Oddball, Experimental, or One-off

[red750]

The Bell X-14 (Bell Type 68) is an experimental VTOL aircraft flown in the United States in the 1950s. The main objective of the project was to demonstrate vectored thrust horizontal and vertical takeoff, hover, transition to forward flight, and vertical landing.

 

Bell constructed the X-14 as an open-cockpit, all-metal (duralumin) monoplane for the USAF. It was powered by two Armstrong Siddeley Viper turbojet engines equipped with thrust deflectors sited at the aircraft's centre of gravity. The engines are fixed in position; transition from vertical to horizontal flight is achieved with a system of movable vanes that control the direction of engine thrust. Top speed was 180 miles per hour (290 km/h) with a service ceiling of 20,000 feet (6,100 m). The X-14 was designed using existing parts from two Beechcraft aircraft: wings, ailerons, and landing gear of a Beech Bonanza and the tailcone and empennage of a Beech T-34 Mentor.

 

During all of its years of service, the X-14 was flown by over 25 pilots with no serious incidents or injuries. Although there was only one airframe, it changed serial numbers with every major upgrade.

 

[red750]

Bendix Helicopters, Inc. was the last company founded by prolific inventor Vincent Bendix, in 1943 in Connecticut.  It ceased operations in 1949.

 

It built a 10,000 square foot factory for helicopter production on East Main Street in Stratford, Connecticut in 1945. 

 

Bendix created 3 prototypes that used a system of coaxial rotors: Model K (1945), Model L and Model J (1946). 

 

Due to lack of sales and capital, in January 1947 the large factory building was sold to Manning, Maxwell and Moore, who were taken over by Dresser Industries in 1964. 

 

In 1949, Bendix Helicopter was forced to close. In an auction the assets of the company were sold to the Gyrodyne Company of America on Long Island in New York.  Gyrodyne continued development of several helicopter models introduced by Bendix.

 

Bendix Model J Helicopter.

 

[red750]

The Langley 2-4, variously described as the Langley Monoplane or Langley Twin was a twin-engine utility aircraft built in the United States in 1940. Named in honour of Samuel Pierpont Langley, the aircraft was designed to make use of non-strategic materials in its construction and thereby avoid any shortages brought about by war. Its design was conventional - a low-wing cantilever monoplane with twin tails and tailwheel undercarriage. The manufacturing process, however, was unorthodox, and the aircraft's structures were built up from mahogany veneers bent over moulds and impregnated with vinyl and phenol resins to make them hold their shape. The use of metal for structural elements - even in fasteners - was thereby almost completely avoided.

 

Two prototypes were constructed, one with 65 hp (49 kW) engines, and another with 90 hp (67 kW) engines. The second machine was purchased by the United States Navy and evaluated as the XNL-1, but the navy did not order the type. Once the United States entered the war, it transpired that the resins needed for construction were in far shorter supply than the metal that would have been needed to produce an aircraft by conventional means, and the project was abandoned. The XNL-1 was sold as war surplus, and, following an accident in 1965, its wings, engine nacelles, and main undercarriage were mated to a Stinson 108 fuselage to create a one-of-a-kind homebuilt aircraft named the Pierce Arrow.

 

[red750]

The Piper PA-8 Skycycle in flight, a prototype single-seat light aircraft that first flew on January 29, 1945.
It was not built in series.

 

 

 

[facthunter]

What an incredible wing root fairing.  Nev

[BrendAn]

2 hours ago, red750 said:

The Piper PA-8 Skycycle in flight, a prototype single-seat light aircraft that first flew on January 29, 1945.
It was not built in series.

 

 

 

i love this plane. wonder what it was like to fly.

[Old Koreelah]

4 hours ago, facthunter said:

What an incredible wing root fairing.  Nev

Wing root fairings make a big difference to drag on low wings, but they must be done right. (NACA published lots of research on this.)

I suspect it’s one reason mid-mounted wings have been popular.

The Voight F4U wings didn’t seem to need that fairing, because they came out of the fuselage at pretty much right angles.

[facthunter]

Douglas Aircraft paid a lot of attention to it also. (pre Jet).   Nev

[red750]

The Hunting H.126 was an experimental aircraft designed and built by British aviation company Hunting Aircraft.

 

The aircraft was developed in order to test the performance of blown flaps, which were commonly known in Britain as "jet flaps", At the time, they were a relatively unknown quantity, thus the Ministry of Aviation issued Specification ER.189D for an appropriate research aircraft to be developed. During 1959, Hunting Aircraft was selected, being awarded a contract to construct a pair of aircraft. The first aircraft, serial number XN714, was completed during mid-1962 and initial ground testing commenced during the latter part of the year. This aircraft performed its maiden flight on 26 March 1963.

 

Only the single aircraft was ever completed.

 

[Old Koreelah]

I read somewhere that some early C-130s were fitted with a form of this system. They also tried sucking stagnant laminar flow into the wing via thin longitudinal slots, as a means of speeding up airflow over the wing.

[red750]

The "Farner Colibri" was built in Swiss at the 70"s .
First Flight Was at 1979. One small Engine 14HP Two stroke.
Last Flight Was at 1990'. Only One Built.

 

[red750]

The Flettner Fl 185 was an experimental German gyrodyne developed by Anton Flettner, a machine which could fly both as a helicopter and as a gyroplane. This aircraft was developed in 1936 with support of the Kriegsmarine. It was powered by a 160 horsepower (120 kW) BMW-Bramo Sh 14 A radial piston engine with forced-air cooling, mounted at the nose. The engine drove a 12 m diameter main rotor and two auxiliary propellers mounted on outriggers attached to the fuselage.

