For educational purposes
From the German SC-1262 and the 1930s drone controlled by wires connected to a telephone and Hitler's ominous V-1 to ultra-lights and one-man rocket packs.
A tribute to human ingenuity, this episode recounts the astonishing stories behind some of the most outlandish aviation creations. Included are many varieties of drones - unmanned aircraft, mutants - planes adapted to secondary purposes, and midgets.
Drones, Mutants and Midgets can't be judged by appearances alone. Composed of brand-new innovation, these planes represent the best technology has to offer.
Drones refers to unmanned aircraft and encompasses everything from radio-controlled air vehicles to aerial torpedo "bugs."
Mutants are planes that fulfill secondary purposes. Pint-sized experimentals like midgets are also remembered.
Despite their unusual fa?ades, these strange planes have carved out a special place in history.
From the German SC-1262 and the 1930s drone controlled by wires connected to a telephone and Hitler's ominous V-1 to ultra-lights and one-man rocket packs.
A tribute to human ingenuity, this episode recounts the astonishing stories behind some of the most outlandish aviation creations. Included are many varieties of drones - unmanned aircraft, mutants - planes adapted to secondary purposes, and midgets.
Drones, Mutants and Midgets can't be judged by appearances alone. Composed of brand-new innovation, these planes represent the best technology has to offer.
Drones refers to unmanned aircraft and encompasses everything from radio-controlled air vehicles to aerial torpedo "bugs."
Mutants are planes that fulfill secondary purposes. Pint-sized experimentals like midgets are also remembered.
Despite their unusual fa?ades, these strange planes have carved out a special place in history.
Category
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LearningTranscript
00:00Thank you for listening.
00:30A plane with the unlikely name, the Mango, the Transavia PL12 M300.
00:58This little utility, with military applications as an ambulance, a spotter and a communications aircraft,
01:04is an adventurously designed and highly distinctive looking modern aeroplane.
01:10Why does it look like it does?
01:12For example, what virtues do the twin booms have that the designer employed them?
01:18The fuselage shortened high and the little second wing with the undercarriage, how did they get like that?
01:25It's not a conventional looking aeroplane at all, yet despite being a piston-engined aircraft, it doesn't look like a relic of a bygone age.
01:34Obviously, everything about any aircraft design is settled by the designer's choice to complement the overall success of the plane.
01:43Functional considerations will decree that a transport will have different attributes from a fighter.
01:49The Mango is an unrestrainedly functional design, which serves its aerial jeep role very well.
01:55Yet it's actually a mutation, being derived from a plane which was designed for a totally different role.
02:01At Transavia's factory in Sydney, Australia, variations on the PL-12 have been developed and refined
02:27around a basic design that's proved very adaptable and reliable.
02:42The PL-12s are extremely simply constructed, very robust and easy to service.
02:49There has been a presiding consideration to have the little plane be as practical to operate as possible.
02:55It's lightweight, yet sturdy.
02:56It's simplicity of construction is the result of a lot of complicated and exact calculation and consideration.
03:04It's original configuration was as an agricultural aircraft, as a crop duster, seeder, firefighter.
03:23It's not super fast, but it doesn't need to be.
03:26However, it is agile, responsive and a delight to its pilots, because if you're going to buzz
03:32around feet off the ground, dodging trees, fences and barns, then you need a plane that
03:37cooperates in keeping you alive.
03:38The Sky Farmer agricultural aircraft, as the original PL-12 air truck developed, was constructed around a large hopper, and the design variant was dictated to by the practical concerns of effectively operating as a crop duster.
03:55The hopper had to be easy to fill, as an industrial tool, reliable continuous operation would be needed for cost-effective use, as would a long life expectancy.
04:09To a large extent, as a special purpose aircraft, the design is ageless.
04:15The task has been addressed directly, and the results are a sort of optimum.
04:19This little plane does its job very well.
04:22It's no doubt fortuitous for its manufacturer that the design has proved as impressively flexible as it has, but it is, for consideration of the Sky Farmer, not as important as the plane's success at its dedicated task.
04:35One aspect of the plane that shows the degree of design sophistication revolves around the little stub wings.
04:46All aircraft generate vortices around their wing tips, and these would be valuable in dispersing the sprays or fertilisers spread by a crop duster, but with a normal layout, they're too far out to have any effect.
