Most Unattractive Aircraft of WW2

[Graeme]

Also known as "The Bitch".

(The photo shown in #253 is the earlier and smaller Burnelli UB-14 design.)

 

[Admiral Beez]

Curtiss S03C Seamew

 

[vikingBerserker]

That always looked like an aircraft built out of a lot of extra spare parts.

 

[TheMadPenguin]

That always looked like an aircraft built out of a lot of extra spare parts.

I think the same of the Duck-billed Platypus.

 

[buffnut453]

That always looked like an aircraft built out of a lot of extra spare parts.

Agree...tail feathers from a Helldiver, undercarriage from a Lysander, engine cowling from a Lancaster...and a couple of barn-door sections for wings.

 

[swampyankee]

Engine problems didn't help, but the poor flight characteristics were all Curtiss' fault.

 

[GrauGeist]

Curtiss built some beautiful aircraft in their time and I always wondered what happened with the SO3C - especially when you look at the SC Seahawk, one of the best, but little-known floatplane of the war.

 

[swampyankee]

Curtiss built some beautiful aircraft in their time and I always wondered what happened with the SO3C - especially when you look at the SC Seahawk, one of the best, but little-known floatplane of the war.

Curtiss also built some aircraft with reputations for great flight characteristics. The SO3C Seamew wasn't one of them. Neither was the SB2C Helldiver.

I agree the SC Seahawk was a great floatplane, but one wonders if it was just too late to be particularly useful, especially as catapult aircraft, by that time, were being used less for scouting than for SAR.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Couzinet 70

 

[Spitlead]

Couzinet 70

View attachment 580571

You win

 

[Spitlead]

Curtiss S03C Seamew

View attachment 576473

I kinda like it. That airplane looks manly with its strong chin scoop.

 

[swampyankee]

Couzinet seemed to have an unhealthy attachment to trimotors: he made several models with three Pobjoy engines, which didn't come much bigger than 60 hp.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Couzinet seemed to have an unhealthy attachment to trimotors: he made several models with three Pobjoy engines, which didn't come much bigger than 60 hp.

I like the Pobjoys. They avoid competing with the big radials and found a profitable niche.

Delays in Bristol Centaurus service entry

 

[swampyankee]

I like the Pobjoys. They avoid competing with the big radials and found a profitable niche.

Delays in Bristol Centaurus service entry

Oh, I think the Pobjoy radials are just too cute, kind of like a baby radial.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Oh, I think the Pobjoy radials are just too cute, kind of like a baby radial.

I'd like to see info on Pobjoy's sleeve valve flat six engine - the one that overheated (because the operators forgot to activate its cooling function), caught fire and destroyed the Short Shetland prototype. Sounds like something that could be used in a late 1940s car.

 

[buffnut453]

Hmmm....Pobjoy. The little engine that could...providing you bolt at least 3 of them to the front of any aircraft that you want to get airborne.

 

[GrauGeist]

Most of Couzinet's production types used Hispano inlines.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Hmmm....Pobjoy. The little engine that could...providing you bolt at least 3 of them to the front of any aircraft that you want to get airborne.

Makes one wonder how many Poboy Niagara's you'd need to get something carrying 1,500 lbs of bombs to over 300 mph at 15,000 feet. Something like 24 engines sharing couplings to six props? But keeping those radials cool will be a designer's challenge.

 

[Freebird]

Fairey "Frog" trainer

 

[GrauGeist]

If we're looking for the smallest radial that Couzinet used, don't forget the Salmson 9AD (40hp) or the Walter Vega (85hp)