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The Ugliest Airplane: An Appreciation of the Transavia AirTruk
- OldGuyInTheClub 3y agoI think it has friendly competition from the Carvair: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviation_Traders_Carvair https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviation_Traders_Carvair https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJcXJG9LRhI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJcXJG9LRhI
- ceejayoz 3y agoAnd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stipa-Caproni https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stipa-Caproni. Airbus Beluga, perhaps, as well?
- araes 3y agoThanks, worked in aerospace for years, and that's still one of the neatest plane designs I've seen in a long time. How many ducted tube airplanes do you ever see?
- OldGuyInTheClub 3y agoFrance had some innovative concepts along these lines. Youtuber Mustard takes a look at the Coleoptere. Not a ducted fan but it has a duct in lieu of a wing. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unz6mfjS4ws https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=unz6mfjS4ws
- benhurmarcel 3y ago> Airbus Beluga, perhaps, as well? The Beluga is neat. The Boeing Dreamlifter on the other hand...
- b3orn 3y agoWas watching Goldfinger a few weeks ago and had to think of this plane when I saw the title. The Fiat Multipla of airplanes.
- gluecode 3y agoDon't forget the Handley Page Victor: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handley_Page_Victor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handley_Page_Victor
- OldGuyInTheClub 3y agoI think the Victor still looks futuristic, menacing, and strangely beautiful. A Buck Rogers fantasy brought to life.
- ceejayoz 3y agoThe head-on view is particularly badass. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Handley_Page_HP-80_Victor_K2_AN1103895.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Handley_Page_HP-80_Victor...
- nocoiner 3y agoI agree. It’s ungainly for sure, but I wouldn’t call it ugly. Besides, if I were going to pick a British warplane originating from that era as the ugliest, I’d have to go with the Nimrod.
- cf100clunk 3y agoI agree about the distasteful look of the Nimrod. As for the Victor: ''Thunderbirds are go!''
- dwd 3y agoAEW3 variant I would agree, the original was a sleek conversion the dH Comet. Pretty nice design for a plane that first flew in the 40s! The Victor was also a sleek futuristic design and the every bit as impressive as the Vulcan. Never a fan of the Gloster Javalin; something was always off in the proportions as well as just looking chunky.
- flohofwoe 3y agoOne of the most beautiful planes ever built IMHO (in how futuristic it still looks) :)
- AugieDB 3y agoLooks like something Launchpad McQuack would fly. Actually, it kind of looks like Launchpad....
- ramesh31 3y agoEye the beholder I guess. The beauty of airplanes is that they fly the way they look, and this thing gives off serious AN-2 vibes. Makes perfect sense for Australia, where there's a huge need for cheap air trucks with STOL capability in the outback. Biplanes are still a good choice for that to this day, based on all the old Antonovs still in service.
- andrewflnr 3y agoI've seen worse. In particular I recently watched a (long!) video about French interwar bombers. Some of them sure had... interesting designs. Also on topic for HN, the video talks about the politics, conflict, and general folly involved in their specification. https://youtu.be/gWzmNw5Mu_w?si=81QvU0L7_vlv7Hcn https://youtu.be/gWzmNw5Mu_w?si=81QvU0L7_vlv7Hcn I gotta say, the plane in the article above is pretty cute by comparison.
- sampli 3y agoMcDonnell XF-85 Goblin https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_XF-85_Goblin https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_XF-85_Goblin
- anigbrowl 3y agoI'll see your AirTruk and raise you a Super Guppy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aero_Spacelines_Super_Guppy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aero_Spacelines_Super_Guppy
- einpoklum 3y agoThis has evolved into the Airbus Beluga and BelugaXL: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_BelugaXL https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus_BelugaXL double the payload of a SuperGuppy, and 4 meters higher; but I'm not sure about the exact cargo bay dimensions.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- racked 3y agoLooks like something out of Alien
- davely 3y agoAs a plane nerd my entire life, I have to say that in my humble opinion, there is no such thing as an ugly airplane. And then I clicked through the link. Oh, wow.
- rowyourboat 3y agoMy top spot for ugliest airplane remains occupied by the PZL M-15 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PZL_M-15_Belphegor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PZL_M-15_Belphegor A turbine-engined biplane for crop dusting.
- romwell 3y agoCame to this thread to mention Belphagor. Saw the beast in person in Kraków. Was inspired enough to dedicate a poem to it: O the forgotten craft of yore! To darkest arts I turn once more. With new and oldest runes combined, I'll birth the only of its kind: Four-winged beast from depth of hell By breath of fire be propel'd! The cyclops eye, rise in my field! With venom be your biceps filled! From skies you'll pour death and gore— I summon thee, o BELPHEGOR! ...Thus quoth der Polen: Nevermore .
- mardifoufs 3y agoOr most inter war french bombers. God, they were ugly. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAB_AB-20#/media/File:A.B.20.png https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAB_AB-20#/media/File:A.B.20.p... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farman_F.220 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farman_F.220
- psunavy03 3y agoIt's like the old joke about how you ID aircraft from the 50s to the 70s: - If it's ugly, it's British. - If it's weird, it's French. - If it's ugly AND weird, it's Russian.