05:00With the PL-12, the vortices around the end of the stub wings feed the outer wing vortices and serve to give the little plane a very wide sweep with each pass.
05:10In addition, of course, the stubs give extra wing surface and lift, and give a variation of the sort of controllability associated with small biplane aircraft, enhancing the little plane's enviable agility.
05:21The Sky Farmer is a successful modern airplane.
05:35Admittedly, a very unusual looking one.
05:40This is also an aircraft.
05:43I say this because it's not immediately apparent at all that this mess of scaffolding and wheels is designed to take to the air, particularly when it's perched on top of a pole.
05:53However, this is the German VFW Corporation's SC-1262 Hover Rig, a test aircraft conducted as part of the development of the VAC-191, an ultimately unsuccessful vertical take-off fighter design which employed both the vectored thrust of its main engine and the lift of two dedicated engines pointing down out of the fuselage.
06:14The Hover Rig was constructed to allow work on systems to give the pilot of the VAC some control of the plane when it was in hover and its normal flight control surfaces were neutralised.
06:29A distinctly strange and almost comically unlikely looking aircraft, but the Hover Rig was constructed to conduct serious experiments and the history of flight is constructed with such test programs.
06:41It's unlikely that much of interest to an aircraft engineer was gleaned in finding out how many men could fit into the engine compartment of an F-80, but putting ramjets on the wingtips can make the same type of aircraft a seriously interesting test bed.
06:56The ramjet, with no moving parts and theoretical infinite power output, has fascinated aircraft designers, offering much and as a result being tested extensively.
07:11Here, obviously the power output is not on trial. Any attempt to wind these ramjets out would rip the wings off the F-80 as though they were perforated toilet paper, well before the engine chambers melted.
07:22Instead, the fighter allows the engines to be brought up to operating speed and, within the limitations of the airframe, the engines can then demonstrate that they work.
07:31?
07:41?
07:44?
07:46?
07:47?
07:54?
07:56?
07:57?
08:00Ramjets have been at the heart of some very highly sophisticated tests
08:04and one of these, the Lockheed X7 project,
08:07serves to give an insight into how designers work.
08:10In part, it's interesting because it was Lockheed's first step into pilotless planes.
08:15But it's also important in the history of modern missalry
08:19and the development of ramjet engines.
08:22Lockheed's famous designer, Kelly Johnson, outlines the beginnings of the program.
08:34Just after the war, when the United States was getting into its guided missile program,
08:39Lockheed had to evaluate what part it could take in such a program.
08:45We felt we were primarily an airframe manufacturing organisation
08:49and at the time did not think that we had capabilities in the field of radar and guidance
08:55that were necessary to complete an overall guided missile program.
09:00Sometime before, we had established a procedure whereby, with a very few good men,
09:06we were able to design and build the F-80 shooting star in 141 days.
09:12The basic philosophy of the Lockheed company, which reflected so strongly in this performance,
09:17had been carried forward naturally through the X-7 project.
09:21The application of this philosophy has proven that a few well-qualified people
09:25can produce more per year and more per dollar
09:28than a larger group of less qualified people
09:31having the attendant large organisational and operational problems.
09:35Ben Rich joined the Aerodynamics and Thermodynamics Department of Lockheed
09:40and worked first on the propulsion system for the F-104.
09:45On the U-2 and SR-71, he worked on the overall airplane design.
09:52I have no question but that the future of the Skunk Works is in very good hands under Ben Rich.
09:59Well, the whole principle of the Skunk Works with Kelly is based on three things.
10:04Kelly believes in integrity, responsibility, and authority.
10:09And integrity is the one thing that Kelly has really stressed in the Skunk Works.
10:15You don't build anything you don't believe in.
10:17And Kelly has illustrated this many times at the Skunk Works.
10:20We had a contract many years ago to build a liquid hydrogen airplane going 2.5 at 100,000 feet.
10:27And the airplane was going to turn out to be an aerodynamic wide-bodied dog.
10:32And Kelly went back to the Air Force and returned the $96 million that he had.
10:37Now, we have another axiom in the Skunk Works that if it works, don't fix it.
10:42Keep it simple, you know the KISS theorem, keep it simple and stupid.
10:46If you make the things that a college professor with a PhD has to run it, it won't work.
10:51We design, we implement, we prototype, we put it in production,
10:55and we follow the entire program from its birth to its death.
11:00And there are very few people in this world who have that opportunity.
