# Least Purty Aircraft of WW2



## Smokey (Sep 13, 2005)

What are the least attractive aircraft of ww2?

Heres one:

Arado AR 198
















An unsuccessful rival to the Focke-Wulf Fw 189 Uhu. It had disappointing handling and performance. Only prototype made

http://www.luftarchiv.de/flugzeuge/arado/ar198.htm


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## d_bader (Sep 13, 2005)

I would say the vickers wellesley is high up the list. The shape of it is just awful to look at. Another ugly plane is the Martin B-10/B-12. The Vickers Vincent is also a really ugly plane.


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Sep 13, 2005)

I dont know I will have to look at my books, there are plenty of ugly aircraft out there.


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## the lancaster kicks ass (Sep 13, 2005)

how dare you say the wellesley's ugly!!

and i dunno at the mo, i'll have a look see........


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## cheddar cheese (Sep 14, 2005)

Id put the Lancaster and early Halifax's here because I think theyre hideous. 

This is pretty f*cking ugly too.


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## the lancaster kicks ass (Sep 14, 2005)

my god the halibag Mk.III's a fucking beauty queen!! she got runner up to the lanc though........


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## JCS (Sep 14, 2005)

Well, leaving out everything french (listing all those would take forever ) the ones high on my list would be the Wellington Mk.VI, Caproni Stipa, Ju287, Handley Page Hampden and Curtiss SO3C...


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## Udet (Sep 14, 2005)

The La-5FN and La-7.

While of interesting look when seeing profiles, I was surprised to realize how ugly and dirty they look in photo.

Like if they had been hastily produced. I have photos of brand new La-7s being delivered to squadrons and they already look worn out. Actually, they don´t look that very new.

The fuselages which should be clean and neat since we are talking about planes that just left the assembly lines, looks irregular, pretty much like if a group of messy children had glued the pieces.


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## JCS (Sep 14, 2005)

I dont think they look too bad, they're nothing special but I wouldnt call them ugly....


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## Dac (Sep 15, 2005)

I'd nominate the Amiot 143 bomber, it looks like a flying greenhouse.


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## lesofprimus (Sep 15, 2005)

> pretty much like if a group of messy children had glued the pieces.


Thats pretty much what they did........


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## Dac (Sep 15, 2005)

You would have had a great view of the Bf109s and 110s coming to shoot you down, through all those windows!


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## Gnomey (Sep 15, 2005)

That is one ugly plane Dac. Continuing with French Bombers with a great view of incoming BF109's and 110's: Bloch MB210.





(www.2iemeguerre.com)

Handley Page Heyford - although obsolete before the war wasn't declared obsolete until 1941.




(RAF)


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## lesofprimus (Sep 15, 2005)

Gnomey, the pics didnt work dude....


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## Gnomey (Sep 15, 2005)

Do now.


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## lesofprimus (Sep 15, 2005)

Cool


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## Dac (Sep 15, 2005)

Gnomey said:


> That is one ugly plane Dac. Continuing with French Bombers with a great view of incoming BF109's and 110's: Bloch MB210.



Didn't Bloch change his name to Dassault after the war and produce some pretty decent aircraft?


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## Gnomey (Sep 15, 2005)

He did here are some examples of what Bloch has produced as Dassault:





MD 450 Ouragan (1951)





Mirage F1 (1981)

http://www.dassault-aviation.com/passion/gb/dassault_a_a_z/histoire_aviation/1916_a_nos_jours.cfm
History of Bloch/Dassault


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## evangilder (Sep 15, 2005)

Yep Maurice Bloch was also a member of the French Resistance.


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## P38 Pilot (Sep 15, 2005)

French bombers??? Didnt know those exist back during WWII....

Hell, i didnt even know the French had any aircraft!


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## evangilder (Sep 15, 2005)

The French actually had some remarkable aviation engineers. There were a large number of French aircraft companies before they were invaded. Bloch, DeWoitine, Breguet, Latecoere, Moraine-Saulnier and Nieuport to name a few.


