The most unusual flying machines in the world. First flying machines Unusual flying machines

The invention of artfully constructed aircraft for travel in the Earth's atmosphere ranks among the greatest innovations of mankind. The field of aviation is defined by defying constraints and inventing bold new ideas, but these aircraft simply completely ignore notions of normality.

10. Convair V2 Sea Dart

There are many interesting combination vehicles available for pilots in addition to the standard aircraft. However, a fighter jet designed to land right in the ocean adds a whole new definition to the position, transforming pilots into jet ski drivers. The Convair Sea Dart was an experimental American fighter, built in 1951 as a prototype for a supersonic seaplane, with a waterproof hull and two hydrofoils. The Sea Dart concept was rejected after a fatal accident, but not before it became the first - and so far the only - seaplane to break the sound barrier, with Ed Shannon at the helm.

9. Inflatoplane from Goodyear


When a tire company tries to enter the aircraft market, strange results can be expected. In 1959, Goodyear Tire responded to the market demand for a comfortable aircraft in an amazing way. The open cockpit Inflatoplane was built entirely of rubber with the exception of motors and control cables. The plane could be assembled into a 1 meter long box, and it could be fully inflated using a bicycle pump in just 15 minutes. The car was an aerodynamic success as it took to the skies with ease. However, Goodyear ran into some trouble persuading the military to buy the plane when they indicated that the plane could have been shot down with a single bullet, or even with a slingshot.

8. Ames AD-1 from NASA (NASA A1 Pivot-Wing)


Ames AD-1 from NASA has deduced the standard for the weird aircraft to a whole new level. The long, slender wings of a jet aircraft developed in the early 1980s to test the swing wing concept were angled to the point where the tip of the right wing could be parallel to the cockpit. The idea behind this original and completely new design was to neutralize the effects of turbulence and increase streamlining. Strange plane performed whole line flights, and showed surprisingly good results, but they were not convincing enough to justify mass production. However, modern drones are currently under development, which are modeled on the basis of this aircraft design.

7. Vought V-173 (Vought V-173)


The Vout V-173 was developed in 1942 as a prototype vertical take-off and landing aircraft capable of intercepting enemy fighters from an aircraft carrier. The strange design of the aircraft, nicknamed the "flying pancake" given to him by its test pilots, consisted of an almost perfectly circular fuselage that also functioned as the wings of the aircraft. Two engines supported huge propellers that could not touch the ground only with exaggerated landing gear struts, while the power system was located at the ends of the wings, unlike any other aircraft ever made. Limited demand and an accident helped seize the fate of the project, but it began a pedigree that led to the famous Harrier Jet vertical takeoff and landing jet.

6. Bell P-39 Aircobra


Sometimes experts are better off sticking to what they are good at. During World War II, Bell Helicopters created a powerful, maneuverable fighter with superior ground attack ability and aerial combat skills. Most aircraft had engines in the front, but Bell, as a helicopter company, created an aircraft body with an engine behind the cockpit. A long shaft spun the propeller in front, but while the design provided amazing power, the construction of the hull around the power source, like a helicopter, resulted in unusual center severity. This Sky Cobra shot down more enemy aircraft than any other American-designed fighter aircraft used by the Soviet Air Force, but some Air Cobras crashed without even firing a single enemy shot.

5. "Blackbird" (SR 71 Blackbird)


Before the dawn of the era of universal satellite technology, specifications design for a first-class reconnaissance aircraft with unprecedented speed, endurance and the ability to reach the edge of space gave birth to the SR 71 Blackbird. A fearsome, almost alien ship, the SR 71 had devilish performance characteristics. However, by a strange irony, explosive oozing from the special permeable tanks of the CP 71 jet fuel until heat (482 degrees Celsius) caused by friction sealed them. When the plane took off to an altitude of more than 9.65 kilometers, its speed exceeded 3000 kilometers per hour, as a result of which the surface of the plane glowed bright red. The hellish sight outside the plane was no consolation for the pilot in the asbestos-insulated cockpit who had to wait up to half an hour after landing to avoid having molten legs upon exiting. Even the cockpit canopy reached a temperature of 300 degrees Celsius.