- arethuza 3y agoThat might explain why the TSR-2 was cancelled - too beautiful! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BAC_TSR-2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BAC_TSR-2
- rudjlive 3y ago[flagged]
- shermantanktop 3y agoGeeBee Model R: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granville_Gee_Bee_Model_R_Super_Sportster https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Granville_Gee_Bee_Model_R_Supe... For when the pilot wants to be within two feet of the rudder, and as far away from the monster engine as possible in a 17 foot plane.
- thereddaikon 3y agoThe Gee Bee isn't ugly, its cartoonish.
- rudjlive1 3y ago[flagged]
- einpoklum 3y agoHis hangar poodle is named FoPaw ! Puntastic.
- cf100clunk 3y agoThe Curtiss-Wright XP-55 Ascender (pejoritavely nicknamed the Ass-Ender) was so laden with quick fixes to its aerodynamic quirks that it looked terribly offensive to me: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtiss-Wright_XP-55_Ascender https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curtiss-Wright_XP-55_Ascender It was a precursor to engine-in-fuselage jet aircraft design, but it sure was not a ''clean'' aircraft. The Vultee XP-54 and Northrop XP-56 prototypes of the same era (referenced in the Wikipedia article) are equally bizarre-looking.
- Gazoche 3y agoThat plane design looks pretty awesome to me. Remove the propeller and it wouldn't look out of place zipping through space, shooting down TIE fighters.
- verandaguy 3y agoI'd bet money that this was used as an inspiration for the planes from Crimson Skies. Some of the most iconic ones from that game were all WW2/art-deco-styled canard designs with pusher props. Honestly, it's kind of a look.
- cf100clunk 3y agoI think you are right about the influence. It seems the Ascender showed up in Combat Flight Simulator 3: https://combat-flight-simulator-3.fandom.com/wiki/Curtiss_P-55_Ascender https://combat-flight-simulator-3.fandom.com/wiki/Curtiss_P-...
- gtroja 3y agoI thought the same thing! (love de pc game, the "BattleStations, BattleStations, all crews to BattleStations" never leaves my mind)
- greedo 3y agoOf Mad Max fame...
- wolverine876 3y agoSometimes I wonder how aethetics and social norms curtail technology adoption and productivity. For consumers, it's obvious that tech needs to be socially acceptable - in fact it's an expected part of the adoption cycle. For fun (ok, I'm revealing myself), and to exercise my creativity and outside-the-box thinking, sometimes I try to come up with norm-violating, harmless, and clearly more productive technology people could adopt. (I don't mean provactive norm-violating, like something dangerous or overtly sexual, just geeky or otherwise.) Simple ones are walking around town with an umbrella hat, a headlamp, a camelback, etc. But to the point of this discussion, for business / military I wonder how much ugliness plays a factor. If a 5% more effective fighter plane was clashing shades of horrible colors (for camo) and had a laughably ugly form, would it be used? What if the pilot mounted/dismounted in a ridiculous position, maybe upside down? Otherwise, people are dying and wars are being lost for aesthetics. What about 20% more effective? Where is the line? And what about the space program: how much extra risk is taken for dignity under current social norms?
- cf100clunk 3y agoIndustrial designers can create amazing prototypes, but when a product is shipped it becomes subject to some very cruel market forces. The Nokia N-gage had huge potential, but was quickly lambasted as the ''taco phone'' due to layout decisions that broke common mobile phone paradigms. > had a laughably ugly form, would it be used? The Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk is the perfect example. Love it or hate it, the aesthetics of that aircraft are far from ''normal''.
- faeriechangling 3y agoThe taco phone also had the rediculous design flaw of forcing you to turn off the phone and remove the battery to replace a game cartridge. The name is also stupid.
- bell-cot 3y agoFor an airplane designed for farmers, I'll guess that "ugly but functional" is fine. Beauty wasn't a serious consideration for their other agricultural equipment, or barns, or silos, or ...
- Josteniok 3y agoI really never liked the Boeing X-32 (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-32 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_X-32). That big square intake and tiny wings just looks ridiculous.
- SushiHippie 3y agoWait until they see the AD Scout https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AD_Scout https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AD_Scout
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- snakeyjake 3y agoEven better than the article are all of the fantastically ugly airplanes everyone is linking to!
- hex4def6 3y agoI'll throw my hat in the ring: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_AD-1 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_AD-1
- heyflyguy 3y agoAnything designed by Burt Rutan is worth stopping to take a look at
- seabass-labrax 3y agoWas this actually designed by Burt Rutan, though? His factory "provided the detailed design and load analysis" according to Wikipedia, but that statement doesn't have a citation. It could have been Robert T. Jones who designed it, or maybe it was designed by committee by NASA.
- OldGuyInTheClub 3y agoMustard's latest video is on this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_dNt4UEVZQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_dNt4UEVZQ
- thereddaikon 3y agoIMO the ugliest aircraft is the Blackburn Blackburn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackburn_Blackburn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackburn_Blackburn Ridiculous name, even more ridiculous looks.