11:05The design of the X7 could have taken any of a number of forms,
11:09but these were sorted through and after extensive consideration and assessment,
11:13the final configuration was settled.
11:16That shape had then to be refined and the ancillary systems for its use sorted out.
11:21In some cases, entirely new answers were found for old problems
11:25because of the specific nature of the testing to be conducted.
11:28Wherever possible, the design team worked to keep the expense of the program down,
11:33and many aspects were sorted out in miniature in wind tunnels or, as here, with rockets,
11:38to confirm or sometimes debunk the designers' theories.
11:41Back in the late 40s, there were no digital computers around to test theory in the abstract.
11:46One example of the design challenge in the system
11:58is that the Lockheed team had to come up with a new parachute system
12:01to operate effectively when the X7 was travelling at supersonic speeds.
12:05Once again, in the interests of economy, a stage of preliminary testing employed one-third scale models
12:29to provide data on roll stability, lift, drag and separation behaviour.
12:35Making the scale examples not only allowed economy in construction,
12:39but permitted the use of a P-38 Lightning as a mothership for the test flights.
12:43The whole area of remotely controlled but autopiloted aircraft was in its infancy,
12:56not only a new field for Lockheed.
12:58The X7 was not a target-seeking missile,
13:01but its development required the creation of very complex electronics
13:05in the autopilot, preset flight program director
13:08and ground-operated remote controls operating through a radar link.
13:12A complete telemetry system had to be devised to log test data,
13:16together with a host of other peripheral electronics and recorders.
13:20The Lockheed team were designing not only the aircraft,
13:23but the whole experimental system's hardware to monitor and assess its performance.
13:28With the first X7's constructed and the test systems developed,
13:45the actual series could commence.
13:47The aim of the program was to assess the viability of ramjet engines,
13:51then largely an area of theory rather than established practice.
13:55Engines of this type had been incorporated into the design of the Beaumark missile,
14:00and the X7 was to be the test bed to assess these engines in hypersonic flight.
14:059, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0.
14:15The End
14:27Oh, my God.
14:57Around 80 successful test flights were conducted with the X-7 and its later developments, out of a total of over 130, and a bewildering variety of problems were encountered during the series.
15:10These included radar control and autopilot failure, human error in the operation of the complicated ground systems, and some design problems, both economic and aerodynamic.
15:21However, the missile's superb performance record eventually became an item of significant pride to Lockheed.
15:28Along the way, the X-7s consistently revealed failings in the Marquette Company's ramjets,
15:33and it was the availability of these sturdy and reliable Lockheed test drones that afforded the hard data which was needed for the refinement of the ramjets into usable power plants.
15:43Typical of the X-7's simple yet practical problem solving was the fact that it was designed to land, if that's the word, by driving the specially hardened nose spike into the ground,
15:54and stand like a pillar, waiting the ground retrieval crews, who carted it back to be refurbished in preparation for its next mission.
16:01There were over 60 X-7 aircraft, including some designated XQ-5s, which were designed to be used as high-speed target drones.
16:14Now, although there were some spectacular crashes in the test series, the target drones proved to be relative failures in their allotted role,
16:21because they were almost impossible to shoot down.
16:23They were too fast.
16:24The X-7s had by then proved capable of very high speeds, with the top speed achieved being Mach 4.31, 2,881 miles per hour,
16:35and their performance proved significantly higher than that of the surface-to-air weapons they were designed to test.
16:41This was acutely embarrassing to the various government agencies and manufacturers involved in the weapon systems.
16:47There are many uses for pilotless aircraft, and being target practice for new weapons, or for new pilots, is one of them.
16:55Pretty obviously, the job of pilot on a target that's to be blown out of the sky by a missile,
17:00is one that there would be very few applicants for.
17:02Despite their disposable nature, target drones must be well-built and designed aircraft,
17:15with complete internal controls and stability, and a handy turn of speed.
17:19They present a perhaps unglamorous, but very challenging design task to the aviation engineer.
17:25Perhaps more rewarding to the designer is to be involved in a project like the HIMAT drone.
17:47HIMAT stands for Highly Maneuverable Aircraft Technology,
17:50and the aim of the series was in part to address and defeat the so-called stall barrier,
17:55limiting the angle of attack that a plane may adopt,
17:58to free fighter pilots further in aerial combat.
18:01The project was carried out by the Rockwell Corporation,
18:04and the drone is actually a host of very advanced aeroplanes.
