Oddball Aircraft in History

[boogabooga]

Seems to me that the Germans had trouble separating the concepts of 'manned fighter-interceptor' and 'surface-to air-missile'.

Ultimate example:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bachem_Ba_349

 

[Urwumpe]

Seems to me that the Germans had trouble separating the concepts of 'manned fighter-interceptor' and 'surface-to air-missile'.

Ultimate example:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bachem_Ba_349

Yes, that was one of the more progressed examples, close in its role to the Me 163 Komet/"Kraftei".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Messerschmitt_Me_163_Komet

Still, I would say it is a manned interceptor... just very limited to a single attack.

But then, they also produced a lot of nice planes among the enormous amounts of creative chaos:

One of my worst attempts at making a mesh. :lol:

A related project of this aircraft was an early ancestor of the X-15:

 

[Linguofreak]

Henschel Hs P.75

This 1941 aircraft design was to be a possible successor to the Messerschmitt Bf 110 heavy fighter. Although of a unusual configuration for that time, there were advantages (and disadvantages) to its rear wing/forward canard construction.
The Hs P.75 featured a tapered fuselage, with the slightly swept-back wings being mounted mid-fuselage and set back to the rear of the aircraft. The widened fuselage was designed to house the Daimler Benz DB 610 engine, which were two DB 605 engines joined side-by-side, .

Crew: 1 pilot
Length: 11.3 m
Wingspan: 12.2 m
Height: 4.3 m
Surface area: 28.4 m²
Weight charged: 7500 kg
Maximum take-off weight: 3,600 kg
Power plant: 2 × engine V12 DB 613 ..
Power: 3500 HP each.
Propeller diameter: 3,2 m
performance
Maximum operating speed (Vno): 790 km / h
Roof of flight: 12,000 m (39,370 ft)
Armament
Cannons: 4 × 30 mm Mk108 cannon located on the hill.

It looks similar enough to the XP-55 that I'm tempted to call it the Arschender.

 

[VF2_Rolf]

The Antonov-40 glider tank...one made. Stalin made the designer test fly it if legends are true...

 

[Thorsten]

Not sure whether it counts - the Caspian Sea Monster (it's not really an aircraft, it's an ekranoplan - it lifts off the surface, but it relies on the ground effect and can't rise higher):

 

[MaverickSawyer]

Not sure whether it counts - the Caspian Sea Monster (it's not really an aircraft, it's an ekranoplan - it lifts off the surface, but it relies on the ground effect and can't rise higher):

It flies through the air using aerodynamic lift, it's controllable, and it's powered by an engine. Yep, it's a plane.

 

[Andy44]

It flies through the air using aerodynamic lift, it's controllable, and it's powered by an engine. Yep, it's a plane.

Agree. And the engine is not even required; gliders may join the club as well as far as I'm concerned.