Oddball, Experimental, or One-off

[kgwilson]

That would cost $5-600.00 today in a 50 year old C172. The median gross salary last year was $65,000 which translates into a monthly net income of $4,344.00 so more than half of your net income would go on flying training every week.

 

In the 70s a fairly modern 172 cost I think $22.00 an hour. I can't remember what my take home pay was but I think it was less than $100.00 a week

[facthunter]

The Chippie was probably only 13 years old.  There were 3 or 4 of them. It was the beginning of the 60's and because of my youth and tertiary education (Teaching) I  got a subsidy as a possible air force trainee/ callup. I paid about 4Pounds  five shilling / HR  subsidised from about 5 pound ten say 20% off. . At the same time I could hire a pretty Clapped out Auster from Illawarra FS for 2 pound ten/ Hr solo at Bankstown. This was abut HALF the Hourly cost.. That PLANE is still Flying. as of about 8 years ago.  The DHC-1 was dual rate. At about 100 Hours TT I got awarded a flight test by DCA examiner, a Commonwealth Gov't  Flying scholarship to CPL Plus Instructor Rating providing a similar discount. where I HAD to make an Undertaking I would apply for a job in the Industry as they reckoned they were short of pilots at the time. In the time It took to finish there were hardly any Jobs available. That's HOW these things go. I just managed a job by a whisker and there were None after that for about 5 years in the airlines.. 

[red750]

The Emsco B-8 was a two-seat, single-engine, low-wing, twin boom experimental aircraft designed by Charles F. Rocheville in 1930 while he was vice president of Emsco Aircraft Corporation, Long Beach, California.

 

Despite its name 'Flying Wing' the aircraft carried a twin-boom empennage with a single vertical fin. The two crew sat in open tandem cockpits in a central nacelle with circular cross-section, initially with a 165 hp (123 kW) Continental A-70 in tractor configuration. The nacelle ended in a jet-engine like 'exhaust' nozzle at its rear, which actually was an intake to a boundary-layer bleed system driven by the engine which blew air through spanwise slots in the rear part of the 'Flying Wing' in an attempt to increase the wing's performance. Another unusual characteristic of the design was its “reversed tricycle landing gear” with two main wheels under the front wing and a single aft wheel under the rear-end of the nacelle.

 

[red750]

The Short SC.1 was the first British fixed-wing vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) jet aircraft. It was developed by Short Brothers. It was powered by an arrangement of five Rolls-Royce RB.108 turbojets, four of which were used for vertical flight and one for conventional horizontal flight. The SC.1 had the distinction of being the first British fixed-wing VTOL aircraft and the first one to transition between vertical and horizontal flight modes; it was also the first VTOL-capable aircraft with a fly-by-wire control system.

 

The SC.1 was designed and produced in response to a Ministry of Supply (MoS) requirement for a suitable aircraft for conducting flight studies into VTOL flight, as well as specifically into the transition between vertical and horizontal flight. Two prototypes were used for flight testing between 1957 and 1971. Research data from the SC.1 test programme contributed to the development of the Hawker Siddeley P.1127 and the subsequent Hawker Siddeley Harrier, the first operational VTOL aircraft.

 

In October 2012, the Short SC.1 received Northern Ireland's first Engineering Heritage Award as a recognition of its significant achievement in the engineering field.

 

 

[red750]

The Scaled Composites Model 133-4.62 ATTT, or Advanced Technology Tactical Transport was a technology demonstration project built by Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites in 1986 under contract to DARPA.

 

In the mid-1980s, the American government agency DARPA, developed a concept for a tandem wing STOL transport, intended to act as a technology demonstrator and to meet a requirement for a long-range high-speed transport for US special forces, intended to fill the gap between helicopters and larger transport aircraft such as the C-130 Hercules. In 1986, DARPA placed a contract with Scaled Composites, a company set up by Burt Rutan and owned by Beechcraft to build prototypes for advanced aircraft, for a 62% scale proof-of-concept demonstrator for the concept, called the Advanced Technology Tactical Transport (shortened to ATTT or AT3).

 

The ATTT had high-aspect ratio tandem wings, which were joined by long nacelles which carried the aircraft's engines, tractor configuration turboprops, large fuel tanks and the as well as the main undercarriage units for the aircraft's retractable tricycle landing gear. As first built, it had a conventional, cruciform tail. A novel arrangement of eight fast acting fowler flaps was fitted, inboard and outboard of the engines on each of the wings. These would be extended rearwards in a low-drag configuration prior to commencing the take-off run then quickly lowered to increase lift at the point of take-off. The aircraft was of composite construction, mainly glassfibre and carbon fibre. It was powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-135 turboprops.

 

he ATTT demonstrator made its maiden flight on December 29, 1987 from Mojave Airport, base of Scaled Composites. It completed its initial test program of 51 test flights, with a total of 112 flying hours, on November 8, 1988. It was then rebuilt with a revised tail, with a twin-boom configuration replacing the original single cruciform tail unit, with the fuselage shortened and a rear-loading ramp fitted. The revised layout improved handling, lowering minimum single-engine safety speed (which was previously significantly higher than the stall speed). A further 13 test flights were flown to evaluate the revised layout.

 

The aircraft has been de-registered and is currently in storage at the Air Force Flight Test Center Museum at Edwards Air Force Base.

