Strange Birds of WW II:

[Supervisor]

The Focke-Wulf Fw-189 "Uhu" (Owl)

[Supervisor]

The Junkers Ju-88

[Supervisor]

The Junkers Ju 188

[Supervisor]

The Messerschmitt Me210/410 "Hornisse"

[Hades]

YUCK!?!?! How can you say yuck?? That plane is awesome looking. If you want to see yuck, post a picture of a B-24 on here.

[CCB]

[CCB]

http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/research/p79.htm

[CCB]

http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/research/p55.htm

[CCB]

http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/research/p56.htm

[CCB]

http://www.wpafb.af.mil/museum/research/p54.htm

[AbsntMndedProf]

When it comes to strange, I'll bet few other contenders can top out the Antonov KT flying tank!

http://users.chariot.net.au/~theburfs/URantkt.html

Just goes to show that, when a country is not doing well on the battlefield, the Germans and Japanese didn't quite have the corner on unusual measures to try and turn the tide of battle.

Eric Maietta

[AbsntMndedProf]

And how about a P-51 x2?

http://users.chariot.net.au/~theburfs/URmust.html

One pilot naps while the other flies! If they had joined three P-51s, they could have added a flight attendant. (Coffee, tea, or .50 cal?)

Eric Maietta

[Katana]

[AbsntMndedProf]

Strange birds weren't just the product of the air forces of WW II. Here is an unusual craft designed for use by u-boats:

http://www.uboat.net/technical/bachstelze.htm

Eric Maietta

[CCB]

Hey! Thats a helicopter! hehe

[Bing]

The shot of the Swordfish over the carrier is a good one. Know what is peculiar about it though? Take a look at the carrier. Unless the negative has been reversed, the island is starboard side. That is extremely unusual.

The IJN had just one and it was a nightmare operating the vessel with carriers built the normal way, with the island on the port side. IIRC they operated them together as seldom as possible. Traffic patterns for landing were a mess, one group circling in one direction, another group circling in the opposite. Mid-air collisions, the whole nine yards.

Anyone know which Brit carrier is in the photo and if indeed it had a starboard island structure? Does this have anything to do with the British driving on the wrong side of the road?

Final Note: My God, an enclosed cockpit for the Stringbag? Where have the real men gone?

The much beloved Swordfish will always, always be one of my most favorite WW2 warplanes.

Bing

[Belisarius]

Hmm it's more like a gyrocopter? :p

[Kanon Fodder]

Originally posted by antarctic
Interesting Thread.... I'll have to cast my vote for the Gotha 229.... a German version of a jet flying wing...... pictures of this plane are soooo rare... the only good one I've found is a screenshot from CFS3!....
Check it out here:

http://www.simhq.com/simhq3/sims/interv ... 29_5.shtml

I believe there was a photo of an incomplete Gotha 229 in the manual that came with SWOTL (Secret Weapons of the Luftwaffe)

Have to do some digging to find it, though ...

[Kaakao]

Here's a pic of Gotha 229



Also, http://members.visi.net/~djohnson/luft46.html is a good page to visit if you're looking for strange planes.

[Kaakao]

Another strange plane, Bachem Ba-349 "Natter" or "Viper".





Viper was a VTO plane and was built allmost complitely from wood and was very simple so that it could be built in large numbers. It was intended to be used as a fighter against allied bomberformations. After being launched vertically it had fuel for 10 minutes and could move as fast as 1000km/h (625mph). The armament was 24(!) 73mm air to air missiles, after firing the missiles the pilot would have opened the parachute to get the plane safely down and ready for another flight. There were 36 Vipers built and the germans had 10 of them ready to be launched but they had to be destroyed because the americans had moved allready just next to the launching area.