18:07The HIMAT consists of an advanced jet core aircraft,
18:22to which can be affixed different arrangements of wings, canards, tails, engine inlets, and jet nozzles.
18:29Thus, a large number of combinations can be tried out,
18:32and the advantages, disadvantages, and relationships within various settings can be studied.
18:36An enormous amount of very expensive prototype production and testing
18:41has been accomplished with the one aircraft,
18:43not only saving money, but compressing years and programs
18:47into a very successful single test series.
18:50The internal coherence of the results obtained
18:53has informed the follow-on multinational X-31 fighter project.
18:56Like the X-7, the HIMAT drone has been involved,
19:12at the cutting edge of the technology of its day,
19:15in the development and testing of new aviation design and hardware.
19:19However, drone aircraft have developed over most of aviation's history,
19:23and their design evolution has branched repeatedly,
19:25so that today, they play many different roles.
19:29For example, during World War I,
19:31the United States saw the development of the first flying bomb.
19:35These tests, of the plane known as the Bug,
19:38were conducted under the technical supervision of Orville Wright,
19:41and significantly, one of the young officers involved was Hap Arnold.
19:45The involvement of these illustrious names
19:47did not guarantee the program against failures.
19:50The little biplane did work occasionally,
19:53but its military significance was more in what it heralded,
19:56rather than in any damage it may have been capable of causing itself.
20:01By the 1930s, when this little target drone was developed,
20:05one of the Bug's major deficiencies, its lack of guidance, was being looked at.
20:10Like today's model planes,
20:12the aircraft obeyed a handheld radio control unit.
20:14Interestingly, this unit employed a telephone dial
20:20to send the selected signal to the drone.
20:31As with all target drones,
20:33there was a balance between the disposability of the aircraft
20:36and the sophistication necessary for it to do its job.
20:38And in this case, as a target,
20:41the plane didn't really present a simulation of an enemy aircraft.
20:45However, ground troops could fire away at it
20:47and presumably learn something before it was blown away.
20:50Something altogether more developed in the way of drones
21:03was to appear during the Second World War.
21:05Constructed in Germany,
21:07Hitler's terror weapons,
21:08led into action by the V-1.
21:10This was not a rocket.
21:12It was a pulse-jet-powered pilotless aeroplane,
21:14which carried a one-tonne warhead.
21:16It was 23 feet long
21:18and had a wingspan of 17 feet.
21:21Over 30,000 were produced
21:23and over 8,000 were actually launched
21:25against the cities of Britain.
21:39The V-1 was relatively slow,
21:41with a top speed of 400 miles per hour
21:44and nearly 4,000 of them were brought down
21:46by fighters or anti-aircraft artillery.
21:56Captured V-1s started to come back to the U.S.
21:59for testing and evaluation
22:00as soon as they were available
22:02and they were given intense scrutiny
22:04by scientists working on the equivalent American programs.
22:08Soon, the U.S. started producing its own copy of the V-1
22:11in significant numbers
22:12and testing took place
22:14on a number of the aspects of missile design and use
22:17that have marked the post-war years.
22:27Included in these tests with the American V-1s
22:29were firings from submarines
22:31that are very prophetic,
22:33even if they look a little ridiculous.
22:34During the war,
22:42the U.S. had also worked on unpowered bomb carriers,
22:45glide bombs,
22:46which were radio-controlled by the bombardier in fall.
22:49Another avenue of remote-controlled drone experiments
23:05employed what were, for drones,
23:07very big aircraft.
23:09Referred to as weary willies,
23:11old bombers which had passed their life expectancy
23:13were retired in a very dramatic fashion,
23:16being packed with explosives
23:17and then flown, by remote control, into a target.
23:31But not all military drone development
23:33has been to do with flying bombs.
23:35There have been several major advances
23:37in battlefield scout drones.
23:43This little observer, armed with television,
23:46was developed to give infantry a wider area of search
23:49and some knowledge of what was happening
23:51across the battlefield
23:52without risking heavy casualties
23:54in scouting and reconnaissance.
23:58Vietnam saw the deployment of a number of drones
24:01in several important roles.
24:04With the North Vietnamese armed to the teeth
24:06with the most advanced ground-based anti-aircraft defences
24:09ever tested in warfare,
24:11flying over the North became increasingly risky,
24:13and the little pilotless planes
24:15performed important reconnaissance
24:17and electronic suppression missions.
