r/WeirdWings • u/Xeelee1123 • 13h ago
r/WeirdWings • u/SpeedCameraAuditor • 14h ago
Rare photos of Honda's 1988 B2 mockup at the Everglades Jetport
Stumbled upon these obscure photos of a flying wing while digging into some Florida Everglades history. I found them on the Facebook profile of Carol Lord, whose family operated Monroe Station nearby and who later worked as a security guard at the Dade-Collier Training and Transition Airport - aka, the Everglades Jetport!
Anyways, this isn't a new discovery; it is known that a B2 mockup was built for Honda in 1988 for use in a CRX commercial. Jalopnik wrote an article about it in 2013 and there's been a few posts about it on Reddit throughout the years. Sadly it appears the museum that eventually owned it scrapped it some 20+ years ago. Here's another link with a bit more about it from someone who was involved with the commercial: https://aviationmuseum.eu/Blogvorm/south-dakota-air-space-museum/
I hadn't seen these pictures posted anywhere before so I figured they were worth sharing!
r/WeirdWings • u/AriaScott299 • 9h ago
World Record The flight engineer station of the B-36 Peacemaker - the plane with likely the longest pre-flight checklist
r/WeirdWings • u/ciapudown • 17h ago
Propulsion Was this flying wing that was spotted over Texas and Kansas in 2014 the RQ-180
r/WeirdWings • u/amem32 • 1d ago
Obscure 601 J-XX proposal
The "Snowy Owl" or 雪鸮 is the final proposal from 601st institute for the "J-XX" competitor for PLAAF's 5th generation fighter programme. Very little is known about this proposal, work on the project was started sometime in the early 90s and continued till ~2007 when the official winner was chosen.
The project initially started as a study for a new generation medium weight fighter capable of achieving the technological sophistication of 90s era European fighters as a baseline and targeting for similar standards as the American ATF program with the preliminary designation of J-14. The original proposal (601 "93" proposal from image 4) took inspiration from aerodynamic experience gained from the old J-13-II project and used conventional clipped delta wing with a large LERX with minor consideration for LO. This was ultimately rejected due to the then recent reveal of YF-22 and YF-23 showing considerable LO features which lead to further work on the original proposal to produce the "New 93 proposal" (Image 7).
The updated proposal looks more or less like a stealthy elongated and squashed F-18 with significant optimisation for supersonic performance, though this proposal apparently did not come with a IWB and hence relied on conformal external carriage of weapons not unlike the KF-21 design today. Allegedly target performance for this proposal was frontal RCS no larger than 0.4m^2 with 4 conformal BVRAAM and no larger than 0.05m^2 clean. The design planned to use 2 WS-12 turbofans (>80kN and TWR larger > 8) from Shenyang Liming Aeroengine Co, this gave the aircraft a preliminary specification of M2.0 top speed, max combat TWR > 1.3 and >300m/s climb rate. Unfortunately due to politics and priorities at the time, with the import of Su-27 from Russia in 1992 and the subsequent domestication removed the much needed personnel and funding from this project which effectively cancelled it in its original form and it unfortunately took the WS-12 project (One of the most promising domestic programs at the time for producing a globally competitive medium thrust turbofan, not to mention unlike the later WS-10, WS-12 was a fully domestic design) along with it.
What happens next is a lot harder to tell given it now directly relates to the still heavily classified "J-XX" programme which eventually produced China's first 5th generation fighter, the Chengdu J-20. Apparently from the looks, the 93 proposal and the eventual direct successors was repurposed and heavily modified for the new "J-XX" competition for a heavy 5th generation fighter. From what is available, the Shenyang proposal was likely longer in both length and wingspan compared to Chengdu's proposal and had an ambitious triplane layout for extreme maneuverability and controllability up to 65 degree AoA without TVC. Though this came with drawbacks such as more limited LO features compared to the Chengdu proposal, heavier empty and takeoff weight due to extra control surfaces and extreme complexity of the flight control system. One of the likely reasons it was not selected was likely due to additional weight required a very high thrust engine which was unavailable at the time given the only option being AL-31F and WS-10 while WS-15 was only in the early concept and design phase at the time along with the fact that PLAAF probably valued proper LO over maneuverability given advancement of BVR combat and avionics in the digital age.
