Oddball, Experimental, or One-off

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This is possibly a variant on the Russian Antonov An-14, believed to be the An-14sh, an experimental trial of a hovercraft type landing gear, enabling it to land on an unprepared runway, water, snow or ice, or swampland.

 

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The Creative Flight Aerocat is a Canadian mid-wing, all composite, four passenger experimental aircraft that can be configured for amphibious float operations. Under development since 1998, the aircraft is intended to be supplied in kit form by Creative Flight of Haliburton, Ontario, for amateur construction. The company has since been renamed Auriga Design.

 

Development started in 1998 on the MPA Aerocat. In 2002, the vehicle was renamed the Creative Flight Aerocat.

 

The all composite aircraft features a distinctive gull-wing design with pods that floats can attach to. A twin engine variant is powered by two Jabiru 3300 engines. In both the case of the single and twin engined versions, the engines are mounted in pusher configuration on a composite arch behind the cockpit.

 

Status    Under development         Number built    One (2011)

 

                     Single engine variant

 

                     Twin engine variant

[red750]

The Fairey FB-1 Gyrodyne was an experimental British rotorcraft that used single lifting rotor and a tractor propeller mounted on the tip of the starboard stub wing to provide both propulsion and anti-torque reaction. It was the first of a third type of rotorcraft, the gyrodyne.

 

In April 1946, Fairey announced a private-venture project for a rotary-wing aircraft, to be built to a design developed by Dr. J.A.J. Bennett while he was chief technical officer at the Cierva Autogiro Company in 1936–1939. The Gyrodyne, constituting a third distinct type of rotorcraft and designated C.41 by the Cierva Autogiro Company, was in 1938 successfully tendered to the Royal Navy in response to Specification S.22/38 for a naval helicopter. Though preliminary work started on the project, it was abandoned with the outbreak of the Second World War, and G & J Weir, Ltd., the financiers of the Cierva Autogiro Company, declined to undertake further development in addition to their successful experiments with the W.5 and W.6 lateral twin-rotor helicopters. After the Second World War, the Cierva Autogiro Company was engaged with the development of the Cierva W.9 "Drainpipe" and the W.11 Air Horse helicopters under the direction of Cyril Pullin, and Bennett joined Fairey in late 1945 as head of the newly established rotary wing aircraft division.

 

The FB-1 Gyrodyne was a compact, streamlined rotorcraft weighing just over 4,410 lb (2,000 kg) and powered by a 520–540 hp (390–400 kW) Alvis Leonides 522/2 radial engine, the power from which could be transmitted in variable ratios to the fixed-shaft/swashplate-actuated tilting hub-controlled rotor and the wing tip mounted propeller. The Gyrodyne possessed the hovering capability of a helicopter, while its propeller provided the necessary thrust for forward flight to enable its rotor, driven at low torque in cruise flight, to operate at low collective pitch with the tip-path plane parallel to the flight path to minimise vibration at high airspeed. Collective pitch was an automatic function of throttle setting and power loading of the propeller, which to maintain rpm diverted torque away from the rotor as airspeed increased. Only 2 prototypes completed.

 

 

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The Aviation Traders ATL-90 Accountant was a 1950s British twin-engined 28-passenger turboprop airliner built at Southend Airport England by Aviation Traders, a member of the airline and aircraft engineering group controlled by Freddie Laker.

 

The ATL-90 Accountant was a turboprop airliner designed as a replacement for the Douglas DC-3. It was powered by two Rolls-Royce Dart turboprops and first flew from Southend on 9 July 1957. The only Accountant, initially flown using the test serial G-41-1, but quickly registered G-ATEL, was displayed at the Farnborough Airshow in September 1957 but did not attract much commercial interest. The aircraft last flew on 10 January 1958, development was abandoned and the aircraft was scrapped in February 1960.

[Marty_d]

Hmm. Ugly and the most boring name ever. Wonder why it wasn't a hit?!

[onetrack]

It should've been a hit with the bankers and lawyers! Just needed some marketing ooomph. "The Accountant. Saves you money, not just on your tax!" 😄 

 

Edited January 5 by onetrack

[facthunter]

Once Accountants get involved. Well you know the rest.  Nev

[Thruster88]

The Fokker F27 friendship beat it to market. 