4. Convair Pogo


The Grumman X203, or Pogo, represents a radical departure from the norm of aircraft design, a flight past eccentricity into full-blown absurdity. The Pogo's body was shaped like a conventional aircraft, except for a rotor attached to the nose cone that lifted it vertically into the air. Unlike most VTOL aircraft, the Pogo took off nose-up like a rocket with wheels attached to its tail keel. The lantern was designed at a 90 degree outward position, resulting in the pilot having to lie perpendicular to the ground as the vehicle was lifted into the air. Pogo2 was then to fly forward through the air as soon as it stabilized. There were several successful test flights, but like many other aerial fringes, the project never got off the ground.

3. McDonnell Douglas X-15


The X-15 is an older design. However, he was such a significant and unusual leap forward that he remains unrivaled in the field flight characteristics aircraft. The first tests of the X-15 rocket-plane, which was 15.5 meters long and which was equipped with two tiny 2.7-meter wings on each side, took place in 1959. A series of tests showed that the plane reached an altitude of 30,480 meters and two of its flights were qualified as space flights. As the plane passed through the atmosphere, a small plane resembling a rocket reached a speed six times the speed of sound. X-15 was plated with a special nickel alloy similar to that found in natural meteorites. The alloy protected the fastest machine in the history of planet Earth from combustion in the atmosphere. The X-15 defined the extreme performance niche with its heavy weight, high power and low pressure.

2. "Blohm und Voss BV 141" (Blohm und Voss BV 141)


In the natural world, symmetry is the rule in everything from eyes to wings. In reverse engineering principles that are inspired by nature, this rule is equally true for motors, fins and tails. However, during World War II, in the midst of a marked deviation from the norm, German aviation engineers at Dornier decided to create a reconnaissance aircraft and a light bomber with one wing, a tail boom with an engine on one side, and right next to it, a cockpit for the pilot. While this design may seem unbalanced, placing the cockpit on the right side of the propeller counteracts torque and helps the aircraft fly straight. Thus, this quirky aircraft not only took off from the ground, but also became the inspiration for a modern sports plane with a similar design.

1. Caproni Ca.60 Noviplano


Imagine a houseboat combined with an airplane. This was the idea behind the Caproni Ca.60 Noviplano. This aircraft, created in 1920, set the standard for odd multi-wing aircraft so high that even Richtofen's Red Fokker certainly looked mediocre by comparison. Caproni's huge floating aircraft, which was 21 meters long and weighed a whopping 55 tons, was built to be the first transatlantic liner in aviation history. Borrowing from theory the concept that enough wings would make anything fly, a ship-shaped hull carried a cluster of three wings in front, three in the middle, and a third set of wings instead of a tail. The unearthly machine could only be described as a triple triplane and nothing like this was ever built. Takeoff was not a problem, but the plane made an emergency landing on its maiden flight after reaching an altitude of 18 meters. Caproni announced that he would fix it, but the wreckage of the plane was later burned that night.

Since the beginning of time, man dreamed of many abilities that nature deprived him of, and one of them is the ability to fly.

From the times of ancient Egypt, Greece and India, sketches and manuscripts have survived to this day, describing attempts to create a machine that can hover above the ground. Unfortunately, our ancestors did not have the opportunity to implement such an idea, but our contemporaries do well in the implementation of such projects. And now we will tell you about some of them.

Lexus hoverboard

In early August 2015, Lexus presented its innovative product - a hoverboard with cryochambers.

The created apparatus works on the principle of the Meissner effect. Levitation occurs due to the manifestation of the diamagnetic properties of ceramics: when the temperature of the material drops below 197 degrees Celsius, the ceramics becomes a superconductor and begins to push the magnetic field out of its area. The rejection of the external magnetic field occurs due to the fact that circular electric currents arise in the superconductor, forming a magnetic field that is opposite to the field outside the conductor.

Two large ceramic chambers with liquid nitrogen which provide 20 minutes of flight.

After determining the principle of operation of this flying mechanism, it becomes clear that the hoverboard will not be able to move on ordinary roads. To demonstrate the device, the company created a special track with powerful directional magnets.

Lexus has partnered with Evico, a company that develops industrial magnetic bearings.

Jet man

On June 24, 2004, Yves Rossy flew for the first time on a homemade aircraft with two jet engines, and showed the world that a person can not only reach the heavens, but also overtake the jet Airbus A380 in them.