At take-off or when hovering, the auxiliary propellers worked in opposition to each other and served to cancel the torque of the main rotor a function handled by a single, variable-pitch tail rotor on contemporary helicopters. In forward flight, however, both propellers worked to provide forward thrust while the rotor autorotated, as in a twin-engined autogyro. The landing gear consisted of a nose-wheel, two smaller stabilising wheels under the outriggers and a tail skid. Only one prototype was constructed.

 

[red750]

The Bonney Gull was an experimental aircraft that used variable incidence wings with bird-like shapes. Leonard Warden Bonney was an early aviator, who flew with the Wright Exhibition Team as early as 1910. An experienced aviator with service in the First World War, Bonney set out to develop a plane with more efficient wings and controls than contemporary aircraft. Noting the gull's two to one lift to weight ratio, he set about molding gull wings for their shape. Construction took place over the course of five years. The ideas were tested in MIT and the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aeronautics wind tunnels.

 

Only one built, crashed on its first flight, killing its maker.

 

[onetrack]

More here ... including a British Pathe newsreel of Bonneys fatal flight. Apparently, a large number of his aviation friends told him not to try to fly his invention, but he was too determined.

It certainly looks like a very foolish design, and Bonney should have known better, being an experienced aviator.

 

https://www.spoonercentral.com/Bonney/LWB.html

 

https://www.britishpathe.com/asset/62695/

[Student Pilot]

12 hours ago, red750 said:

The Bonney Gull was an experimental aircraft that used variable incidence wings with bird-like shapes. Leonard Warden Bonney was an early aviator, who flew with the Wright Exhibition Team as early as 1910. An experienced aviator with service in the First World War, Bonney set out to develop a plane with more efficient wings and controls than contemporary aircraft. Noting the gull's two to one lift to weight ratio, he set about molding gull wings for their shape. Construction took place over the course of five years. The ideas were tested in MIT and the Daniel Guggenheim School of Aeronautics wind tunnels.

 

Only one built, crashed on its first flight, killing its maker.

 

It was a graceful design, looks like a control system failure ☹️

[spacesailor]

WOW 

That was interesting  !.

I had never heard of the ' Gull  ', before,  makes me wonder why it was never a centre piece of aviation history . Similar to the ' wright flyer ' .

spacesailor

[spacesailor]

Perhaps  those huge elevator's were the cause,  over correcting,  into a porpoise. 

spacesailor

[onetrack]

Spacey - That is probably because the design was unworkable in practice, and failed to advance aviation in any meaningful way.

 

It appears Bonney became utterly obsessed with the idea of transferring the action of birds wings, to powered aircraft. This is foolishness, it can't be done, it's transferring an incredibly complex design of feathers, hollow lightweight, high strength bones, sinews, incredibly strong muscles - and moveable feathers - to a mechanical design. Even the design of feathers is an incredibly complex design.

 

Thousands of men have been fascinated by the flight ability of birds, since the dawn of time - and they've all failed in their attempts to replicate the flight surfaces and control surfaces abilities of birds.

I'm fascinated by them still, I can sit and watch them fly and land, and learn something new every day.

[Old Koreelah]

Here’s one human who gets a visit from a feathered fellow aviator:

https://fb.watch/jECUapOr7b/?mibextid=v7YzmG

[onetrack]

That eagle has a great familiarity with people, you'd never get a wild eagle to do that. A wild eagle would more than likely see the paraglider as a threat, and try to drive it off.

[spacesailor]

It wasn't designed as an ' ornithopter ' but to use those weird wings as ' air-brakes ' .

Which was a brilliant idea .

An un-Balanced elevator will have a lot of force , to have to Haul back a large elevator would require lots of muscle power !?. What would happen if those forces were too great for the control linkage . Plus that heavy motor on the nose will mean more up elevator !. & the faster you get , the elevator gets heavier .

SLOW TO RISE & quick to Plummet .

spacesailor

 

[onetrack]

Spacey, I'd have to opine that designing a set of foldable wings with the primary aim of using them as airbrakes is a pretty useless idea.

I was under the impression a light, strong wing with excellent aerofoil properties, to give better speed for HP available, and still retaining strength, was the main aim.

[skippydiesel]

1 hour ago, onetrack said:

That eagle has a great familiarity with people, you'd never get a wild eagle to do that. A wild eagle would more than likely see the paraglider as a threat, and try to drive it off.

It has a "jess" on one leg - definitely a domesticated bird - likely imprinted on the hang glider pilot.

[facthunter]

You run out of back trim when you go slow and forward trim when you go fast.  Nev

[red750]

Scaled Composites Pond Racer – A Need for Speed!  Aimed to replace the wartime fighters that had traditionally taken part in the Reno Air Race. A collaborative effort between an ex-Navy business magnate, a legendary test pilot, and a manufacturer renowned for cutting-edge designs, on paper the Pond Racer seemed destined to succeed. Persistent engine problems would haunt the developmental phase, ultimately leading to the spectacular crash that ended the entire project. 

 

On September 14, 1993, the Pond Racer was entered again and once more, piloted by Rick Brickert. During qualifying, the aircraft began leaking oil and suffered an engine failure leaving the right propeller unfeathered. Brickert pulled up, lowered the landing gear, and chose to perform a belly landing by retracting the gear again. The aircraft overshot a smooth landing area and crashed in rough terrain, killing the pilot.