[BrendAn]

5 minutes ago, Thruster88 said:

The Fokker F27 friendship beat it to market. 

The f27 was a popular Fokker.

There were fokkers everywhere.

[facthunter]

There was a HS 748 that looked a bit like the Accountant  The RAAF had a few..

[facthunter]

A precursor to the Dutch Fokker Friendship was the" Handley Page Herald" which replaced 4 Alvis Leonides Radials with 2 RR Darts in the Mid 50's. Some Fokkers were Made under Licence in the USA by Fairchild BUT they were NOT built with REDUX Bonding and they shed wings at about the time I went on  F27's here. We flew them at reduced Airspeeds Just in case so I wasn't that Impressed. The Dutch ones didn't have the Problem and the Mk2 with bigger RR Dart engines and Longer range was a quite successful Plane in  Australia They had Auto feather and Quick retracting Wheels to improve the T/O Climb performance. Brakes,  and gear were Operated By High Pressure Air at 3600 psi.. The early versions only had Castoring nosewheels and that would be pretty Unsatisfactory with  differential Air Brakes.. TAA operated a Flight to Timor L'Este, Baucau under a Qantas Flight# (QF 1308) Out of Darwin. Going through the Intertropic Convergence Zone in summer was INTERESTING An Ice green wall  with tops at 60.000 feet. WE had radar. There and back the  same day. Nev

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The Schweizer RU-38 Twin Condor is a two or three-seat, fixed gear, low wing, twin boom covert reconnaissance aircraft.

 

RU-38 is the US military designation for the aircraft, indicating Utility, Reconnaissance. The Schweizer company model number is Schweizer SA 2-38A Condor and, in its three-seat configuration, Schweizer SA 3-38A Condor.

 

Based on the Schweizer SGM 2-37 motor glider, a total of five RU-38s were produced between 1995 and 2005. The aircraft remains in production by Sikorsky Aircraft after acquiring Schweizer.

 

The development of the Schweizer SGM 2-37 motor glider for training use at the United States Air Force Academy led to two reconnaissance versions of that design, carrying the company model numbers SA 2-37A and SA 2-37B. In Central Intelligence Agency, US Army and US Coast Guard service these were designated RG-8A and RG-8B. The RG-8s were employed in border security and surveillance missions.

 

In the mid-1990s, the Coast Guard decided that the aircraft would be more useful if their capabilities were improved to include night operations by the addition of more mission sensor equipment. Discussions with Schweizer Aircraft resulted in a plan to upgrade two RG-8As and to build one new aircraft to provide a total of three.

 

The RU-38 was intended to fulfill both the low altitude, quiet, over water/hostile terrain reconnaissance role and also the high altitude standoff surveillance role.

The design missions for the RU-38A were:

• Border integrity
• Counter-terrorism surveillance
• Drug enforcement
• Electronic intelligence
• Fishery patrols
• Illegal alien surveillance
• Intelligence collection
• Maritime patrol
• Pollution patrol & environmental monitoring
• Search and Rescue

In converting to the new RU-38A configuration, the conventional RG-8A airframe was greatly modified by:

• Removing the single 235 hp (175 kW) Lycoming O-540-B powerplant
• Installing two Teledyne Continental Motors GIO-550A engines with a 3:2 gear reduction to 2267 operating rpm. The engines are mounted one in the nose and the other in the rear of the fuselage.
• Enlarging the crew compartment
• Improving the engine mufflers
• Increasing the wingspan from 56.5 ft (17.22m) to 84.13 ft (25.65 m)
• Changing the single tail fin to a twin-boom configuration with two fins
• Greatly enlarged sensor bays
• Improved noise signature reduction
• Tricycle landing gear replacing the conventional landing gear

For details of the two variants, click here.

 

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The Collins Dipper was an American homebuilt flying boat that was designed and produced by Collins Aero of Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania and first flown in 1982. The aircraft was supplied in the form of plans for amateur construction. Only one was built and none remain registered.

 

The Dipper was a conversion of a Cessna 150, adding a fiberglass hull and nose to the Cessna land plane. Development was protracted and started in 1964, leading to a first flight in 1982.

 

The Dipper featured a strut-braced high-wing, a two-seats-in-side-by-side configuration enclosed cockpit with doors, retractable tricycle landing gear and a single engine in pusher configuration mounted above the cabin on struts.