r/WeirdWings • u/NoraSoftEvans • 1d ago
Asymmetrical The SPAS-70. A spherical airship with an internal cockpit. (Ca. 2002)
r/WeirdWings • u/Nemoralis99 • 2d ago
Special Use Heinkel He-111 H-8 with a balloon cable deflecting device, around 1940-1941.
r/WeirdWings • u/Fine_Town_5840 • 2d ago
The Douglas XB-42A Mixmaster
Someone suggested I post here, so here you go. The XB-42 was designed as a fast tactical bomber.
On temporary display at the NMUSAF in Dayton Ohio.
r/WeirdWings • u/RLoret • 3d ago
Martin/General Dynamics WB-57F Canberra operated by NASA
r/WeirdWings • u/GignusBignus • 5d ago
Prototype The Airbus Vahana, a VTOL, tiliting wing prototype, designed as a research platform for daily, short range commutes. Equipped with eight electrical motors, it was planned to carry one person at a cruising speed of 200 km/h. After 138 test flights, it was retired in 2019.
r/WeirdWings • u/TaraAnderson836 • 6d ago
Spaceplane XB-1 experimental jet achieves supersonic flight, minus the boom
r/WeirdWings • u/jacksmachiningreveng • 6d ago
VTOL McDonnell XHJH "Whirlaway" transverse-rotor helicopter prototype demonstrated in 1946
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r/WeirdWings • u/BE_Lewis_Studios • 7d ago
Obscure Gyroflug SC01 Speed Canard
Strange looking plane, the engine sounded oddly quiet. Took the photo Monday in Central California.
r/WeirdWings • u/The_Duc_Lord • 7d ago
Obscure Only 10 Were Built: The British Cold War Heavy-Lifter Twice The Size Of A C-130 Is Waking Up In Queensland
r/WeirdWings • u/guiticon • 7d ago
Propulsion Behold the Fairey Gannet. How much weird can you put in one operational plane?
r/WeirdWings • u/gasstationsushichef • 9d ago
Hiller 1031-A-1 Flying Platform. Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Chantilly, Virginia. [Album]
An Army-Navy program in the mid-1950s, Hiller constructed a series of innovative Flying Platforms, one-man vehicles that a pilot could control with minimal training. The pilot simply leaned in a desired direction and the craft moved that way. The platforms utilized the aerodynamic efficiency of the ducted fan.
The duct also had a natural self-correcting tendency in forward flight that prevented tumbling. The platform was still a challenge for its test pilot, despite publicity films that seemed to depict a true "flying carpet."
The 1031-A-1 is the second Flying Platform prototype and the first to operate out of ground effect (aerodynamic cushion caused by thrust interacting with the ground). The Army contracted for a larger, improved model, the VZ-1, but the extra engines required for safety made the platform too heavy.
r/WeirdWings • u/RLoret • 10d ago
Grumman XTB3F-1 Guardian at NAS Patuxent River, December 1949
r/WeirdWings • u/Leonid527 • 11d ago
Prototype Douglas A2D Skyshark
The Douglas A2D Skyshark is an American turboprop-powered attack aircraft built by the Douglas Aircraft Company for the United States Navy. The program was substantially delayed by engine reliability problems, and was canceled because more promising jet attack aircraft had entered development and the smaller escort carriers the A2D was intended to utilize were being phased out.
r/WeirdWings • u/Xeelee1123 • 11d ago
Handley Page Victor XA930 taking off from the de Havilland Aircraft Company aerodrome at Hatfield, UK, on July 14 1960 assisted in a trial take-off by de Havilland Spectre rockets
r/WeirdWings • u/CloverGomez93 • 12d ago