Bizarre Planes You WON'T Find at Your Airport

Check out this really cool design when you're done with this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uF2qZ5ClC78&t=1s

I freaking LOVE weird plane designs! YAY!

Five weird planes and not a single Rutan design? Pretty impressive.

You forgot the "Quickie" and the "Quickie 2". These planes have their main landing gear AT THE TIPS OF THEIR WINGS!🤣

I actually really like that quirky little twin from Aus. The single-engine version just looked like a great little Cessna clone, but the twin has a ton of personality, and yeah, having the extra reliability of a twin in a country that's 98% desolate bush seems like a no-brainer, especially both small like that. Given the pods just hanging out in the air, it looks easy to work on, and like it'd sip fuel. That's exactly my level of oddball, with my first car having been a Suzuki Samurai, and my favorite car having been a second gen Toyota MR2. I've always loved things that are outside the box but in sensible ways. Also, that "flying moving van" from the UK looked pretty aerodynamic to me with that vertical teardrop profile. And the staggered wing design? Those can work shockingly well for slow flight and extreme critical AoA operations. I bet their loiter time was bonkers! Sort of like that flying egg observation plane whose name eludes me at the moment. Some great little planes! I'm less sure about the advantage of driving two props off of one engine, though... it might balance some torque, but the engine itself will still generate a roll torque, and those belts are just two more failure points, plus it doesn't look like it gets a lot of cooling or air back there inside the fuselage.

Interesting, for sure! Back in 1994/95 I had the opportunity to work on an experimental Thurston project, the Teal tricycle gear amphibian. TSC 1A3, I believe was the designation. Our example was almost complete when the company relocated, but I never saw it fly. Thanks for the video and stories!

Exactly, I love weird/experimental aircraft! Love the channel btw.

That was great! I really enjoyed learning about those odd machines!

I love the tiny cargo craft. They look like chibi versions of larger planes and carried surprising amounts of cargo.

Well, that was fascinating. Thanks for doing all that research and sharing these with us.

Loved the Aerovan. When one landed at Darwin (1970s) someone at our hangar said : "Nice packaging but it might look better out of the box"

The Arup planes, from Indiana, 1930s ("Air" + "Up") The S-2 flew first as a glider, then with a 37hp ex "American Indian" police motorcycle engine. 780 lbs, it flew 85 knots, with landing speed below 18 knots. Would not stall. Video shows it to be nimble with amazing 45° climb rate. The S-4 was 1150 lbs, 2-seat side by side dual controls. Flew 100 kts on 70 hp. The S-3 performed well a few times, but was destroyed in a fire when it's shop was set on fire by arson, after tampering and possible sabotage had been noticed. Between the two, they flew several seasons at airshows, frequently carrying advertizing because nobody wanted to buy or invest despite the fact that they performed markedly better than "normal planes": they looked funny. The S-2 flew for NACA and the military at Langley (test pilot Glen Doolittle, cousin to the famous air racer Jimmy Doolittle). Charles Zimmerman was on the NACA group that examined it, and later he used the very-low aspect-ratio planform with it's super-slow stall-proof 40°nose-up approach as the starting point for his work on a VTOL Tail-sitter for Vought and the NAVY in the V-173. (NACA Tunnel tests with the V-173 showed that it didn't gain anything or particularly change anything with the overly complex wing-tip mounted props) In 2015 the Mid-Atlantic air museum in Pennsylvania reported that it had acquired the S-2 and it's awaiting restoration for display. The flying "Heel Lift" - Arup S2 Bomberguy nearly 2 minutes, but skip ahead to 48 seconds in for the video) https://youtu.be/Nxz1UF67EQI?si=dbyocU3baika_VOf Arup S-4 King Aero Aviation 2 minutes 48 seconds https://youtu.be/_XrSFVDa3mY?si=OctPp6l3jYWuclSp

Love odd looking aircraft. That was fun to watch, Thanks, Good video.:face-blue-smiling:

Thanks for sharing this, Juan. YOU ARE A GREAT DAD!

here in Ushuaia, Tierra Del Fuego, Argentina. the Arava was used as a medical aircraft until recently

There's a NASA or NACA paper from years ago, which says that if you want to design a biplane, you do not put the wings right in the same vertical. You instead put the upper plane of the biplane wing 1 chord up, & 1 chord forward, then you tilt the lower plane so its trailing-edge 5-degrees down. That last plane you showed was an box-wing, and the stagger was right to put the upper plane forward, but the 2 planes were too close together, from the looks of it.

Sitting behind a Jabiru engine, you don't need anybody shooting at you to get you down

Loved it man, really cool!!

Very fun video, and thought-provoking. Sort of a primer for anyone interested in aircraft design. Daydreaming doesn't cost much. I expect my wings will come from St. Peter someday.

@6:45 looks like the "new" NASA/Boeing project . Very cool video!