Biggest Flop in Aviation History

[Silent Hero]

Aliens? or the RCAF?

Saw this a few minutes ago on the History Channel and decided to dig up some more info on it. Gave me a few laughs.

http://www.avroland.ca/al-vz9.html
http://seekers.100megs6.com/UFOMANFlyingAvroSaucer.htm

"The Avrocar was a saucer-shaped disk 18 ft in diameter and 3 ft thick, it was designed to go 300 mph and able to fly to an altitude of 10,000 ft. It weighed 5,650 lbs and had separate cockpits for two crew members."

"Formal Air Force flight evaluations occured at Avro in April 1960 and June 1961 - tests showed that the maximum speed was 35 mph and reseach at NASA showed that the Avrocar was aerodynmically unstable."

EVASIVE MANEUVERS!!!

[dak]

What makes it funny is the pair of legs from someone walking by match up perfect with the pilot and makes it look like he is flying a Flintstones car.

[Cybsled]

Nah, there have been bigger flops then that in aviation. At least that thing -flew-.

As for the saucer design, the nazis were fucking around with aircraft designs similar to that. They probably dug out the old plans and said "Shit, they were right about the helicopter and the jet engine, maybe they're right about this too!".

[Rush]

I have something that can go 35 mph, it doesnt hover off the ground and I promise it doesn't use as much gas as that thing. Yes my friends, I'm talking about a moped, and quite frankly, I'd look better riding a moped that riding around in the piece of shit.

[roosta]

operation paperclip, america stole pretty much all the top scientist in rocketry, aerodynamics and weaponary from Germany and brought them to the US to have them work for us. Germany had some crazy ass cutting edge shit on the drawing board around 1945.

[Praxus]

Originally Posted by dak

What makes it funny is the pair of legs from someone walking by match up perfect with the pilot and makes it look like he is flying a Flintstones car.

Haha, was thinking the same thing.

[Silent Hero]

Originally Posted by roosta

operation paperclip, america stole pretty much all the top scientist in rocketry, aerodynamics and weaponary from Germany and brought them to the US to have them work for us. Germany had some crazy ass cutting edge shit on the drawing board around 1945.

yeah, one of the things i have heard about was a certain jet engine that was revolutionary at the time. not sure when mach 1 was reached but i think that engine was supposed to push it somewhere close.

[Praxus]

If you were driving that down the street and the police were chasing you. What the hell would they report?

[Hooby]

Originally Posted by Praxus

Haha, was thinking the same thing.

Me too....


You gentlemen weren't stoned when you posted were you?

[GrobbeeTrull]

operation paperclip, america stole pretty much all the top scientist in rocketry, aerodynamics and weaponary from Germany and brought them to the US to have them work for us. Germany had some crazy ass cutting edge shit on the drawing board around 1945.

Actually, if the Germans had another year to work their Messerschmidt magic, they'd have had jet planes in the air before 1950. They were so close to totally owning up everything to ever fly in the sky it wasn't funny.

[Genjiro]

Originally Posted by GrobbeeTrull

Actually, if the Germans had another year to work their Messerschmidt magic, they'd have had jet planes in the air before 1950. They were so close to totally owning up everything to ever fly in the sky it wasn't funny.

Germany had combat operational jet aircraft before the end of WW2 (1944), in the me 262. They even let a squadron of Russian pilots fly them who were opposed to psycho Stalin and who fought for Germany. The me 262 ended up just being a case of too little too late to be effective, coupled with Hitler being a dumbass yet again and deciding to utilize them as bombers before fighters. It was a badass plane, and could have helped turn the tide if it had been put into action much sooner than it was. It's also funny to read the "Fast and the Furious-esque" tactic that the U.S. P-51 pilots developed to help counter the much greater speed of the me 262, by having a button to push for a quick burst of nitrous oxide for closing speed.

The me 262 if you want to read up a little on it. Also I heard something about after occupation, US pilots capturing many of these, and the guys would have heated arguments over who got to play around in the 262's once they knew how to operate them heh. Sorry if this was long, air force brat here(my old man was a C-130 pilot) and grew up around planes all my life, and has always been something I enjoyed reading about.

[Metranon]

ya the history channel ME 262 documentary is amazing, shows a british pilot taking the first peacetime flight in one and basically says "it's like sitting on a metal pipe with 10,000 lbs of rocket fuel behind you and 2 flimsy wings."

[Hal2005]

Spruce Goose

The Widowmaker

BV-141

[Cybsled]

Had the ME 262s gone into production earlier, Germany would have more then likely been able to counter our massive b-17 bomber fleets more effectively, since fighter escort would be less adapt at catching them (although the p-51s did shoot a couple down). By the time they started using them, we already had a foothold in Germany and the Luffwaffe had been crippled, thus giving us almost complete air superiority. There were also fuel shortages...they literally had 10s of thousands of tanks just rotting because they lacked the needed fuel for them.

However, the 262s had shit range. I remember reading that the Japanese had solved some of the issues with their jetplane in regards to range, however nukes got dropped and ended the war before they could go into full production and advance beyond the prototype stage.

But as has been said, Germany was pretty much the #1 in innovation for aviation. When we did paperclip, we -really- wanted to snatch them up before the Russians got them. And the Germans wanted to go with the US as well, because they really hated the Russians ;p Our space program and modern airforce have their roots in ze 3rd reich pretty much.

Spruce Goose

I dunno if I'd call that a flop. The idea was sound, technology was what really held it back (prop driven). If you get down to it, the Spruce was pretty much a forerunner to modern super transports like the C5. Don't forget at the time it was being designed, most military transport overseas occured via vulnerable ships. They forsaw the importance of massive airborne transport which would allow for quick mobilization as well as safety from enemy navies/subs.

[Wrathcaster]

Originally Posted by Silent Hero

Aliens? or the RCAF?

Saw this a few minutes ago on the History Channel and decided to dig up some more info on it. Gave me a few laughs.

http://www.avroland.ca/al-vz9.html
http://seekers.100megs6.com/UFOMANFlyingAvroSaucer.htm

"The Avrocar was a saucer-shaped disk 18 ft in diameter and 3 ft thick, it was designed to go 300 mph and able to fly to an altitude of 10,000 ft. It weighed 5,650 lbs and had separate cockpits for two crew members."

"Formal Air Force flight evaluations occured at Avro in April 1960 and June 1961 - tests showed that the maximum speed was 35 mph and reseach at NASA showed that the Avrocar was aerodynmically unstable."

EVASIVE MANEUVERS!!!

WTG Canada!