 

The aircraft is made from aluminum and fiberglass, retaining the Cessna 150's wing and lift struts. The 33.4 ft (10.2 m) span wing employs a NACA 2412 airfoil, mounts flaps and has a wing area of 160 sq ft (15 m2). The standard engine used was the 180 hp (134 kW) Lycoming O-360 powerplant.

 

The aircraft nose wheel retracted forward and the main landing gear retracted upwards into the rear window space.

 

The Dipper had a typical empty weight of 1,100 lb (500 kg) and a gross weight of 1,760 lb (800 kg), giving a useful load of 660 lb (300 kg). With full fuel of 39 U.S. gallons (150 L; 32 imp gal) the payload for pilot, passengers and baggage is 426 lb (193 kg).

 

The manufacturer estimated the conversion time from the plans as 1000 hours.

 

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The Comp Air Jet is an American eight-seat, low-wing, pressurized, tricycle undercarriage, turbofan-powered civil utility aircraft marketed by Comp Air for amateur construction.

 

The company website does not list it as being in production in 2022.

 

In 2002 the co-owners of Aerocomp, which is now known as Comp Air, Steve Young and Ron Lueck announced the Comp Air Jet project. The jet is constructed from a "proprietary carbon-fiber hybrid sandwich" and powered by a Ukrainian Ivchenko AI-25 engine. Alternative engines planned for included the Pratt & Whitney JT12-8 or CJ610 or projected future Williams International or Agilis engines.

 

On July 10, 2004 the Comp Air Jet flew for the first time from Merritt Island Airport. Though the gear was not retracted during the flight, the aircraft still reached speeds of 157 kn (291 km/h). The jet landed after 37 minutes with the landing taking about 2000 feet.

 

On January 11, 2005 Aerocomp flew the prototype back to the Merritt Island Airport for further development work after more than 30 hours of flight testing at Space Coast Regional Airport, Titusville, Florida.

 

 

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The Piper PA-47 "PiperJet" was a single-engined very light jet (VLJ) that was intended to be developed and built by Piper Aircraft. However, following a change of ownership at Piper, it was decided to redesign the aircraft as the PiperJet Altaire. Despite being technically successful, the Altaire project was canceled in October 2011 due to economic conditions. The aircraft is the first proposed single-engined civilian aircraft with a podded engine located on the tail.

 

 

The PiperJet was announced in October 2006, as a competitor to the twin-engined Eclipse 500 and Cessna Citation Mustang. The aircraft's fuselage was the same cross section as the propeller-driven Piper PA-46 series, with a 4 feet (1.2 m) increase in length. It was to be capable of carrying up to 7 passengers and cruise at 360 knots (666.7 km/h), at a maximum altitude of 35,000 feet (10,668.0 m). Maximum range was expected to be 1,300 nautical miles (2,407.6 km), with a full-fuel payload of 800 pounds. Piper selected Williams International to supply its FJ44-3AP turbofan engine for the PiperJet.

 

Due to the engine being mounted above the center of gravity, power was highly stabilizing (addition of power would push the nose down), which could have been disconcerting to pilots. Initially, Piper designers incorporated an automatic pitch trim system to coordinate horizontal stabilizer angle of incidence with power setting. This system was later replaced by a vectored thrust nozzle, developed by Williams International, which resulted in reduced weight and simplified manufacturing processes.

 

A design feature of the aircraft was the use of a straight duct air intake design for the vertical stabilizer (tail) mounted engine, similar in engineering design concept to a McDonnell Douglas DC-10, rather than the s-duct arrangement of most trijet aircraft designs such as the Dassault Falcon 900.

 

A selling price of US$2.199 million in 2006 dollars was initially set and as of February 19, 2007, Piper announced that it had received 180 pre-orders. An entry-into-service date of early 2010 was initially anticipated, later changed to 2011-12. In October 2009 the company indicated that it had delayed the delivery of the first customer aircraft to mid-2013 and had informed depositors.

 

The PiperJet did not enter production and in October 2010 Piper announced it would instead develop an aircraft with a larger circular-section fuselage known as the Piper PiperJet Altaire. The 160 customers who had placed orders for the PiperJet retained their delivery positions with the new aircraft and at the same $2.2 million price.