From the age of 15, Yves dreamed of flying, and in his 20s he decided to become a pilot. In 2004, Rossi became interested in skydiving and wingsuit, which inspired him to invent a completely new aircraft. The inventor took as a basis rigid mechanically fixed wings. Unlike many other air vehicles jetpack controlled by displacement of the center of mass, that is, from body movements. For takeoff, the pilot needs to climb to a certain height, since the knapsack cannot take off from the ground, and when landing, a parachute is used.

In 2016, Yves and his colleague Vince Refett demonstrated the project's capabilities by flying together with an Airbus A380 passenger aircraft.

FLYBOARD

A flyboard is a device that allows you to take off over the surface of the water due to the engine from a jet ski, a hose and holey boots)

Frankie Zapata is an ardent fan of water sports and the inventor of the flyboard. Since 2008, Frank has been managing the production of his own personal watercraft, Zapata Racing. As a professional athlete, by nature, he always strives to reach new and new heights and takes part in the creation of new models of watercraft, modernization and improvement of their design and technical characteristics.

In 2011, Zapata Racing introduced the world to its FLYBOARD mechanism for flying over water. The device was presented and patented at the World Championships in China.

This device can be connected to any jet ski and is propelled by the flow of water. The principle of operation is very simple: a special hose brings water to a board with attachments on which a person stands, and due to strong pressure, the user of the apparatus can take off above the water surface. The flyboard is capable of lifting a person to a height of 10 meters.

The appearance of such a device has seriously agitated the restless natures of extreme lovers, and at the moment flyboard competitions are quite popular in some countries.

Jetpack FLYBOARD AIR

Zapata did not stop at the "water-powered flying thing" and created another interesting device. Frankie is not one of those who are content with little, and he was embarrassed by the number of limitations that the first Flyboard had, because he is tightly tied to a jet ski and is not able to gain height above 10 meters. This prompted the inventor to create a new Flyboard Air.

The device operates on a powerful jet turbine, the fuel tank is located on the pilot's back and lasts for 10 minutes of flight. According to preliminary calculations, this miracle of technology is capable of gaining altitude up to 3000 meters and reaching a speed of 150 km / h. During the tests, Frank decided not to risk it and climbed only 30 meters, accelerating to 55 km / h. The airboard is controlled by a special remote control.

At the moment, Frank's team is improving and thoroughly testing the new flyboard. We hope that it will become as available and popular as the previous model.

Jetpack JB-9

For 10 years, Australian inventors David Mayman and Nelson Taylor have been developing a personal aircraft powered by two jet turbines.

The JB-9 received flight clearance from the United States Air Force and the United States Coast Guard.

At the moment, the developers are improving the jetpack for delivery to the conveyor and free sale.

ArcaBoard

ARCA Space Corporation presented its ArcaBoard hoverboard to the world, which has a clear advantage - unlike other hoverboards on magnetic fields, it is capable of hovering over any surface.

The aircraft takes off due to 36 electric motors of 272 hp each, and it runs on lithium batteries. This board can lift a person up to 110 kg and drag him 2 km at a speed of 20 km / h. The batteries are charged for a maximum of 6 minutes of flight, and they charge for about six hours.

The passability of ArcaBoard sets it apart from other flying boards, but it also has significant drawbacks, namely: high noise level, huge weight (82 kg) and not small dimensions (145x76x15 cm).

This thing can rise to a height of 10 to 30 cm, depending on the weight of the person.

The boron is controlled through mobile app or by tilting the body.

Hoverbike

This non-maneuverable, non-lifting, difficult-to-handle hoverbike was invented and built by British inventor Colin Furze. In just three months from the heap aluminum profiles and two engines with propellers Colin owned just such an aircraft.

The bike has a flexible fuel line system and a plastic fuel canister. The motors are installed in different directions to compensate for the reaction moment, as in helicopters. The hoverbike has a payload of about 45 kg per engine.

Colin is an extremely resourceful guy, and here you can get acquainted with another of his inventions:

We thank you for your attention!

The invention of flying machines that allows humans to travel in the Earth's atmosphere is one of the greatest innovations of humanity. Aviation is challenging the limits, and new ideas are constantly emerging in this area, but the aircraft listed below do not even remotely fit the concept of "normal".