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## Smokey (Sep 16, 2005)

Avions Marcel Bloch M.B.157, which reached 443 mph

http://www.geocities.com/lastdingo/aviation/list.htm



> This was a french high-speed fighter prototype which was near completion at the time of the armistice.Developed out of the
> 2nd class M.B.152 fighter family, it reached fthe fantastic speed of 710km/h under german control in 1942.
> It could have flown already in 1940! It´s best part was its advanced radial engine which was good at high altitude.
> It had outstanding flying characteristics. 6 months design time. Destroyed by a bombing raid.
> ...



Here was an aircraft with the same speed as a P51, P38, late model Spitfires, FW 190 D9s, yet it was almost ready in 1940!

Rather like the Heinkel He 100 which had the speed of these fighters in 1939, but lost out to the Me 109.






Avions Marcel Bloch M.B.162, 343 mph, 1940, cannon armament



> This was a french strategic bomber which had its maiden flight on july, 1st 1940. Developed out of the M.B.161 commercial plane
> (in service after 1945), its 1:1 mock-up was already shown to the public in 1938. The prototype was captured, tested in 1942 and
> then used by the Luftwaffe for secret missions. [Post-war M.B.161 had problems with the undercarriage.]
> Data: four 1100PS Gnome-Rhône-14N-48/49 radials, 550 (!!!) km/h at 5500m, 2400km range with 1600kg bombload,
> ...




Also helicopter technology was very advanced in France before WW2:





Breguet-Dorand "Gyroplane Laboratoire" flew on June 26, 1935



> Breguet-Dorand "Gyroplane Laboratoire" flew on June 26, 1935. A coaxial design weighing 4.500 pounds, it had twin rotors turning in opposite directions on the same mast. After further development, the aircraft established world's speed, altitude and endurance records. The pilot, barely visible here, sat within the fuselage frame behind the rotor transmission and mast. With Maurice Claisse as test pilot, the helicopter was flown up to the outbreak of World War II.



http://www.fsdome.com/aviation-encyclopedia/helis/country/france/helis/15.htm


Basically it seems that too much money was spent on the maginot line, and so money for aircraft research and production was limited. There were some amazing aircraft, yet they appeared too late, in some cases just a few months too late


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## P38 Pilot (Sep 16, 2005)

Wow, I didn't know the French had it in them! And will someone please not tell me to "Judge a book by its cover..." I have heard tha SO MANY times!


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## evangilder (Sep 16, 2005)

Nobody did, I pointed out some of the manufacturers and Smokey provided some great info on a few of their developments.


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## Parmigiano (Sep 16, 2005)

After WWIIAvions Marcel Bloch became Avions Marcel Dassault, the ones of the 'Mirage' series

Also France had a golden time in aviation around WWI, when they were the almost unique providers of fighter engines with the 'rotative' Gnome, Le Rhone, (later they merged) and Clerget. Almost all fighters who had not an 'inline' used the French engines or their locally license-built versions.

Had France resisted some year in WWII, they probably could develop some really good plane.

... but they were smarter than that: they just give up quickly when times were hard, had others do the job for them and then they came back claiming victory and having good part of industry not heavily damaged and ready to restart! And little money spent on the war! (..just a joke, don't want to be killed by some French!)


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## Gnomey (Sep 16, 2005)

Nice info Smokey!


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Sep 16, 2005)

Nice info there. I never new anything about the French Rotarywing designs. I knew all about there fighters and bombers but never the helicopters.


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## P38 Pilot (Sep 16, 2005)

Yeah. The only ones i ever heard about were those Japanese ones that were submarine-destroyers.


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## JCS (Sep 16, 2005)

P38 Pilot said:


> French bombers??? Didnt know those exist back during WWII....



Be glad you never heard about them, they are some of the ugliest aircraft I've ever seen in my life. Especially the early high-wing ones, they look like a refrigerator box with wings and a greenhouse for a cockpit.


