=3)