I remember the Optica (OP) over the skies of Belfast when I was a kid. I remember hearing the whine of an engine overhead one day riding my bike, spent ages looking for it in the sky, finally seeing the odd shape. It intrigued me for years and when the internet came around for me and my passion for aviation, I was really chuffed to find out about it. G-BMPF was the airframe that was used for a time for surveillance.
Thought that was precisely what the optima was designed for. Police surveillance and similar applications. Slow speed, good all round visibility, long loiter time, cheaper alternative to a helicopter. Pretty pointless aircraft for any other application.
The one I posted is the Short SC1, it’s painted on the nose! It was the first true fixed- wing VTOL jet, with five engines, four for vertical lift, and one for horizontal flight, it was also the first aircraft of its type to be able to transition from vertical to horizontal flight, and the first with fly-by-wire technology. The photo I have, I’m certain, was taken in 1958.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Short_SC.1
When I looked at that picture, I thought it looked like a Harrier Jump jet early prototype, I wasn't far wrong!
SKYVAN!!!!
The most fun plane to jump out of. Sooooo much fun and a big reason to go to DeLand.
https://skydivedeland.com/dropzone/aircraft/
I've jumped the top three of those ^^^
Possibly not all that unusual but an odd looking thing none the less.
Gannet AEW.3.
Sibson had a Skyvan as well!
Bugger. Looking for a pic of this plane and found it crashed killing the pilot this year. I built a scale slope soaring version of it. A delightful craft.
That sucks.
It was a lot like a full size Zagi.
Nobody has the flying saucer ID'd yet?
Another entry:
the flying saucer: it's an Avro Aerocar
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A good friend of mine was the project manager for this. Was based out of Area 51 during testing.
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LeeW - Northrop Tacit Blue.
Easy.
That Rotodyne just reminds me of a massive daddy long legs.😀
Blimey.
sootyandjim - is it the wonkywing?
sootyandjim – is it the wonkywing?
That's not its official name.
AD-1 innit
not sure what any of these are so any and all made up names may be valid.
I do know this one which just makes me think of Manta rays
That Rotodyne just reminds me of a massive daddy long legs.
Try this...
arial crane, MI10? maybe
what about this oddity
not sure what any of these are so any and all made up names may be valid.
I recognise the 4th one down
XP-55
The Gannet didn’t look quite so ungainly in its ASW rôle, but it was a big plane!
I put together a book about the Gannet years ago, and I had a large stack of photos to choose from, a couple of which showed a Gannet that lost both outer folding wingtips in flight, the pilot kept it in the air, and landed it safely.
Sadly, I can’t find a copy of it now, I thought I’d kept a copy of all the books I worked on, but it seems not. 😕
Well, after a fair bit of grepping around the interwebz, I managed to find a copy on Amazon; sodding heck, I wish I’d kept a few copies now!
https://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0948251514/thunderandlightn
I was always impressed with the Israeli pilot who landed an F15 after losing a wing in a mid-air collision. I think everyone would have given him a pass if he'd just bailed out.
The rest of the plane is expensive, he may have thought they would dock his wages if he came back without it.
CFH, Sibson uses a Cessna Caravan now. Skyvans are getting rare; expensive to run and need a lot of jumpers to be worth it. DeLand only bring it out when they have bigway jumping on and need two planes.
I always liked the X-29. Forward swept wings just look so awesome
the Furzocopter
Colin truly is a visionary...
Dubai police now:
77ric
The barrel with the prop in is a Caproni prototype, for research into ducted fans. Didn't have a name (technically).
More Caproni:
hot fiat, the flying wing is a Northrop, couldn't tell you the designation though.
yup, the saucer is the Avrocar
Cheers Mrmonkfinger
The barrel prop thing just reminds me of roadrunner cartoons where Wile e coyote gets some weird or wonderful contraption from ACME.
it does look like a cartoon, does it not?
But it is kind of similar in many respects to the pods that turbofans are housed in on a modern airliner.
That flying barrel led me to this:
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it does look like a cartoon, does it not?
A bit, yeah,
Did that wingless tube fly?
Rocket assisted take off and landing on a C130, worth watching till the end!
Holy shit!