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## Dac (Sep 16, 2005)

The Luftwaffe was lucky that the crazy politics in France in the 1930s slowed down the introduction of newer aircraft. They would have been in for a tough time against some of the French aircraft that were starting to show up.


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## P38 Pilot (Sep 16, 2005)

Note to self...French politics craziness still exists today.


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## the lancaster kicks ass (Sep 17, 2005)

JCS said:


> P38 Pilot said:
> 
> 
> > French bombers??? Didnt know those exist back during WWII....
> ...



if you don't mind i happen to think french bombers were very attractive..........


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Sep 17, 2005)

P38 Pilot said:


> Yeah. The only ones i ever heard about were those Japanese ones that were submarine-destroyers.



What the hell are you talking about? Japanese what? Japanese Helicopters? 

If you are talking about Helicopters, there were actually many nations that had helicopters. The Germans had a ton of very successfull "true" Helicopter designs and the US had quite a bit under the design work of Egor Sikorsky. As a matter of fact Sikorsky revolutionized the helicopter.


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## plan_D (Sep 17, 2005)

The Sikorsky RB-4 "Hoverfly" was the first helicopter to fly operational sorties in a combat environment.


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Sep 17, 2005)

Yes it was. Great helicopter for its time also.


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## plan_D (Sep 17, 2005)

R-4B, sorry. 






Source: http://www.warbirdphotos.net


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Sep 17, 2005)

Well here is my vote for the ugliest plane:

Caproni Stipa


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## plan_D (Sep 17, 2005)




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## P38 Pilot (Sep 17, 2005)

What the hell is that suppose to be??? A PLANE???


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Sep 17, 2005)

It looks like a turd with wings.


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## Nonskimmer (Sep 17, 2005)

It kinda looks like one of those giant groupers. You know, those big ugly fish.


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Sep 17, 2005)

Yeah it sure does.


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## evangilder (Sep 17, 2005)

Hmmm, a flying fish?!


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## zerum (Sep 17, 2005)

More of the Stipa, ;http://www.italiankits.it/doratistipa.html


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Sep 17, 2005)

I dont know I dont mind ugly aircraft but for some reason that really gets me going. I can not stand it.


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## Gnomey (Sep 17, 2005)

That is one ugly plane Alder, I cannot stand, it just looks, well... stupid.


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Sep 17, 2005)

That about sums it up.


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## Gnomey (Sep 17, 2005)

Found a colour photos of it and another one that shows it almost head on, I can't believe anybody took it seriously let alone order it into production.


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Sep 17, 2005)

I dont even know what the aircraft was to be used for.


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## JCS (Sep 17, 2005)

It was never meant to go into service, it was just a test bed for some new engine or something....


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Sep 17, 2005)

What the hell was the engine going to be used for.


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## JCS (Sep 17, 2005)

I dunno, I forget what it was all about. I think somebody posted a link about it in one of the older ugly aircraft threads, I'll try to find it.


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Sep 17, 2005)

I really have no info on the aircraft except that it looks like a flying turd.


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## JCS (Sep 17, 2005)

A quick google search brought up this:



> From the familiar design halls of Italy's Caproni comes the naked horror of the Stipa, built in 1932 to test the thrust effect of a tubular fuselage. The 120 Hp. DH Gipsy III yielded a top speed of 81 Mph, and the lift effect of the tube made the landing speed 42 Mph.



http://www.fortunecity.com/tattooine/farmer/120/stipa.html


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## Wildcat (Sep 17, 2005)

That colour pic above, is a replica built in Australia by a very well known warbird operater. The thing that puzzles me is when you have a hanger with a/c such as a Mustang, T-28, T-6,Fiat G59 and a stearman, why would you want to mess up your hanger space with that thing??


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## me262 (Sep 17, 2005)

belive or not, the put around 200,000 british pound to the project, is the concept of the ducted fan engine, and some said that this was used to produce the pulse jet engines, the ones used by the vi flying bombs


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## Wildcat (Sep 17, 2005)

Oh BTW my vote for the ugliest a/c goes to the Blohm and Voss Bv138, that hideous thing known as the "flying Clog"


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## JCS (Sep 17, 2005)

The Stipa is definately the ugliest I've seen. It looks like some kid took a toilet paper roll and glued some wings and a cockpit to it.....


