The Blohm & Voss BV 141 is a strong reminder that balance and symmetry are not essential factors when creating an aircraft, though the thought of that fully defies all logic. This Germa flying machine, designed in the WWII-era was created as a reconnaissance aircraft.
But even after the initial success and the building of the first few dozen, it lost out to a competitor and never reached completion. At least it had its 15 minutes of fame, sadly that was not enough to keep it afloat. literally and figuratively speaking.
Vought V-173 "Flying Pancake"
Here's a crazy design that you would expect more on your plate than in the sky. The "Flying Pancake" as it is aptly called was designed during a time where the U.S observed an increased demand for ship-borne planes that could take off from shorter runways
The inexplicable shape was even once flown by the legendary Charles Lindberg. Considering the design, the great pilot actually said it handled a little better than expected, but it looked ridiculous and thankfully, they fell away after some time.
Sikorsky X-Wing
Like with all great failures, the intention is grand. Built with the goal of combining the speed of a jet with the take-off abilities of a helicopter, the mechanics of this sadly, did not work out as and the aircraft production program as called off.
In 1988 the Sikorsky X-Wing came to an end. Long after its first successful prototype.
The Pregnant Guppy
Talk about chunky. This monster of a plane was once created in order to ship components for NASA's Apollo moon mission. Needless to say, this terribly clumsy aircraft was abandoned soon after production. Only one plane was ever created. First taking off September 19, 1962, it was then retired in 1979. It was also aptly the Pregnant Guppy.
Pregnant it was indeed, pregnant with clunky materials and a hefty production cost that proved to ultimately be too much of a burden.
Goodyear Inflatoplane
Everyone said it couldn't be done but then Goodyear (the tire company) came along and proved everyone wrong. The plane prototype was about to get the green light, but sadly for the giant flying machine that never happened. When the U.S. military cottoned onto the fact that this plane wouldn't be of much use in the army, the idea was quickly discarded.
Armies can't really have planes popping like balloons up there. It doesn't sound too practical. They were right, and this Inflatoplane was never seen again.