(Total 22 photos + 5 videos)

Convair V2 Sea Dart

1. In addition to standard aircraft, pilots sometimes have access to very interesting aircraft. The fighter, which will now be discussed, could land directly on the surface of the ocean. And he greatly expanded job duties pilots, temporarily transforming them from ordinary pilots to ski landing gear operators.

2. The Convair V2 Sea Dart was an experimental American fighter, built in 1951 as a prototype for a supersonic seaplane with a waterproof hull and a pair of hydrofoils.

3. It was decided to abandon the production of this fighter after a disaster that ended in the death of the pilot. But nevertheless, he became the first (and at the moment - the only) seaplane to break the sound barrier.

Goodyear inflatoplane

4. When the company producing car tires enters the aircraft market, very unusual results are to be expected. In 1959, Goodyear Tire tried to satisfy the market demand for a small, comfortable aircraft, and its response to those requests was very bizarre. The Goodyear Inflatoplane's open cab was made entirely of rubber.

5. In fact, everything was made of rubber, except for the engine and wires. The plane could be stowed in a 1 meter box and could be fully inflated using a conventional bicycle pump in just 15 minutes. From an aerodynamic point of view, the car was excellent as it rose into the air with incredible ease. However, Goodyear Tire faced significant challenges. They could not convince the military to buy their brainchild after the military learned that the plane could be shot down with just one bullet or even a slingshot.

NASA A1 Pivot-Wing

6. NASA A1 Pivot-Wing was able to take the concept of "strange airplane" to a whole new level. It was developed in the early 1980s to test the concept of a swinging wing. The jet's long, slender wing could rotate at such an incredible angle that it was almost parallel to the cockpit. The idea behind this unorthodox and exceptional innovative approach was to compensate for vortex disturbances in the air flow in this way.

7. The strange plane even made several flights, and it flew surprisingly well, but the results were still not considered convincing enough to justify the cost of its production. However, modern drones based on the design of this aircraft are currently under development.

Vought V-173

8. Vought V-173 was developed in 1942 as a prototype aircraft with vertical takeoff and landing, capable of intercepting enemy fighters, taking off from the deck of an aircraft carrier. For its strange design, the test pilots nicknamed this plane "flying pancake".

9. Its fuselage was rounded. A pair of motors propelled propellers of enormous size, which did not touch the ground during takeoff only thanks to the elongated landing gear struts. Low demand and one accident decided the fate of this project, but development in this direction began with it, which in the end led to the appearance of the famous Harrier Jump Jet.

Bell P-39 Aircobra

10. Still, sometimes better experts stick with only what they are really familiar with. During World War II, Bell Helicopters produced a powerful and incredibly maneuverable fighter with superior combat performance.

11. Most aircraft have engines in the front, but Bell, as a helicopter company, has created a fighter with an engine centered behind the cockpit. A long shaft coming from this engine rotated the propeller at the front, but this design resulted in an unusual center of gravity for the machine. This "sky serpent" during the war years shot down many more enemy aircraft than any other American Air Force fighter. However, some "cobras" died not because they were shot down by the enemy, but because they themselves fell, easily falling into a "tailspin" even because of the most insignificant errors of the pilots.

SR 71 Blackbird

12. SR 71 Blackbird was created before the era of universal satellite technology. It was the first reconnaissance aircraft of its kind, with unprecedented speed and range. He was able to climb to incredible heights, and he looked like a terrible, almost alien spaceship.

13. However, the SR 71 Blackbird had serious flaws in its design. As soon as the plane climbed to an altitude of 7 km and accelerated to a speed of 3300 km / h, its outer skin heated up to 400 degrees and began to glow red. This hellish sight outside the cockpit did not please the pilots too much. And although the cockpit was insulated with asbestos, the pilots still had to sit in it for half an hour after landing in order not to burn their feet upon exiting. Even the transparent canopy of the cockpit was heated up to 300 degrees.

Convair Pogo

14. The Grumman X23, aka Pogo, represented a radical departure from all aircraft building norms. It wasn't even eccentric, it was full-blown absurdity. By outward appearance The Pogo looked a bit like a regular airplane, if you ignore the jet engine mounted in the nose cone. This engine allowed the Pogo to take off vertically. But unlike most aircraft with vertical takeoff and landing, the nose of the Pogo before takeoff lifted up at a right angle, so that the pilot in the cockpit was almost lying like an astronaut in a rocket. Only after such preliminary preparation could Pogo take off.

