Ten Military Aircraft that Never Made it Past the Test Phase

**USSWisconsin** · 29 Feb 12,, 17:32

Ten Military Aircraft that Never Made it Past the Test Phase | Innovationnewsdaily.com

a fun slide show of failed designs -

**Chogy** · 01 Mar 12,, 14:11

The Spruce Goose still amazes me.

Back in the days of sail, Navies found that there was a limit to the size of an all-wooden ship of the line, with the three-decked 100 gun ships like L'Orient being about the maximum size possible. Bigger than that, rigidity and strength began to diminish. Iron and steel finally permitted larger ships.

With the Goose, I am guessing that critical components (like the spar) are aluminum, and the fuselage likewise has metallic major supporting structures. Otherwise, it'd simply fall apart under its own weight when under load.

**Versus** · 10 Mar 12,, 22:23

Well,at least they had the money to try those ideas,now days it is a bit harder.
But the HZ-1 aerocycle...
funny comedy arnold sings christmas - YouTube

**FJV** · 10 Mar 12,, 23:38

Source: N.V. Koolhoven-Vliegtuigen (1934-1940)

The plane has flown one single short flight. On 30th June 1938 test pilot Thomas Coppers took off - and immediately started a turn to land again - with the wind! - Koolhoven ran to the plane, to see what had happened. Both men had a short, furious discussion. We do not know what was said, but one thing is certain - the FK-55 never flew again.

**bonehead** · 11 Mar 12,, 23:39

Originally Posted by Chogy

The Spruce Goose still amazes me.

Back in the days of sail, Navies found that there was a limit to the size of an all-wooden ship of the line, with the three-decked 100 gun ships like L'Orient being about the maximum size possible. Bigger than that, rigidity and strength began to diminish. Iron and steel finally permitted larger ships.

With the Goose, I am guessing that critical components (like the spar) are aluminum, and the fuselage likewise has metallic major supporting structures. Otherwise, it'd simply fall apart under its own weight when under load.

When I return to the museum I am now going to have to eyeball the plane and look for non wooden parts.

**kato** · 12 Mar 12,, 00:03

List is a bit US-centric of course.

Most awesome of that time was probably Rene Leduc's designs - always consisting of essentially a giant ramjet engine with wings and the pilot mounted somewhere in a spar in front of the air intake. The Leduc 022 - the last one - was the only one of them that could actually take off on its own.

**Dago** · 12 Mar 12,, 00:43

Would the B1A qualify? They never came into service, and the slower B1B instead.

**Versus** · 17 Mar 12,, 18:39

Here are some birds form our side.

**Doktor** · 17 Mar 12,, 20:46

Originally Posted by Versus

Here are some birds form our side.

Versus,

What are these planes and what are the dates when they went to history?

**Versus** · 27 Mar 12,, 22:47

Originally Posted by Doktor

Versus,

What are these planes and what are the dates when they went to history?

The first two are the prototypes that were planned for production between 1947-1952 I think. The third one was supposed to be fourth generation multirole AC but the civil war took care of it.

**Doktor** · 28 Mar 12,, 10:39

Originally Posted by Versus

The first two are the prototypes that were planned for production between 1947-1952 I think. The third one was supposed to be fourth generation multirole AC but the civil war took care of it.

The third is YU-Supersonic, the first two I never saw before

Thanks for the info.

**avon1944** · 14 Aug 12,, 05:31

I came up with a short list of, aircraft in which less than a dozen test aircraft manufactured;
The YF-12A interceptor, the XB-70 Valkery, FJ-1 Fury, XF-32 stealth fighter prototype, Ryan FR-1 Fireball, DC-5 airliner, XC-120 Packplane, A-12(YF-12A) interceptor, etc.

**TopHatter** · 14 Aug 12,, 15:56

Originally Posted by avon1944

I came up with a short list of, aircraft in which less than a dozen test aircraft manufactured;
Ryan FR-1 Fireball

There were actually 66 machines completed by Ryan, and a single squadron equipped with them.

**gunnut** · 14 Aug 12,, 18:42

Originally Posted by FJV

Source: N.V. Koolhoven-Vliegtuigen (1934-1940)

The Koolhoven FK-55 was a most remarkable, not to say revolutionary design. It was a single pilot monoplane fighter, in which the engine was placed behind the pilot, in the centre of the fuselage. Two counter-rotating propellers were driven by long shafts running from the engine. To further complicate things, the main gun was to fire through the hollow propeller shaft.

Sounds like the P-39 Airacobra. They even look similar with their slim nose as opposed to the fat nose of the period.

I suspect the test pilot turned the plane around to land due to the instability he experienced. There was no computer or fly-by-wire at the time and planes were designed to be inherently stable. The FK-55 has center of mass too far rearward and was probably inherently unstable. That pilot could tell as soon as it left the ground.

P-39 had a massive 37mm auto-cannon in the nose to keep it nose-heavy and stable.