Table of Contents
Points of Divergence : Invention and development of aircraft
Points of divergence dealing with alternate developments of aviation and various types of aircraft. Entries in both POD sections are sorted as chronologically as possible.
General musings
This section lists PODs about general aircraft and aviation topics, including topics related to research and development, etc., etc. The list includes both civilian and military aircraft topics and is arranged in chronological order (with earliest PODs listed first).
WI the Nazca had really invented hot air ballons ?
Plausibility check: Renaissance flying machines ?
Plausibility check: Airship galleys ?
The Stringfellow and Henson Aerial Steam Carriage flies around 1850-ish
What is the earliest an airship could be built ?
What is the earliest an airplane could be built prior to 1903 ?
What would aeroplane use in the American Civil War be like ?
WI the first flight was by Ellehammer, before the Wrights ?
WI the test flight of the Flyer at Kitty Hawk is not successful ?
Could the invention of heavier than flight be delayed ?
Challenge: Delay aviation by 50 years
Musings on the military applications of zeppelins
What would early 1900s aeroplanes sound like if they were powered by electric engines ?
Roland Garros has worse engine trouble, crashes before reaching Bizerte
Bomber war in WWI and how to keep it going
Plausibility check: Naval guns on an airship ?
Aircraft developments if the first world war had dragged on a year or two longer
Solid state propulsion: A ramjet aircraft WI
DBWI: Airplaines used in civilian travel ? - A humorous double blind what if.
Alternatives to Heathrow Airport
WI Bessie Coleman doesn't die in 1926 ?
WI no Air Mail Scandal of 1930 ?
Alternate Aircraft Acquisitions
1930s-1940s alternate military aircraft
Challenge: 1930s/1940s air force on a budget
Alternative British fighter development in the 1930s
Plausibility check: Airborne refuelling before WWII
No German dive bombers in WWII
Ernst Udet dies 3 June 1936, Walther Wever does not
Most sophisticated WWII biplane fighter possible
WI: Hawker Henley as a viable combat aircraft ?
Effect on the LW if the RAF does better in the Battle of Britain
WI the LW have R4M engines in 1943 ?
Possible uses for helicopters in WWII
More twin-boom aircraft (like the P-38 Lightning)
Challenge: Pulse jet powered fighters in WWII
Plausibility check: Nazis get jet fighters earlier
No Rolls Royce Nene engines sent accidentally to the USSR during WWII ?
WI: No Rolls-Royce Jet Engines for the USSR
Plausibility check: WWII British jet bombers
Plausibility check: Effective Germans SAMs by January 1944 ?
What if the War began in 1944? (Royal Navy in particular and RAF overall)
1946: Build your own air force
Plausibility check/Discussion: Best fighter for a developing country ?
Bombers, Rotordynes and a fistful of Buccaneers
Plausibility check: Sports aviation revival after the Second World War
Challenge: Make biplanes still prominent even after WWII
Commercial and military aviation without World War II
Competent post-war Air Ministry
Civilian jetliners of alternate history
Plausibility check: Transport autogyros
Challenge: British strategic bomber
UK missed aerospace opportunities
WI the German air force does not try to take the VTOL route in the 1950s/1960s
WI Lockheed were caught bribing governments earlier ?
WI: Canards and thrust vectoring adopted earlier
Challenge: Practical American SST
Challenge: Commercially Successful SST
Challenge: Majority-SST air transport with 1970s oil crises
Challenge: Pan Am Supersonic Transports and Space Clippers
Implications for aircraft development if Lt. Belenko doesn't defect
Challenge: Three major present day airliner manufacturers instead of two
Could the jetliner duopoly be avoided ?
The Brits getting a new long-range Bomber after the Falklands War
Plausibility check: A modern day British jet fighter (in the 1980s)
Plausibility check: Return to dogfighting
WI Iranian US Aircraft rebuilt by Russia
Plausibility check: Propeller aircraft carriers today ?
