What's your ugliest plane of the WWII era?

[phylo_roadking]

... thats a box with wings!

And remember...it flew in that exact nose-down configuration too!

The Handley Page Heyford (2 still in service at the beginning of WW2).

Two??? Unfortunately, more than that. There were two still flying in 1941...but in September 1939, the Instrument and Radio Flight of the RAE at Farnborough were flying a couple, and more were flying as as bombing and gunnery trainers into 1940!

[waldzee]

Th e Dornier DO - y, with the extra engine up top!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dornier_Y

[waldzee]

Or the do-X- with the whole windfarm up top..
http://www.airliners.net/photo/Dornier-Do-X/0258688/M/

[Fillopygeesi]

Maybe I'm just weird but all the planes that have a rep for being ugly I love them

[Tomg44]

The examples so far were "Ugly Ducklings" from the start. I submit the De Havilland Mosquito TT39 as the worst case ever
of turning a beautiful swan into a seriously ugly duckling. The Royal Navy specification dates from 1945, so it just squeaks
into the the period. To the eternal shame of the Admiralty 24 were converted.
Lucky for all involved that I was not the !st Lord of the Admiralty. They would have been Keel Hauled, Flogged around the Fleet,
and sent to the Galleys. What Galleys?, you ask. Simply fit oars to HMS Warspite and make them row it to the Scottish
breakers yard. Cheap, simple and guaranteed not to run aground.

BlAc-hIIcAAQ-Yu.jpg (34.17 KiB) Viewed 573 times

Image_A_16.jpg (68.24 KiB) Viewed 573 times

[Sheldrake]

Armstrong-Whitworth Whitley:

We use to joke in college about the Nissan Skyline being a box on wheels ... thats a box with wings!

Dear Big E,
Have you ever seen the first Mercedes SUVs? I thought those looked they were designed with Lego Sets. The Whitworth Whitley doesn't look like a box with wings. It looks like coprolite with wings.
Strike Swiftly,
TH-M2

A couple of things I know about the Whitley.

#1 Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I once met an RAF veteran Whitley fan, who told me he had commanded a squadron of glider tugs in WW2 . He said he was one of the early pilots for the British Parachute force when it was all experimental. He told me that it bwas a big day when the first transport aircraft arrived - somewhere on Salisbury plain. His CO -a soldier told him to "exercise the Whitleys." As a single engined pilot he was given a quick conversion by a mad pole. He said that the experience of climbing into the Whitley for the first time was marvellous. "it had that lovely new sports car smell- leather seats and fresh paint." It was easy to fly solo and his version of exercising the whitleys was to pop into the NAAFI and ask if any servicemen needed to go anywhere on leave.

#2 It would not stay airborne on one engine. Those who flew it in Coastal Command were a brave bunch.

#3 One was once commanded by 15 year old on operations over France for an OTU before his age was discovered.

[Sheldrake]

another ugly duckling from Bomber Command - the Handley page Harrow
http://www.britishpathe.com/video/handl ... row-bomber

Bizarrely this aircraft type saw service as a night fighter and credited with at least one kill (thought the Wikipedia entry says 4-6!)

[Helmut0815]

Not an ugly duckling but an ugly Duck, the Grumman J2F "Duck":

J2F-4_duck.jpg (58.02 KiB) Viewed 534 times

Really not a beauty, the Boeing P-26 "Peashooter":

Boeing_P-26.jpg (12.17 KiB) Viewed 534 times

regards


Helmut