Wednesday, July 30, 2014

The Weirdest Airplane Imaginable

At first, I thought this was an aviation hoax.  I always took for granted that there was some kind of physics principle that required airplanes to have the right side and left side mirror images.  However, the German Luftwaffe had a reconnaissance plane that was radically asymmetrical.  This was the Blohm and Voss Bv. 141.  It must have to be the weirdest airplane ever designed, built, and actually flown!  Why the Germans decided to design this airplane, I have no idea.

But also, the three guys (pilot, observer, and gunner) that rode in the cockpit must have had a lot of daring.

They made about 20 of these planes; and they were described as 'operational.'  



Here is an old film of it flying:




700th post!



13 comments:

MarkD60 said...

That IS a weird looking plane, looks OK from the side, but from the top or bottom, whew!

Happy 700th post!

TexWisGirl said...

too funky! i'm with you - i'd be quite unsettled riding in that!

Big Sky Heidi said...

Actually, symmetry is not necessary. The airplane's center of gravity is between the crew nacelle and the motor-tail assembly. Also, the wings have unequal lengths.

Mike said...

That is one weird looking airplane.

Now on you go to post 750. 3/4 of the way to 1000.

Linda Kay said...

That is the weirdest plane I've ever seen. I think I'd be afraid to fly in it, that it would just list to one side and go around in circles! ;-)

Rudolph said...

Did the designer use LSD?

Anonymous said...

i don't think the designer should put that plane on his/her resume'

well done on your 700th - that's a lot of quirky little interesting things.

The Bastard King of England said...

Selling that turkey would be a major job.

Cloudia said...

Hmmmm...maybe that's where we got the idea for launching the X-15 along with Werner Von Braun!




ALOHA from Honolulu
ComfortSpiral
=^..^= . <3 . >< } } (°>

Cloudia said...

http://youtu.be/TR5SYp948kw

John A Hill said...

Congrats on 700!
I always enjoy your posts, Angel.

Kristen Drittsekkdatter said...

Its amazing it flew!

Bilbo said...

Congratulations on your 700th post! Looking forward to the next 700. As for the airplane, I personally think it's dumb to have a reconnaissance airplane designed with a big old engine nacelle blocking the view to one side of the cockpit ... but maybe that's just me. I also liked Heidi's engineering explanation.