 

 

 

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The Hiller XH-44 Hiller-Copter (Experimental Hiller, 1944) is an American experimental helicopter designed by Stanley Hiller.

 

Stanley Hiller became interested in helicopters in the late 1930s, when he saw pictures of the Focke-Wulf Fw 61 and the Vought-Sikorsky VS-300. He bought every book on helicopter development that he could find, and in the early 1940s he began design work on the XH-44, at the age of 17.

 

The XH-44 featured a pair of contra-rotating rotors which, in its original form, was powered by a 65 hp Franklin engine (de-rated from its original 90 hp). The engine was later swapped for a 125 hp Lycoming engine. It was the first successful coaxial rotor helicopter to be built in the United States, as well as the first helicopter to use all-metal rotor blades.

 

The XH-44 tipped over on its first tethered test flight with Hiller at the controls, resulting in minor damage. On July 4, 1944, the XH-44 made its first untethered flight at the University of California's football stadium at Berkeley. The helicopter made an appearance during a public demonstration at San Francisco on August 30, 1944.

 

The success of the XH-44 caught the attention of Henry J. Kaiser, who funded further development of Hiller's rotor system.

 

Hiller donated the XH-44 to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in 1953.[4] The helicopter was restored in 1974, and in 1997 it was lent back to Hiller and displayed at the Hiller Aviation Museum. The original XH-44 was later moved to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, with the Hiller Aviation Museum displaying a replica in its place.

 

Number built    1

 

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The Dyle et Bacalan DB-70 was a large three engine French airliner with a thick airfoil centre section which accommodated the passengers. Two fuselages, part of the centre section at the front but distinct further aft, carried the empennage. First flown in 1929, only one was built.

 

In 1925 the large naval ship builders Société Anonyme de Travaux Dyle et Bacalan, established in 1879 and based in Bordeaux, developed an aircraft manufacturing interest. They built several all-metal prototypes incorporating very thick wings. The DB-70 was the largest of these and the last to carry the company name: Dyle et Bacalan ceased trading in July 1929, before the DB-70 had flown, though the company reformed as Société Aérienne Bordelaise (SAB) that same month. As a result, the aircraft is sometimes referred to as the SAB DB-70; the letter prefix DB was retained, though aircraft designed later by SAB used the AB- form .

 

The DB-70 was a very large, all metal aircraft built, like all Dyle et Bacalan aircraft, largely of duralumin. As on the 1926 DB-10, the centre section of the wing of the DB-70 was extremely thick and twice the chord of the outer wings, with a chord/thickness ratio of about 25%. The layout of the two designs was different, though; the otherwise conventionally laid-out DB-10 had thick wings inboard of its two engines, whereas the DB-70 was built around its thick centre section with twin fuselages, developed from it rearwards, carrying the empennage. The centre section also mounted the three 450 kW (600 hp) Hispano-Suiza water-cooled inline engines and the pilots' cockpit and enclosed the passenger accommodation.

 

The 9.25 m span wide (30 ft) centre section, the structural core of the DB-70, was based on four steel transverse spars, separated vertically by 2.30 m (7 ft 6 in), horizontally by 1.95 m (6 ft 5 in) and cross-braced into six frames, forming five transverse bays. The two pairs of outer frames defined the forward fuselages and the outer wings, engines and undercarriage legs were attached to the outermost frames. The centre engine was mounted on the central frame, positioned well forward of both the leading edge and of the planes of the two outer propellers. The whole structure was duralumin skinned to form an aerofoil section with a chord of about 10 m (33 ft), the lower surface continuing to form the undersides of the fuselages.

 

The outer wings were mounted high on the fuselage sides, carried 3° of dihedral and were of parallel chord with rounded tips. Each was supported from below by a pair of struts mounted on the lower fuselage longeron. The fuselages were simple rectangular cross section structures, built around four longerons and tapering rearwards. They carried the horizontal tail surfaces, both between them and extending outwards. The angle of incidence of this 'fixed' tail could be adjusted in flight for trimming. It carried three linked and balanced elevators. Two rectangular fins carried balanced rudders. The DB-70 had a fixed conventional undercarriage with double mainwheels on V-shaped shock absorbing legs mounted on the lower longerons, with bracing struts to the centre of the centre section. This arrangement produced a wide undercarriage track of 6.65 m (21 ft 10 in). Sprung tailskids were placed the extreme ends of each fuselage.