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## Smokey (Sep 17, 2005)

A link to an ugly aircraft page

http://www.fortunecity.com/tattooine/farmer/120/index.html?1=BACK

And an example





Wellington Mk. VI

Not WW2, but still ugly





Waitomo Airtruk, seen in a Mad Max film


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Sep 17, 2005)

I agree nothing is more ugly than the stipa.


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## P38 Pilot (Sep 17, 2005)

That is the dumbest plane i have ever seen!


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## the lancaster kicks ass (Sep 18, 2005)

not as "dumb" as your spelling....


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## P38 Pilot (Sep 18, 2005)

But that Plane is like mini-me! That little squirt looks like something a 5 year old would fly!


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## plan_D (Sep 18, 2005)

This is a new low for you 38. Even lanc is abusing you. I bet you're loving this aren't you, lanc? For once someone else is getting all the flak.


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## the lancaster kicks ass (Sep 18, 2005)

well, no, i know you're just waiting for me to slip up.......


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Sep 18, 2005)

P38 Pilot said:


> But that Plane is like mini-me! That little squirt looks like something a 5 year old would fly!



Actually it does kind of look like those toy plane rides they have in front of super markets where you put 50 cents in and it rocks back and forth and makes noices. You know the things for kids are supermarkets.


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## cheddar cheese (Sep 19, 2005)

the lancaster kicks ass said:


> not as "dumb" as your spelling....



Errrr...I cant see any spelling mistakes in his post...Other than the lower case I its fine...



I went on one of those kiddy rides a few months back. I was told to get off, probably a good thing you as I could hear the motor making oodd whirring noises.


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## Parmigiano (Sep 20, 2005)

.. probably the Duce, to state the superiority of Fascism, wanted to have an Italian airplane fatter than the Gee-Bee racers!

Seriously, it was an experimental plane to study the jet propulsion. It lead to the Caproni-Campini CC1 of the pic, a thermo-jet where the airstream was generated by a conventional Otto engine. The concept was made obsolete by the development of the turbojet engines.
The CC1 took the air on mid 1940 and was believed to be the first jet plane to fly until it was found that the Heinkel 178 flew in August 1939.

Engineer Campini after the war went in USA where he worked at Northrop for the flying wing project.


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## SM79Sparviero (Sep 20, 2005)

Excellent pictures, Parmigiano!

Secondo Campini was perfectly aware about the advantages of a turbine linked to a compressor, but he could not be faithful in this system because no engineer could really in the thirties!The first British and German gas turbines had a very bad efficiency and the first efficient ones had very high fuel consumption and a low reliability .
Campini realized that the best way to move a compressor would have been an alternative engine if you can't build a gas turbine that whitstands to thermal and chemical-oxidative stress from the combustion.
British Empire and third Reich themselves had troubles with their gas turbines, but Italy neither had their good metallurgy, for the lacking of chrome and nickel for a fireproof steel alloy.
But the most important innovation of CC1 was the after-burner idea: it had the first after-burner of the aviation history!
It didn't performed well also for the cooling troubles of its Isotta Fraschini engine but an aircraft with a conventional propeller would have suffered its same troubles.

Motorjet had not a future, but it was considered in 1930-40 the most efficient system for speeds up to 700-740 Km/h in particular for long range flights.

This idea was followed by USA ( "Jeep" project by NACA) and by Germany ( Heinkel and Junkers motorjet projects) up to 1942-43.


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## P38 Pilot (Sep 21, 2005)

Whoa, never seen that model before!


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## JCS (Sep 21, 2005)

cheddare cheese said:


> I went on one of those kiddy rides a few months back. I was told to get off, probably a good thing you as I could hear the motor making oodd whirring noises.



I can just picture that!


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## cheddar cheese (Sep 21, 2005)

There is a picture of it somewhere, Ill have to find it


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## JCS (Sep 21, 2005)

I cant wait to see this...