15. There have been several successful test flights, but like many other aerial failures, this project was never able to fly far from the ground.

McDonnell Douglas X-15

16. The X-15 is a very old design, but it was such a significant and anomalous leap forward that it remains unrivaled in aviation history to this day. First tested in 1959, the experimental Kh-15 rocket plane was 2 meters long, with two tiny meter-long wing stubs on each side.

17. A series of tests showed that the rocket plane was capable of reaching an altitude of 107 km, so that two completed missions were qualified as space flights. When this small plane passed through the dense layers of the atmosphere, its speed was six times the speed of sound. The skin of the X-15 was coated with a special nickel-based alloy, which was similar to that found in meteorites. This alloy prevented the fastest aircraft on the planet from burning up in the atmosphere.

Blohm und Voss BV 141

18. In the ordinary world, symmetry is a rule that can be traced in almost everything, from the eyes to the wings and fins. Engineers are also inspired by this principle when creating their inventions, this rule is also true for aircraft engines. However, during the Second World War, German engineers from the Dornier company significantly deviated from this norm and created a reconnaissance aircraft, in which the tail stabilizer was located only on one side, and the cockpit was located asymmetrically, on the opposite side.

19. At first glance, this design looks unbalanced. However, due to the fact that the cockpit is located on the right side, and the carrying propeller is to the left, a moment of force arises during the flight, which helps the aircraft to fly smoothly. As a result, this bizarre aircraft not only successfully lifted off the ground, but subsequently inspired many creators of modern sports aircraft to create devices with a similar design.

20. Consider a house on the water crossed with an airplane. This is the idea behind the Caproni Ca.60 Noviplano. This machine set the strangeness bar for aircraft so high that even Richthofen's Red Fokker looks very pale by comparison. The length of this aircraft was 23 meters. The weight is a whopping 26 tons. This amphibious and flying vehicle was built to become the first transatlantic liner in the history of aviation.

21. Based on the theory that with enough wings, anything can be lifted into the air, the engineers created a stack of three wings in the front and three in the middle. Instead of a tail, another, third set of wings was used. This monstrous machine can probably be classified as a triple triplane, and nothing like it was built either before or after it.

22. It was not a problem to get off the ground, but immediately after takeoff, at an altitude of 18 meters, the device began to fall apart, and then fell into the water. Both pilots were killed. After that, the plane was repaired, but later it burned down. It happened at night, and the details of this incident have not yet been fully clarified.

Ever since the invention of flying machines, there have been constant attempts to improve them, to create a super-aircraft, or an aircraft with unusual characteristics. Collected here are the most phenomenal examples.

SR 71 "Blackbird"
Even before the era of universal satellite technology, the SR 71 "Blackbird" was created - a first-class reconnaissance aircraft with unprecedented speed, strength and ability to reach the stratosphere.

Terrible, almost alien, this plane had fantastic abilities. However, according to a strange idea, explosive aviation fuel seeped from special leaky fuel tanks until heat (t = 482 ° C) caused by friction sealed them.

When the plane reached an altitude of almost 10 thousand meters and a speed of almost 5000 km / h, the surface of the cockpit began to glow with a bright red light. The terrifying view from the outside was no better than the inside, where the pilot was in the asbestos-insulated cockpit.

Even the cockpit canopy heated up to a temperature of 300 ° C, and upon landing, the pilot had to wait more than half an hour so that his legs would not melt when leaving the cockpit.

McDonnell Douglas X-15

The X-15 represents a significant and unusual breakthrough in aeronautics that remains unrivaled to this day.

For the first time tests took place in 1959. The X-15 rocket plane was 15.5 meters long, with tiny three-meter wings on either side. During a series of tests, the aircraft climbed to an altitude of 30.5 kilometers, and two of them were counted as space flights.

During its passage through the atmosphere, its speed was six times the speed of sound. The body of the plane was coated with a nickel alloy similar in composition to that found in meteorites. This allowed the aircraft not to burn up when entering the Earth's atmosphere.

The X-15's immense weight and high power provided the basis for describing the characteristics of extreme aircraft.