24:19Between 1965 and 1975,
24:23over 3,000 missions were flown
24:24by the remote-piloted vehicles,
24:26and over 200 of them were actually shot down,
24:29which could have been 200 two-man reconnaissance
24:32or wild-weasel aircraft.
24:34These things saved lives.
24:35The reconnaissance drones,
24:43flying quite low at 500 miles per hour,
24:46could get away with sweeps
24:47over the most highly defended areas.
24:49Their electronic countermeasures brethren
24:51would fly in dispensing chaff
24:53and using powerful transmitters
24:55to jam missile-site radar guidance
24:57into uselessness.
24:59They'd fly in ahead of a raid,
25:00clearing the way.
25:01After a mission,
25:08the drones would be directed
25:09back into friendly airspace
25:11and there be retrieved by helicopters
25:13in a manoeuvre that could be difficult
25:15and dangerous.
25:17The 3,000-pound drones
25:19proving sometimes to be uncooperative
25:21and unwieldy.
25:22The drones in Vietnam
25:30point the way
25:31to some of the future options
25:33on the battlefield.
25:34Already there are drones
25:35that deploy their own drones
25:36in the form of tank-hunting scouts
25:38and the missiles they can fire.
25:41If they're as effective
25:42as those drones used in Vietnam,
25:44they will be formidable indeed.
25:45One other interesting story
25:52about drones,
25:53or rather flying bombs,
25:55concerns the TOR.
25:56This was actually
25:57a pretty unsuccessful
25:58private piloted plane design.
26:01The manufacturers managed
26:02to interest the Defence Department
26:04in it for use
26:05as an anti-shipping weapon.
26:07The mutation used television
26:08and radio controls
26:10and was quite sophisticated
26:11in a lot of regards.
26:13After training,
26:14it was possible for an operator
26:15to pilot the planes
26:16quite proficiently
26:17using the hazy television images.
26:20Interestingly,
26:21at the end of the war,
26:23some enterprising bargain hunters
26:24bought up surplus TOR mutations
26:26very cheaply
26:27and transformed them back
26:29into piloted private planes.
26:45in the war.
26:47The
26:50next
26:51was
26:53the
26:57had
26:59been
27:01in the
27:05in the
27:05the
27:06The mutation of aircraft is almost constant.
27:29Most types go through several generations in the course of their production lives,
27:32as responses to faults or as improvements.
27:35There are mutations that go into production or there are one-off test aircraft which study
27:40particular adaptations, hence a B-17 Flying Fortress with inline engines or a P-47 Thunderbolt
27:48with counter-rotating props.
28:05Another area of mutation is not specifically dedicated to the type involved.
28:11For example, the response to the experience of fighters in mud with accidents and curtailed
28:16activity.
28:18This saw testing of different undercarriage for use in muddy conditions, which should be
28:22seen as not only applicable to the fighter type used in the tests but to all fighters
28:26battling in mud.
28:32A further level of mutation can be seen as the development of characteristics of a particular
28:36plane into a completely different plane.
28:39A lot of the painstaking and expensive theoretical work carries over from one design to another.
28:46Although the derivation may be seen as superficial, the famous P-38 Lightning, one of the war's
28:50best fighters, was very influential on the development of another aircraft.
28:56This was the much bigger twin-forked devil from the Lockheed Stable, the Chain Lightning XP-58.
29:03This plane was conceived as a fighter destroyer in a role very similar to that of the German
29:07Messerschmitt 110.
29:10The Chain Lightning was also developed later to be used as a long-range escort fighter
29:14in a basic enlargement of the Lightning, but in this it proved to be too stolid to engage
29:19successfully in dogfighting.
29:22Plans were then redeveloped to see it in an anti-shipping role.
29:26But enthusiasm was waning, and though it could probably have been successfully deployed
29:30as an attack aircraft, it was not proceeded with.
29:35The legacy of the P-38 is evident throughout the layout of the Chain Lightning, with notable
29:40changes in scale, propellers and the inclusion of a second crewman in a turret at the rear
29:45of the fuselage.
29:47With a top speed of 436 miles per hour and a cruising range of 2,650 miles, the XP-58 had
29:54quite good performance for its day, but it was simply too heavy to be adequately manoeuvrable.