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## cheddar cheese (Sep 21, 2005)

I doubt you will see it. Last thing I know it was on the wall in my tutor room at school, then we changed rooms and it hasnt been seen since.  Ill have to do it again sometime


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## the lancaster kicks ass (Sep 22, 2005)

i've seen it!


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## cheddar cheese (Sep 23, 2005)

Amazing isnt it.


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## Gnomey (Sep 23, 2005)

Here is another flying greenhouse: the Siebel Si 201.


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## cheddar cheese (Sep 23, 2005)

That looks awesome 8) 8)


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## JCS (Sep 23, 2005)

_That_..... Awesome..? Huh?


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## the lancaster kicks ass (Sep 23, 2005)

yeah i rather like it........


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Sep 24, 2005)

I would be scared to fly it.


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## the lancaster kicks ass (Sep 24, 2005)

i dunno i'd give it a go, i'd imagine it to be pretty stable......


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Sep 24, 2005)

I dont know I think it would be a flying coffin, just my opinion though.


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## Gnomey (Sep 24, 2005)

DerAdlerIstGelandet said:


> I dont know I think it would be a flying coffin, just my opinion though.


I'd agree with that Alder!


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Sep 25, 2005)

Thankyou


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## the lancaster kicks ass (Sep 25, 2005)

fine, me and CC will laugh as you as we fly past and you're on the ground


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Sep 25, 2005)

Okay you do that.


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## the lancaster kicks ass (Sep 25, 2005)

fine, we will.......


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## cheddar cheese (Sep 25, 2005)

I never said I was gonna fly the damn thing  Ill hitch a lift in Adlers Blackhawk if thats ok.


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Sep 25, 2005)

Hell CC, Ill even let you fly it!


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## cheddar cheese (Sep 25, 2005)

Your funeral.


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Sep 25, 2005)

It cant be worse than some of the guys I already fly with.


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## the lancaster kicks ass (Sep 25, 2005)

i reckon he'll loose controll in seconds......


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## cheddar cheese (Sep 25, 2005)

Youre being generous there lanc...


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## Gnomey (Sep 25, 2005)




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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Sep 27, 2005)

The best is when you got some Lt. who only flys 4 hours a month and has only flown 10 times since he has been out of flight school and then they let him fly once a week over Iraq. Not fun and quite scary.


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## RAGMAN (Sep 30, 2005)

I thought that the short stirling was ugly,but the planes that some of you people posted really had me shaking my head.   But that stipa takes the top prize as the UGLIEST aircraft of ww2, maybe even of all time.I apologize in advance for you short stirling fans here.


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## Marshall_Stack (Sep 30, 2005)

How about this..

http://www.strange-mecha.com/vehicle/track/R-FT.htm


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## cheddar cheese (Sep 30, 2005)

RAGMAN said:


> I apologize in advance for you short stirling fans here.



You better...


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## the lancaster kicks ass (Sep 30, 2005)

yeah she aint no lanc but she's still attractive!

and that flying tank's seriously cool


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## cheddar cheese (Sep 30, 2005)

Hell yeah


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## the lancaster kicks ass (Sep 30, 2005)

never would've worked though, it'd be easier just to mount the gun in the tank not half the bloody tank!


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## RAGMAN (Sep 30, 2005)

that sukhoi su25 looks like something I used to draw in school! I always wondered if someone actually made something along those lines.Oh, and I forgot about the whitley bomber,but compared to the other pics i have seen here,it is a beauty to behold.


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## the lancaster kicks ass (Oct 1, 2005)

the whitley looks beautiful no matter what you compare it too.........


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## Gnomey (Oct 1, 2005)

the lancaster kicks ass said:


> the whitley looks beautiful no matter what you compare it too.........


Unless it is a lanc!

That SU-25 flying tank looks cool but in my opinion would be pretty pointless, why not just have more tanks on the ground?


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## DerAdlerIstGelandet (Oct 2, 2005)

I think it was a dumb design.


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