- cubefox 3y agoThe narrow cabin looks like Disney: https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/mt/culture_test/planesbanner.jpg https://cdn.theatlantic.com/media/mt/culture_test/planesbann...
- joshstrange 3y ago> But the airplane never became popular—although it became briefly famous when a heavily made-up example starred in 1985’s Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome Video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk-vHw-mstI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pk-vHw-mstI
- quercusa 3y agoIf you are in these comments, you need to plan a trip to the USAF Museum in Dayton, Ohio. It's amazing.
- lkramer 3y agoIf you're in the UK the best equivalent I know of is Duxford: https://www.iwm.org.uk/visits/iwm-duxford https://www.iwm.org.uk/visits/iwm-duxford
- seabass-labrax 3y agoThere was a truly excellent museum at Newquay Airport called the Cornwall Aviation Heritage Centre. It had a number of rare British aircraft - just to name a few: - a Vickers Super VC10 airliner in flying condition[1], one of only 22 built and one of the even fewer number that underwent a successful conversion to military in-flight refuelling service - a BAC 1-11 airliner, the last in flying condition, I believe - a English Electric Lightning supersonic interceptor In 2022, the museum's lease was terminated by the Cornwall County Council with eight months' notice. When the museum found a private donor and proposed to move all the aircraft to a nearby site (which belonged to a local businessman who wanted to support the effort), that same Council cancelled one of their meetings. The meeting was supposed to have been to arrange temporary storage for the exhibits during construction of the new museum site. This gave the museum one week to move or destroy the aircraft. Some of the airframes were returned to the armed forces (who have historic collections of their own, for instance at Yeovilton). The Super VC10 was disassembled; a few metres of the plane's front section were moved to the RAF base at St. Athan. The BAC 1-11 had a similar end, with the forward fuselage moved to one day be turned into a café in Southampton to support a local aviation museum. [1]: When I visited the museum, I was asked not to touch any of the VC10's engine controls, because, as the volunteer explained at the time, it still had some fuel in the tanks!
- Groxx 3y agoWow! That instantly hit the "wtf is that, that's weird!" buttons for me. I'm somewhere between "it's amazing how something can be universally ugly" and "that's really cool, I wonder if anyone's making more of them". An interesting feeling.
- pugworthy 3y agoI'm sorry, but I think it's pretty neat and cute! Ugly is in the eye of the beholder. I would however put it in the, "Are you sure this isn't Photoshopped?" category of planes.
- onewheeltom 3y agoProbably safer than a 737 Max
- nerdponx 3y agoIs it just me or is that thing actually kind of cute?
- GuB-42 3y agoTo add to the list of (subjectively) ugly airplanes. Here is the French Pou-du-ciel (literally: louse of the sky) [1] Besides its unusual shape, it is also what would be called "open source" today. The blueprints are freely available [2]. It is a popular home-built airplane, even today, 90 years later. It has created quite a community has seen several improvements over the years. It is now one of the safest and easiest light airplanes. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mignet_Pou-du-Ciel https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mignet_Pou-du-Ciel [2] http://avions.mignet.free.fr/spdlr.php http://avions.mignet.free.fr/spdlr.php
- ryncewynd 3y agoOk but that's the cutest airplane I've ever seen
- msla 3y agoI think the Caproni Ca.60 was uglier: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caproni_Ca.60 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caproni_Ca.60 > The Caproni Ca.60 Transaereo, often referred to as the Noviplano (nine-wing) or Capronissimo, was the prototype of a large nine-wing flying boat intended to become a 100-passenger transatlantic airliner.[N 2] It featured eight engines and three sets of triple wings. ... in other words, it looked like a river barge with a big superstructure of wings stuck to the top.
- liendolucas 3y agoThat's actually a little cute plane. What about these ones? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aero_Spacelines_Super_Guppy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aero_Spacelines_Super_Guppy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_An-72 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antonov_An-72 https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armstrong_Whitworth_AW.660_Argosy https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armstrong_Whitworth_AW.660_A... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_SC.7_Skyvan https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_SC.7_Skyvan
- V-eHGsd_ 3y agoI love the super guppy. mentour now has an awesome video about it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seLORhTRck0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seLORhTRck0 the atl-98 carvair on the other hand ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviation_Traders_Carvair https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aviation_Traders_Carvair
- defrost 3y agoOn the flip side New Zealand did create a gorgeously functional top dresser with the PAC Cresco STOL turboprop series. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PAC_Cresco https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PAC_Cresco https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_MO5Wfomks https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_MO5Wfomks It's a rock solid workhorse capable of millions of line kilometres drafting at low ground clearances with short hill top take off and landings. Even flies well upside down under bridges.
- vosper 3y agoI had no idea that a commercial aircraft was manufactured in NZ. Thanks!
- poulpy123 3y agowhile there is a lot of ugly planes in the threads, this airtruk is indeed the ugliest