30:02Another type of mutation altogether appears when an aircraft is used as a testbed for technology
30:07being developed for a new type, as here with a B-26 being used to test the undercarriage
30:12under development for the B-47 jet bomber.
30:15However, the most interesting mutations have occurred within the same type, with the growth
30:19of a plane to fill new roles, or to use new technologies, or simply to rectify things that
30:25were not right with the original design.
30:29When the English Electric Canberra was selected as the B-57 for the United States Air Force,
30:34the Martin Company was contracted to build the British plane in the US.
30:38The Canberra, though fast and manoeuvrable for a bomber, had some very idiosyncratic
30:42design features, not least of which was the strange positioning of the crew, which made
30:47it highly unlikely that the bomb aimer would be able to escape the plane in an emergency.
30:52This problem and other limitations of the Canberra were resolved by Martin over the next year,
30:57and various improvements on the original were incorporated in the following models.
31:01These included Martin's revolving bomb bay and a welter of new equipment to turn the
31:06bomber into a night intruder and a reconnaissance plane.
31:09The B-57 went on to play a minor but very successful role in Vietnam.
31:29However, the mutation of the B-57 did not stop there.
31:33The development of the U-2 high-altitude reconnaissance intrusion aircraft was delayed, and as an interim
31:39measure, it was decided to develop an enlarged wing for the B-57 to enable it to fill the gap.
31:45Accordingly, what came to be known as the B-57D big wing aircraft took to the air.
31:51With a wingspan over 40 foot longer than the original bomber, these planes not only filled
31:56the gap while the U-2 was sorted out, but complemented it when it had been introduced, being able to
32:01carry a greater load and hence conduct missions that the U-2 could not, especially in electronic
32:06information gathering.
32:08However, there were major problems with the stresses on the wing spar, and the wings themselves
32:12proved to have very limited life expectancy.
32:16Later, emphasising how valuable the B-57D had been, a further development, the B-57F, took
32:23to the air with a wingspan that was now a further 20 foot wide, only 6 foot short of twice the
32:28original Canberra span. And these mutants performed very well at extreme heights.
32:41Perhaps the most impressive range of mutations ever developed from one aircraft type would
32:46be that large family of planes that are based on the Boeing B-29 Superfortress. This plane
32:52was the ultimate big bomber of the Second World War, and carried over to bear a large load
32:56in the Korean campaign. The four-engined Superfortress built an enviable record in its original task,
33:03and was the critical weapon in the reduction of Japan, maintaining a strategic campaign that
33:08brought tremendous damage and brought World War II to a close.
33:25When they became outmoded, some of the B-29s were converted by the Air Force to use as aerial
33:30tankers, and continued in their new role as KB-29s for quite a few years. There were heaps
33:36of spares and mothballed planes to be cannibalised to keep them in the air. Here, one of them refuels
33:42a mutation of the B-29, the B-50, which had bigger engines, a strengthened wing, and a
33:48new tail that was so tall it had provision to fold it over so the plane would fit into the
33:53hangers. In a further mutation, some of the B-50s were fitted with auxiliary jet engines
34:00to pep up their performance when they too were passed on to the role of aerial tankers. This
34:05was essentially so that they could travel at speeds above the stall point of the fighter
34:09aircraft they were refuelling. The matching of jet fighters with piston-engined tankers was
34:16a difficult process, and while the KB-50s were successfully employed, as far as the fighters
34:21were concerned, they were far from ideal in their new role.
34:38The B-50 shared much the same fuselage as the B-29, but the actual cargo variant of the Super
34:44Fortress was a very different looking plane. The C-97 had a completely different fuselage,
34:50with the look of being two fuselages, a new fat one superimposed on a remnant of the B-29
34:56shape. Needless to say, the C-97s didn't take long to develop a tanker version, as the mutations
35:02of the original plane continued to proliferate.