Convair Pogo
The Grumman X23, or “Pogo,” represents a radical departure from the norm for aircraft construction, from simple eccentricity to utter absurdity. The hull was built almost like a normal aircraft, with the exception of a rotor attached to the nose cone, which lifted the aircraft vertically into the air.

Unlike most vertical take-off and landing aircraft, the Pogo took off nose-up like a rocket with wheels attached to its tail keel. The cockpit canopy was designed at a 90-degree outward position, which required the pilot to lie perpendicular to the ground as the aircraft lifted into the air.

Then, after leveling off the flight path, the Pogo continued to fly like conventional aircraft. This vessel passed a series of successful tests, but like all "strange" projects, it did not receive further development.

Convair V2 Sea Dart

A pilot's job is not always limited to simple airplanes. And the control of a fighter jet that can land on water right in the middle of the ocean turns the pilot into the driver of a giant jet ski.

The Convair Sea Dart is an experimental American fighter jet designed in 1951 as a prototype for a supersonic seaplane.

It was equipped with a waterproof case and two hydrofoils. The Convair Sea Dart was discontinued following a fatal accident.

However, before that, under the control of Sam Shannon, this aircraft became the first (and the only one to this day) seaplane to overcome the sound barrier.

Airplane NASA A1 Pivot-Wing

With the introduction of the NASA A1 Pivot-Wing, the standard for aircraft strangeness has been raised to a new level.

The aircraft was developed in the early 1980s to test the rotating wing theory. It had a long wing that rotated at an angle until the right end of the wing was parallel to the cockpit.

Hidden behind this unconventional and innovative design was an attempt to neutralize the effects of turbulence and increase streamlining.

The aircraft performed surprisingly well on a number of tests, but the results were not impressive enough to warrant mass production. However, modern drones are designed based on this model.

Vought V-173

The Vout V-173 was developed in 1942 as a prototype of a vertical take-off and landing vessel with the ability to intercept enemy fighters directly from an aircraft carrier.

For its strange design, the first test pilots dubbed it “the flying pancake”. It had a fuselage of almost regular round shape, which also served as wings for this aircraft.

Two engines supported huge propellers that did not touch the ground only thanks to the oversized landing gear, and the power supply system was located at the ends of the wings (unlike all existing aircraft).

Limited demand and accidents decided the fate of this project, but it served as the progenitor of the famous Harrier Jet vertical takeoff and landing jet.

Bell P -39 Aircobra

Sometimes experts need to do what they are good at.

During World War II, Bell Helicopters created a powerful, ultra-maneuverable fighter with superior attack capabilities against both ground and air targets.

In most aircraft, the engines are located at the front of the cockpit. However, as a helicopter company, Bell created a ship's hull with an engine located behind this cockpit.

This design provided the aircraft with extraordinary power, and a long shaft rotated the propeller at the front. But the construction of the hull around the power source, like a helicopter, led to an unusual center of gravity. Therefore, some of them crashed even without a single shot from the enemy.

And yet, with the help of this air "cobra" the Soviet forces shot down more enemy planes than any other American aircraft received under the Land Lease.

Blohm und Voss BV 141

In nature, symmetry is important in everything from the eyes to the wings. In reverse engineering principles, inspired by the rules of nature, this axiom is equally true for the engines, keel and tail of aircraft.

But during World War II, German aircraft builders from Dornier created a reconnaissance aircraft and a light bomber with a single wing, a tail boom with an engine on one side and a cockpit just behind them.

This design, which has significant deviations from the accepted norm, may not seem reliable, but, nevertheless, the location of the cockpit on the right side of the propeller counteracts the torque and helps the aircraft to fly straight.

This strange aircraft not only took off from the ground, but also served as inspiration for the creation of a modern project sports plane with a similar design.

Imagine a houseboat combined with an airplane. This was the idea behind the Caproni Ca.60 Noviplano project. The Machina, created in 1920, changed all existing standards for evaluating multi-wing aircraft. And so much so that Richtofen's Red Fokker would have looked just ordinary.

This huge floating aircraft (21.5 meters long and 55 tons in weight) was to be the first transatlantic aircraft in the history of aviation. Borrowing from theory the concept that enough wings could make anything fly, three wings were attached to the ship-shaped hull in the front, three in the middle, and a third set of wings in the back instead of the tail.

This strange unearthly apparatus can be described as a triple triplane. Nothing like this has ever been built.

