Most Unattractive Aircraft of WW2

[at6]

How about another ... wait for it, French candidate?

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Not the Airbus, but the decidedly French SNCASO Onera Deltaviex below. Now those are some bug eyes, huh! Jeepers creepers, where'd you get those peepers? From France.

This next one is more strange than truly ugly. For some reason, I cannot get the Boeing YL-15 Scout pic to post. I tried 4 - 5 different pics and it just won't post. I guess the browser thinks it's ugly, too. So, maybe I'm wrong, and it IS ugly. The Boeing YL-15 Scout. To give it it's due. it comes apart and can be stowed VERY compactly. That doesn't make it any prettier, though.

How about the Nemeth Parasol?

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The designed must have had too much to drink, looked at himself in a fun-house mirror and came up with this. The shocking thing is that he persisted after he sobered up.

Then again, the Lanier Vacuplane XL-4 reminds me of the north end of a southbound jackass:

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I cannot understand the inspiration for this creation, except that is was designed at the University of Miami, widely regarded as a party school. Still, it looks better than the Scroggs Last Laugh, seen below:

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Looks like a paper airplane with the front pointed part replaced with an engine. I don't care who you are, that's funny.

Flying saucers might have inspired the Roe UFO below:

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Which apparently flies quite nicely. That doesn't make it pretty, though. Maybe flying saucers got their start early, as seen below:

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Don't know much about it except that it apparently was tried in 1911. On the plus side, it afforded plenty of shade if you built a round table under it.

Somehow, the Messerschmiit Bf 109 below just doesn't seem right:

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Does it?

Company ... HALT!

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All for now.

I like the "V" tail BF-109. Nothing ugly about it.

 

[spicmart]

Most of the aircraft posted here are more quirky (in a funny way) than ugly.
A really unattractive thingy imo is the F6F Hellcat.

 

[GregP]

A few posts up someone said this is about unattractive aircraft in WWII.

Mea culpa. I was just going for unattractive aircraft ... I shall desist. Cheers.

Might as well leave with an "attactive" aircraft in the WWII era, the Latecoere 631:

The Buffalo IS fairly homely ... at least to me.

That may or may not exactly be ugly, but certainly isn't "pretty."

 

[glennasher]

Most of the aircraft posted here are more quirky (in a funny way) than ugly.
A really unattractive thingy imo is the F6F Hellcat.

The Hellcat isn't really "pretty" but it beats the heck out of the Wildcat, which is even uglier than the Brewster Buffalo, in my book.

 

[SaparotRob]

The Hellcat isn't really "pretty" but it beats the heck out of the Wildcat, which is even uglier than the Brewster Buffalo, in my book.

As much as I have a soft spot in my head for the Buffalo, the Wildcat is prettier than Buffalo, IMHO.

 

[at6]

Actually, the Wildcat is prettier than the Hellcat. Not as lethal, but prettier. It also makes the Buffalo look like 110 year old Aunt Edna.

 

[swampyankee]

Arguing aesthetics is even more likely to devolve into fuming annoyance than arguing about sports teams.

 

[SaparotRob]

Arguing aesthetics is even more likely to devolve into fuming annoyance than arguing about sports teams.

I have no idea what you said but I'll defend to the death your right to say it!

 

[at6]

Arguing aesthetics is even more likely to devolve into fuming annoyance than arguing about sports teams.

Not if we just allow ourselves to have fun with it. Besides, I don't watch sports.

 

[at6]

Arguing aesthetics is even more likely to devolve into fuming annoyance than arguing about sports teams.

I have no idea what you said but I'll defend to the death your right to say it!

I think that he's worried that an overheated argument could erupt.

 

[swampyankee]

Not if we just allow ourselves to have fun with it. Besides, I don't watch sports.

I only watch on rare occasions.

Hopefully, the ugliest plane thread keeps going in a fun way.

Accessories can also spoil a look. The He119 looks OK, albeit pretty odd, but when it's put on floats?

By MLWatts - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, File:Heinkel He 119 profiles.svg - Wikimedia Commons

The combination of the spindly fuselage, designed for low drag, with the huge floats, their supporting struts, and a fixed ladder, moves it into the realm of the ugly.

 

[DarrenW]

A really unattractive thingy imo is the F6F Hellcat.

I can see why some people would find the Hellcat "unattractive" but that's because Grumman didn't take any liberties with it's design, being primarily concerned with producing a relatively simple low-cost fighter plane with handling qualities that made it easy to fly and a performance that kept it competitive with it's primary antagonists. By these measures I think they succeeded in spades.

And while I will always love the Spitfire and Mustang for their sheer beauty, my heart still belongs to the Hellcat. I guess like most things I choose functional over glamorous, and watching a squadron of fully loaded F6Fs screaming down the deck of a carrier and into action is about as functional as it gets for me....

 

[vikingBerserker]

They always remind me of really pissed off hornets.

 

[DarrenW]

I may get beat up for saying this but I'm I the only one who doesn't think the A6M is attractive? By all accounts I should, but there's something about the design that just doesn't look right to me but I can't figure it out. What makes this even more strange is that I would describe most other Japanese fighter aircraft of WWII as pleasing designs.

 

[SaparotRob]

I may get beat up for saying this but I'm I the only one who doesn't think the A6M is attractive? By all accounts I should, but there's something about the design that just doesn't look right to me but I can't figure it out. What makes this even more strange is that I would describe most other Japanese fighter aircraft of WWII as pleasing designs.

Yes. You are the only one.

 

[SaparotRob]

They always remind me of really pissed off hornets.

Now that you mention it......

 

[DarrenW]

Yes. You are the only one.

Thought so. I also think the FW 190A is a much better looking machine than the Dora (gasps). The long ugly snout gives the impression that the engine was just stuck on it like a bottle cap lol.

 

[at6]

I may get beat up for saying this but I'm I the only one who doesn't think the A6M is attractive? By all accounts I should, but there's something about the design that just doesn't look right to me but I can't figure it out. What makes this even more strange is that I would describe most other Japanese fighter aircraft of WWII as pleasing designs.

It is the most attractive Japanese plane next to the Kate.

 

[DarrenW]

It is the most attractive Japanese plane next to the Kate.

I can get on board with that.

 

[GrauGeist]

Many of the earlier IJN/IJA types did not have a great deal of appeal (at least to me) but they were an example of form following function - on the otherhand, the KI-45 was a beauty.