35:15The most glamorous of the Super Fortress variants was the Stratocruiser, Boeing's 1940s version
35:21of what a long-range passenger aircraft should be, luxuriously appointed and spacious with
35:26the bar downstairs. But the Stratocruiser wasn't a raging sales success, and old age was catching
35:32up with the whole line. And after a while, the B-29s, B-50s and the rest were congregating
35:38at the wrecking yards, ready for scrapping. But for some of the C-97s and Stratocruisers,
35:44their bulging fuselages were to see them given a new lease of life. A company called Aerospace
35:54Lines, working on that commodious fuselage's basic virtues, started to build wildly distended
35:59hulls onto the planes, to carry specialist cargo, including spacecraft, aircraft, rockets,
36:06and other large fully assembled pieces of hardware. These aeroplanes with goiters have proved very
36:12successful since the first one was built in 1962. The massive lobes allow fuselage heights
36:18which started at 20 feet, and have now progressed beyond 25 feet, with a cargo hold of over 39,000
36:25cubic foot capacity. The later model Super Guppies, built to carry around components for the Saturn
36:31rocket program, have turboprops rather than the original piston engines, and have a
36:35nose section that opens up for easy loading. Here, two of the experimental lifting body
36:41shapes, the X-24B and the HL-10, are loaded into a Super Guppy. It's difficult to imagine
36:48that there will be many planes which will undergo not just the number of variations that the B-29
36:54has seen, but the absolute transformation that has occurred with the plane. After all, the
37:00B-29 was a model of super streamlining. Nothing bulged from that clean shape unnecessarily.
37:05The functional demand of the mission dictated a strict discipline in its smooth lines.
37:11So where did this great bloated whale with its puckered brow and lack of scale come from?
37:16Yeah.
37:22PLEASE
37:29The Douglas B-66, the Air Force version of the Navy A-3D,
37:56was first deployed as a tactical jet bomber by the U.S. in 1955.
38:02It had a fairly long career, seeing a lot of service in Vietnam
38:05in electronics countermeasures and reconnaissance roles.
38:09Starting in 1961, two of these planes were rebuilt by the Northrop Company
38:14to be the X-21A experimental aircraft.
38:18Their peculiar camel hump and new wing were part of a determined assault
38:22on one of aviation's most enduring bugbears.
38:25The drag caused by disturbed air around the surface of a plane,
38:29particularly the broad surfaces of the wing,
38:31where undisturbed air would offer better lift
38:33and such reduction of drag that very meaningful fuel savings could be made.
38:38The idea being tested was to suck the air from the surface into the wing
38:42and then force it out the rear,
38:44effectively removing the turbulence and allowing smooth airflow.
38:47The basis of this was a porous wing surface.
38:50The system was refined to a testable condition
38:54for the first time for the X-21A program.
38:59Ultimately, the test series was to prove two things about the idea.
39:04Firstly, that it worked.
39:06And secondly, that it was wildly impractical.
39:08The maintenance required to keep all the passages in the wing clean and working,
39:13not to mention the holes in the exterior, was simply impossible.
39:16There were no less than 815,388 metering holes
39:21and 67,944 tributary ducts in the wing.
39:26And the fact that the thing worked
39:28did not in any way change the fact
39:30that it was so expensive and hard to maintain
39:32as to be totally unusable except in experimental situations.
39:36The End
42:27plane that arrives in a bag, totally collapsible. The Goodyear company worked this one out,
42:33a winged powered balloon with the most rudimentary looking control arrangements, which despite
42:39their appearance worked, providing a portable miniature spotter plane.
42:53As an example of the challenges that face designers of aircraft and their various ways
42:58of approaching answers, the matter of ultra lightweight, single person, practical portable
43:03air vehicles is illuminating. Here, the designer can resort to virtually none of the huge body
43:09of knowledge that guides aviation. There's no way that you can start with the normal
43:14premise of a wing and work up from there if the user has to carry the thing around with
43:19him when it's not in use. Hence, a lot of arrangements for screwing pipes together, inflating rubber
43:24planes, rocket belts and other ideas have surfaced. The powered hang glider being possibly the most
43:30effective development to date. There's a sense of adventure about these kinds of aircraft
43:36and the designers have worked long and hard to reduce flight to the barest minimum needed
43:40in producing them. A lot of people fantasise about flying in such personal transport and
43:46a lot of people nowadays do it, with kits they build in their garages. To date, it's difficult
43:51to see which will endure. Presumably the hang glider, which is simple and effective and looks
43:57good enough as design to stick around. Good design does endure. The pit special, designed
44:05in 1944, anachronistically biplane, has remained one of the best aerobatic planes in the world ever
44:11since. The intended role informed the designer so successfully that the choices he made then
44:18are still right now.
44:25Wow.
44:27So
44:28is
44:32also
44:35the
44:37the
44:38the
44:42the
44:43the
45:21Next in strange planes, piggybacks, combis and a goblin.
45:39We look at some very strange goings-on in parasites.