Takeoff did not become a problem for this plane, but the first flight ended in disaster when the plane gained an altitude of 18 meters. Caprioni announced that he would fix it, but the wreckage of the plane was burned that same night.

Goodyear inflatoplane

When largest manufacturer Shin is trying to go into aircraft construction, one can only expect something unusual.

In 1959, Goodyear Tire responded to market demands in an extraordinary way with the supply of compact aircraft. The open cockpit inflatable aircraft was made entirely of rubber, except for the engine and electrical control cables.

The plane easily fit into a one-meter-long box and was easily inflated using a conventional bicycle pump. This car made a real aerodynamic sensation as soon as it took off into the air.

Unfortunately, the company was unable to convince the military to take the aircraft into service when it became clear that it could be easily shot down with a bullet or even a good slingshot.

Humans have been obsessed with taking to the air for centuries. In the myths of almost all peoples there are legends about flying animals and people with wings. The earliest known aircraft were wings that mimic birds. With them, people jumped from towers or tried to soar, falling off a cliff. And although such attempts ended, as a rule, tragically, people came up with more and more complex designs of aircraft. The iconic aircraft will be discussed in our today's review.

1. Bamboo helicopter

One of the world's oldest flying machines, the bamboo helicopter (also known as the bamboo dragonfly or the Chinese spinner) is a toy that flies upward when its main shaft is quickly rotated. Invented in China around 400 BC, the bamboo helicopter consisted of feather blades attached to the end of a bamboo stick.

2. Flying flashlight

A flying flashlight is a small balloon made of paper and a wooden frame with a hole in the bottom, under which a small fire is kindled. It is believed that the Chinese experimented with flying lanterns as early as the 3rd century BC, but traditionally, their invention is attributed to the sage and commander Zhuge Liang (181-234 AD).

3. Balloon

The balloon is the first successful technology for manned flight on a supporting structure. The first manned flight was conducted by Pilatre de Rozier and the Marquis d'Arland in 1783 in Paris in a hot air balloon (on a leash) created by the Montgolfier brothers. Modern balloons can fly thousands of kilometers (the longest hot air balloon flight is 7672 km from Japan to North Canada).

4. Solar balloon

Technically, this type of balloon flies by heating the air in it with solar radiation. Typically, these balloons are made of black or dark material. Although they are mainly used in the toy market, some solar balls large enough to lift a person into the air.

5. Ornithopter

The ornithopter, which was inspired by the flight of birds, bats and insects, is an airplane that flaps its wings. Most ornithopters are unmanned, but several manned ornithopters have also been built. One of the earliest concepts for such an aircraft was developed by Leonardo da Vinci back in the 15th century. In 1894, Otto Lilienthal, a German aviation pioneer, made the first manned flight in history in an ornithopter.

6. Parachute

Made of lightweight and durable fabric (like nylon), a parachute is a device used to slow an object through the atmosphere. A description of the oldest parachute was found in an anonymous Italian manuscript dating from 1470. In modern days, parachutes are used to launch a variety of cargo, including people, food, equipment, space capsules, and even bombs.

7. Kite

Originally built by stretching silk over a split bamboo frame, the kite was invented in China in the 5th century BC. For a long time, many other cultures adopted this device, and some of them even continued to further improve this simple aircraft. For example, human-carrying kites are believed to have existed in ancient China and Japan.

8. Airship

The airship became the first aircraft capable of controlled takeoff and landing. In the beginning, airships used hydrogen, but due to the high explosiveness of this gas, helium was used in most airships built after the 1960s. The airship can also be powered by engines, and the crew and / or payload in it are located in one or more "nacelles" suspended under a gas cylinder.

9. Glider

A glider is an aircraft heavier than air, which is supported in flight by the dynamic reaction of air to its bearing surfaces, i.e. it is independent of the engine. Thus, most gliders do not have an engine, although some gliders can be equipped with one to extend the flight if necessary.

10. Biplane

A biplane is an airplane with two fixed wings, which are located one above the other. Biplanes have a number of advantages over conventional wing designs (monoplanes): they allow for a larger wing area and lift with a smaller wingspan. The Wright brothers' biplane in 1903 became the first aircraft to successfully take off.