 

[red750]

The Ilyushin Il-20 was a Soviet prototype for a heavily armored ground-attack aircraft to replace the Ilyushin Il-10. It featured a number of innovative concepts including a cockpit mounted on top of the engine, directly behind the propeller, and wing-mounted autocannon that could be adjusted on the ground to fire level or depressed 23° to allow the aircraft to strafe ground targets while remaining in level flight. However it was slower than the Il-10, and its M-47 engine was problematic in flight tests in 1948–49. It was not placed into production. The test pilots called the aircraft the Gorbach (Hunchback). Onnly the prototype was built.

 

Ilyushin's concept to meet the 1947 requirement for a superior aircraft to the Il-10 in performance and firepower was a heavily armored, single-engine, all-metal, low-wing monoplane powered by the newly developed M-47—also known as the MF-45Sh or M-45Sh—liquid-cooled engine, which developed 3,000 horsepower (2,200 kW) at takeoff. The design's most notable feature was the pilot's cockpit mounted directly above the engine, reminiscent of the Blackburn Blackburn and Blackburn Cubaroo. Furthermore, the cockpit was situated directly behind the four-bladed propeller to maximize pilot visibility. The windshield extended down to the propeller hub and provided the pilot with a 37° downward field of view; in a medium dive he could view targets directly underneath the aircraft.

 

Read more here.

 

[red750]

The Ilyushin Il-102 was a Soviet experimental jet-powered ground-attack aircraft designed by Ilyushin. Once described as the "most gorgeously ugly combat jet ever," this aircraft was never chosen for production, being surpassed by the Su-25. Only a few development prototypes were built.

 

In 1967, the Soviet Air Forces drew up a specification for a jet-powered shturmovik or armoured ground attack aircraft. While Sukhoi designed an all-new single seat aircraft, the Su-25, Ilyushin proposed a modified version of their Il-40 of 1953 under the designation Il-42, which, unlike the Sukhoi, was a two-seat aircraft with a remotely-controlled rear gun turret. The design was rejected by the Soviet Air Forces, but Ilyushin decided to continue in-house development regardless, renaming the programme Il-102.

 

The Il-102 first prototype flew on 25 September 1982, with a second airframe built for static tests, and carried out 250 test flights until it was grounded in 1984 when the engine life expired.

 
The Il-102 was a low-winged monoplane with moderately swept (30 degrees) wings, powered by two Klimov RD-33I turbofans (non-afterburning versions of the engines that power the Mikoyan MiG-29 fighter). It was highly unusual for its time in having a rear gun turret, something not seen in ground-attack aircraft since the World War II Il-2 Shturmovik and Il-10, the Il-102's spiritual ancestors, controlled remotely by a gunner sitting in a cockpit above the trailing edge of the wing. The crew cockpits, engines and fuel tanks were armoured to protect against ground fire.

 

Read more here.

 

[red750]

The Sukhoi S-70 Okhotnik-B (Russian: Сухой С-70 "Охотник", lit. 'Hunter'), also referred to as Hunter-B, is a Russian stealth heavy unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) being developed by Sukhoi and Russian Aircraft Corporation MiG as a sixth-generation aircraft project. The drone is based on the earlier Mikoyan Skat, designed by MiG, and encompassing some technologies of the fifth-generation Sukhoi Su-57 fighter jet. In the future, it is planned to act under the control of pilots of Su-57 jets, similarly to the USAF Skyborg programme.

 

The Okhotnik's design is based on the flying-wing scheme and incorporates use of composite materials and stealth coatings, making the drone low-observable in flight. It has a weight of about 20 tons and a wingspan around 65 feet (20 m). The drone is powered either by a single AL-31F turbofan, as used on the Sukhoi Su-27 fighter aircraft, or by the improved AL-41F derivative installed on Su-35S fighters and Su-57 prototypes. Although the first prototype's exhaust nozzle was conventional and could increase the drone's radar signature, future upgrade could see improved exhaust as well as engine inlet as shown by a mock up at the 2019 MAKS International Aviation and Space Salon. The maximum speed of the drone is reportedly 1,000 km/h while carrying its payload internally. It is likely the Okhotnik was designed to act as a "loyal wingman" controlled by the Su-57. The aircraft bears some visual resemblance to RQ-170. It is speculated that the Russian engineers could have had access to the one that was captured by Iranians, but similar design of flying-wing Mikoyan Skat was in development since 2005 and Okhotnik is a further development by Sukhoi of the former MiG design. The second prototype received a flat jet nozzle. Under development, two prototypes built.

 

 

[red750]

The Beechcraft XA-38 "Grizzly" was a World War II-era ground attack aircraft, developed by Beechcraft, but never put into production. The Grizzly was to have been fitted with a forward-firing 75 mm cannon to penetrate heavily armored targets.

 

While the first prototype flew on 7 May 1944, testing established that the type would not be ready for the projected invasion of Japan. It also featured the Wright R-3350 engines already in use with the Boeing B-29 Superfortress—which had priority. Consequently, the XA-38 was canceled after a second prototype had been completed.

 

The United States Army Air Forces awarded the Beech Aircraft Corporation a contract in December 1942 for two prototypes for their Model 28 "Destroyer". Initially the Model 28 had been a bomber-destroyer design but shifted[citation needed] to give a powerful ground attack aircraft to replace the Douglas A-20 Havoc, with the ability to hit "hardened" targets like tanks and bunkers and to attack coastal shipping. This capability was achieved through a 75 mm cannon with 20 rounds, mounted in a fixed position on the nose as well as two .50 cal (12.7 mm) M2 Browning machine guns firing forward. Defensive armament consisted of remotely controlled ventral and dorsal turrets, each armed with twin .50 cal (12.7 mm) machine guns. There were to be two crew members, a pilot and an observer/gunner in the rear cabin, using periscope sights to aim the guns.