 

The passenger accommodation was a rectangular area within the deepest part of the centre section, 5.35 m (17 ft 6 in) long, about 9.5 m (30 ft) wide and 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) high. The structural bays divided this space laterally into three: two outer, 10 seat cabins 1.80 m (6 ft) wide, each lit by 5 windows in the outer fuselage walls, and a central saloon with eight arm chairs grouped around two tables. For night flights, the seats in each of the cabins were replaced by 8 berths, reducing the overall accommodation to 24. Aft of this central area were toilets, a kitchen and baggage space plus corridor access to a floor trapdoor which was the principal passenger entryway. A 'promenade' ran the width of the centre section ahead of the seating areas, lit by glazed wing leading edges, with further passenger access doors at either end. Adjacent to it in the centre section leading edge was a corridor that allowed the third crew member, a mechanic, to enter the engine compartments for in-flight servicing. The two pilots sat in an open cockpit, fitted with dual controls, at the centre section leading edge.

 

The first flight of the DB-70 was on 15 November 1929 from Merignac Aerodrome. Initial trial flights showed the aircraft could take off in about 120 m (400 ft) carrying a 5 tonne load. It flew around the airfield at Vincennes on both days of the National Aviation meeting held there in June 1930. Photographs show that modifications were made after the early flights, including the provision of external exhaust pipes and an increase in passenger window size, done by making the original oval windows into square ones. Only one DB-70 was built, though the military, four engine SAB AB-20 and SAB AB-21 used very similar airframes.

 

 

 

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The Hanriot H.110 was an unusual pusher configuration, twin boom, single seat fighter aircraft built in France in the early 1930s. It proved to be slower and less manoeuvrable than its contemporaries and failed to reach production, even as the Hanriot H.115 after receiving a more powerful engine and cannon armament.

 

From 1916 until 1933, the only Hanriot fighter aircraft had been tractor biplanes. The Hanriot H.110, a twin boom pusher cantilever monoplane was therefore a considerable departure from the past. It was designed to compete in the STAé (Service Technique de l'Aéronautique or Technical Section of Aeronautics) 1930/31 C1 (single seat Chasseur of fighter) programme.

 

The all-metal H.110 had an open cockpit and engine in a short central nacelle. It was powered by a 485 kW (650 hp) Hispano-Suiza 12Xbrs supercharged upright water-cooled V-12 engine behind the pilot, driving a three-blade pusher propeller. The pilot's headrest was smoothly faired into the engine cowling. There was a circular Chausson radiator in the short nose ahead of the open cockpit, with a variable position central cone to control the airflow.

 

The wings were built around two spars. The central 25% of their span, between the booms, had constant chord. Immediately outboard they had a wider chord and beyond were double straight tapered to rounded tips. They carried almost full-span, narrow-chord Frise ailerons. Forward, the slim, square section and untapered tail booms blended into the wings at about mid-chord, the aft ends carrying a constant-chord tailplane slightly above them. This had rounded tips and a central elevator with a trim tab. A central, single, tall, round-tipped, wire-braced vertical tail was mounted on in it. The H.110 had a fixed, split, conventional undercarriage with each spatted mainwheel on a faired, near vertical shock absorber and a rearward leaning strut together forming a V, laterally braced with an inverted V-strut attached near the under-fuselage centre line. There was a central tailwheel on a long leg under the fin.

 

The H.110 began flight testing in April 1933. Tested against its smaller and lighter competitors, it proved slower and less manoeuvrable and was returned to Hanriot for modification. It flew in April 1934 as the H.115, with its HS 12Xbrs engine uprated to 515 kW (691 hp), a new four-blade propeller with variable-pitch and a revised nacelle, shortened forward of the cockpit by 360 mm (14.2 in). A 33 mm (1.30 in) APX cannon was now housed in a fairing below the nacelle as an alternative to the earlier pair of Chatellerault 7.5 mm (0.295 in) machine guns. With its new engine and propeller the H.115 was quicker than the earlier version, with a top speed of 390 km/h (242 mph). After more modifications over the winter of 1934-5 it returned to Villacoublay in June 1935 and was officially flight tested until mid August, but failed to attract a contract.