The World's Worst Aircraft (From Pioneering Failures to Multimillion Dollar Disasters)

by Jim Winchester

Book Overview

From pioneering failures to multimillion dollar disasters. Features 150 of the worst aircraft ever to leave the drawing board, from the Seddon Mayfly, which didn't fly, to a flying tank which... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0760767424
• ISBN13: 9780760767429
• Release Date: January 2005
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble Books
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.

Customer Reviews

You Built a WHAT?

This is an extremely good book when it comes to some of the world's BEST failures, and not all for the reasons one would think. Jim Winchester has compiled an extensive group of aeronautic flops, from the early days of aviation, right up to modern times. Complete with specifications, the aircraft are arranged alphabetically by categories: BEHIND THE TIMES BOGUS CONCEPTS POWER PROBLEMS CONSTRUCTION DISASTERS UNINTENTIONALLY UNSTABLE You will find a plethora of information including photos, color plates, and a good thumbnail "history" of these infamous minions of the air. And yes, even Howard Hughes has a few entries...(who knew?) I remember (as a youngster) even BUILDING plastic models of some of these. So, I guess it goes to show that even the infamous receive their notoriety. You'd be hard pressed to even FIND such models today. And if you're very careful, and read closely, you will find the VAST amounts of MONEY that was spent on projects that were mostly all rejected, or at least allowed construction with a very limited production run. If you're ANY kind of aircraft enthusiast, you WILL find this a very good read, and you might even crack a few smiles as you wind your way through this book. Happy Landings. (but not with many of these planes) B.G.

A Good Guide to Bad Aircraft

Funny thing is I own two books with the same title, "The World's Worst Aircraft." I honestly cannot say which of the two, this one by Jim Winchester and the other, by Bill Yenne, is the better. Both are written by authors I respect; I own other volumes by both gentlemen. Both books are good reads, injecting a bit of humor into the subject matter, as with some of these aerial oddballs one can only laugh. Winchester's book covers a greater number of aircraft from a greater number of countries; Yenne's book, on the other hand, covers his Hall of Shame aviation duds with greater depth. If you really like airplanes and have an interest in aviation history, do what I did - purchase both books. In this volume, Winchester divides his aeronautical oddities into the following categories: Behind the Times, designs that were worthwhile but came too early or too late to enjoy commercial success; Bogus Concepts, designs that belie the question "What were they thinking?"; Power Problems, aircraft that may have had a chance were it not for their problematic powerplants; Construction Disasters, concepts whose problems lay in the material or manner of construction; and Unintentionally Unstable, aircraft that had the handling of a sport utility vehicle with a flat tire. Here you will encounter flying tanks, bedsteads, and jeeps; planes with barely enough room for the pilot and craft with wingspans larger than that of a Boeing 747; planes with one engine, ten engines, and more; planes with two wings and no fuselage, four wings, flapping wings (not one but two!), and 20 wings; one design that would have been cheaper to build using solid gold and one made of inflatable rubber. Many readers with knowledge of aircraft are sure to have their ideas as to other aircraft that should have been included in this book. My nominations are these: the various US designs for roadable aircraft, including one that featured the worst of both words, that is, a Ford Pinto mated to the aft fuselage of a Cessna Skymaster; the Shanghai Y-10, a Chinese version of the Boeing 707 or 720 that first flew more than a quarter century after Dash 80 first took to the air; and the Antonov An-10 Ukraine (not to be confused with the Antonov An-8 and An-12, both of which were very fine aircraft), which has the dishonorable distinction of having lost about half the total production run to its poor handling, often with lethal consequences. For the price, this is a fun and enjoyable book.

Good Introduction to Aerial Edsels!

The history of aviation is littered with dozens of aircraft that were badly designed, poorly manufactured or created to meet outdated or unrealistic mission requirements. Jim Winchester's book takes a sweeping look at these aerial disasters in this nicely illustrated, inexpensively priced volume. In paging through the 300-odd pages of this book, it's obvious that every nation has had its share of aerial duds, witness the Italian Caproni 'Noviplano,' the French 'Jabiru,' the English Pemberton-Billing 'Nighthawk,' the German Fokker V8 or the American Curtiss XP-62. It's incredible viewing page after page of dead-end designs that make one wonder 'did they really pay someone to design that thing?!' To be honest, some of the aircraft in this book do not deserve the "worst of" designation. In some cases, they arrived too late on the aviation scene to be successful, were successful designs brought down by powerplant problems or were built as one-off research designs, etc. Nevertheless, it's great fun to peruse this book and marvel at the incredibly bad designs churned out over the years. Each aircraft is illustrated by two photographs or profiles, many of which are in color. In short, it's not only an incredibly great buy ($5.99) but a marvelous introduction to 'dead-end' aircraft.