11. Helicopter

A helicopter is a rotary-wing aircraft that can take off and land vertically, hover and fly in any direction. Over the past centuries, there have been many concepts similar to modern helicopters, but it was not until 1936 that the first operational Focke-Wulf Fw 61 helicopter was built.

12. Aerocycle

In the 1950s, Lackner Helicopters came up with an unusual flying machine. The HZ-1 Aerocycle was intended for use by inexperienced pilots as the standard reconnaissance vehicle in the US Army. While early testing indicated that it could provide ample mobility on the battlefield, more extensive evaluations have shown that it is too difficult to control for untrained marines. As a result, after a couple of accidents, the project was frozen.

13. Kaitun

Kaitun is a hybrid of a kite and a balloon. Its main advantage is that the kaitun can remain in a fairly stable position over the anchor point of the cable, regardless of the strength of the wind, while conventional balloons and kites are less stable.

14. Hang glider

A hang glider is a non-motorized aircraft heavier than air, in which there is no tail. Modern hang gliders are made of aluminum alloy or composite materials and the wing is made of synthetic canvas. These vehicles have a high lift ratio, which allows pilots to fly for several hours at an altitude of thousands of meters above sea level in warm air currents and perform aerobatics.

15. Hybrid airship

A hybrid airship is an aircraft that combines the characteristics of a lighter-than-air vehicle (i.e., airship technology) with heavier-than-air aircraft technology (either a fixed wing or rotor rotor). Such designs were never mass-produced, but several manned and unmanned prototypes were born, including the Lockheed Martin P-791, an experimental hybrid airship developed by Lockheed Martin.

16. Airliner

Also known as a jet airliner, a commercial jet is a type of aircraft designed to carry passengers and goods by air, powered by jet engines. These engines allow the aircraft to reach high speeds and generate sufficient thrust to move a heavy aircraft. The A380 Airbus is currently the world's largest jet passenger airliner with a seating capacity of 853 people.

17. Rocket plane

A rocket plane is an aircraft that uses rocket engine... Rocket planes can reach much higher speeds than jet aircraft of similar size. As a rule, their engine runs for no more than a few minutes, after which the plane plans. The rocket plane is suitable for flying at very high altitudes, and it is also capable of developing much more acceleration and has a shorter take-off run.

18. Float seaplane

It is a type of fixed-wing aircraft capable of taking off and landing on water. The floatation of the seaplane is provided by pontoons or floats, which are installed instead of the landing gear under the fuselage. Float-type seaplanes were widely used until World War II, but then they were supplanted by helicopters and aircraft used from aircraft carriers.

19. Flying boat

Another type of seaplane, the flying boat, is an airplane with a fixed wing and a hull shaped so that it can land on water. It differs from a float seaplane in that it uses a specially designed fuselage that can float. Flying boats were very common in the first half of the 20th century. Similar to floatplane seaplanes, they were subsequently discontinued after World War II.

Also known by other names (eg, cargo aircraft, cargo ship, transport aircraft, or cargo aircraft), a cargo aircraft is a fixed-wing aircraft that is designed or converted to carry goods rather than passengers. At the moment, the An-225, built in 1988, is the largest and most cargo-carrying in the world.

21. Bomber

A bomber is a combat aircraft designed to attack land and sea targets by dropping bombs, launching torpedoes, or launching air-to-surface cruise missiles. There are two types of bombers. Strategic bombers are primarily intended for long-range bombing missions - that is, to attack strategic targets such as supply bases, bridges, factories, shipyards, etc. Tactical bombers are aimed at countering enemy military activities and supporting offensive operations.

22. Spaceplane

A cosmoplane is an aerospace vehicle that is used in the Earth's atmosphere. They can use both rockets and auxiliary conventional jet engines. Today there are five such vehicles that have been successfully used: the X-15, Space Shuttle, Buran, SpaceShipOne and Boeing X-37.

23. Spaceship

The spaceship is vehicle designed for flights in outer space. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, Earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, planetary exploration, and the transport of people and goods.

A space capsule is a special type of spacecraft that has been used in most manned space programs. A manned space capsule must have everything needed for daily life, including air, water and food. The space capsule also protects astronauts from cold and space radiation.

25. Drone

Officially known as an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), the drone is often used for missions that are too "dangerous" or simply impossible for humans. Initially, they were used mainly for military purposes, but today they can be found literally everywhere.