Challenge: name an airplane uglier than the Lloyd Luftkreuzer
- Thread starter riggerrob
- Start date
Convert a radial engine machine to take a mediocre inline engine and there are inevitably going to be issues. It could have been worse. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtiss_P-37 Good luck bailing out without breaking your back on the tailplane.
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It was all the USAAF had at the time, so... at least it was tough and well armed.
Two waterborne uglies: the Sikorsky S39 and the Latecoere 521
Hey there's nothing wrong with the P-40!
I have a special dislike for Curtiss aircraft. Ugly as planes and ugly as badly designed machines.
The P40 was never more than barely adequate and should have been out of production by 1942. As a fighter it was never more than second rate.
McPherson
Banned
The P40, to be fair, could function as an Allied version of a close air support and battlefield interdiction mission aircraft. Not as good as a Sturmovik, but very much a useful asset for what it could do at the time and place for which it was used in that role.
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It looks like that airplane has a tumor!Okay, I'll bite.
What genius decided it would be a good idea to pack a radar into the middle of 4 side-lobe radio noise generating contrarotating prop impromptu van de Graff generators?
Well, you have to put the radar somewhere. It's a surface search radar, so it has to be underneath the fuselage. The wretched thing is a taildragger, so you need to put the radar where it'll have a decent amount of ground clearance. And you can't put it in the nose, or Berty the bomb-aimer won't be able to look out the window. Right in the middle of the EM-noise generators was about the only place it could go...
EDIT: Turns out that's probably the AEW version, so it might be an air-search radar instead. But it still needs to go underneath - after all, how could anything fly higher than this aeronautical masterpiece?
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marathag
Banned
Bet Me-109 drivers wished they had visibility as good as the P-40.
But I think the Allison was a step in the wrong direction, stay with radial engine of more power
Blackburn engineering philosophy "if it looks right it ain't right"It seems Blackburn has a special claim on this thread.
Blackburn Roc was the ugliest of the entire lot of useless turret fighters. It looks like a collection of airplane parts flying in loose formation with the cowling designed by one engineer, the fuselage by a second engineer, the canopy by a third engineer, etc.
Roc was also unpopular with Fleet Air Arm squadrons. One leader of a mixed Roc and Skua squadron wanted to leave his Rocs ashore because they cluttered up the flight deck!
Roc was also unpopular with Fleet Air Arm squadrons. One leader of a mixed Roc and Skua squadron wanted to leave his Rocs ashore because they cluttered up the flight deck!
Ah The good old Shackleton, once described as 32,000 rivets flying in approximate formation