Challenge: Make fighters obsolete by 2100
ASB WI: ASBs abolish air power, nukes and submarines
ASB WI/Plausibility check: ISOTing airliners converted to bombers to WWII
Know of any PODs or POD discussions ? Feel free to add them.
Specific aircraft models and situations
This section lists PODs about specific aircraft and engine models, specific events pertaining to their development, promotion and sales, etc., etc. The list includes both civilian and military aircraft and is arranged in chronological order (with earliest PODs listed first).
Thread about unrealized aircraft projects by country
Aircraft developments if the first world war had dragged on a year or two longer
WI: Gloster's "Unnamed Fighter"
If the Hindenburg was using helium instead of hydrogen
Wolfram von Richthofen stays in technical branch
Plausibility check: Bombers as interceptors ?
Is early Griffon engine too boring and tedious ?
Airplanes with different engines and parts
Challenge: Replace the Bristol Blenheim much earlier
He 111 given more production capacity in 1939
WI P-38 Lightnings in RAF service ?
The Junkers JU-88 as Nazi Germany's only medium bomber
P.59 project not cancelled in 1940 (Do335)
Fw187 in the Battle of Britain, Luftwaffe's P-51 ?
American airship fleet in WWII
No P-51 Mustang (and the impact of this fact on American bomber escorting)
Tallboy and Grand Slam bombs in use in 1943
WI: Germans produce R4M AA rockets earlier (1)
WI: Germans produce R4M AA rockets earlier (2)
Plausibility check: Feasibility of the Horten Ho229
Jet Engined Lancaster Bomber ?
American jet fighter developments in '44
Challenge: Keep the CAC CA-15 Kangaroo alive !
Civilian jetliners of alternate history
Would the de Havilland Comet not have been successful anyway ?
Plausibility check: How big could the Canadian aviation industry get ?
WI The Avro Arrow entered service ? (1)
WI The Avro Arrow entered service ? (2)
Production run of Fairey Delta 2 ?
Fairey FD2/Mirage replacing the English Electric Lightning ?
WI: Soviets reverse-engineer B-52
Further or alternate names starting with "V" for DeHavilland built military jets ?
WI West Germany buys the EE Lighting and not the F-104 ?
WI: B-70 Valkyrie enters Service
WI: F-108 Rapier enters service
Challenge and WI: The Dornier Do 31 enters serial production
WI the Mikoyan-Gurevich Ye-8 entered service
The Northrop F5 is a bigger success
Challenge: The F-4 Phantom is never designed
Possible other operators of the F-111
Challenge: Blackburn Buccaneer NATO Standard
WI the Concorde had Combination Engines ?
Other operators of the B-1 Lancer
Challenge: Ubiquitous Harriers (1)
Challenge: Ubiquitous Harriers (2)
Israeli military helicopter manufacturers ?
WI The Canadian Forces bought the F-14s ?
WI the F-16 Falcon lost in the contract bid of 1974 ?
Non-US designed Aircraft in servive with the USAF/USN/USMC
Challenge: Saab Viggen - NATO's Thunderbolt
Challenge: Have the Saab 37 Viggen as the West’s main fighter
Plausibility check: Bringing back the TSR-2 in the early 1980s ?
Vulcan and Victor still in service ?
RAAF doesn't replace Mirage IIIs with FA-18 Hornets
"Novi avion" vs. NATO aircraft plausibility/feasibility discussion
Soviet fighter development if the USSR had not collapsed
Plausibility check: Northrop F-23 in service in NATO and other nations
F-32 selected for the JSF Program
Challenge: Make the F-35 a success story
Challenge: Harrier replacement
Worst possible name for a combat aircraft
What are your country's "if-only" aeroplanes ?
Alternate warplanes of nations
Know of any PODs or POD discussions ? Feel free to add them.
See Also
Points of Divergence : Spaceflight
Points of Divergence : Warships and Military Vessels - For PODs involving aircraft carriers and naval aviation.