Comments on: French "Beetle" experimental aircraft of the 1950s

By: Scuba SM

Scuba SM — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 22:33:00 +0000

I believe you’re thinking of the F-82, which was essentially two P-51s attached at the wing and horizontal tail.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-82

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 20:37:00 +0000

“In 1965 Frigidaire introduced the “ride-aire” refrigerator that you hooked up to the blower port on your vacuum cleaner to make it easier to move.”

By: cdh1971

cdh1971 — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 14:30:00 +0000

Vacuum-cleaners originally were dual purpose – when the current was reversed they were used as blow dryers – blowing the hair dry without heat.

Much like the brute-force blow dryers that use no heat, only hurricane-speed winds – used at many self-serve dog grooming joints.

The French plane covered in this posting would make an excellent blow dryer for a Clifford type dog or perhaps Babar’s woolly throw-back cousins.

By: Michael Smith

Michael Smith — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 08:03:00 +0000

I don’t get why there’s all this French machine hate

Even French engineers do it. One such engineer introduced a bunch of us to their new application and said here is our new app, and because we are French, it is very complicated.

By: Michael Smith

Michael Smith — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 08:01:00 +0000

I am sure he did. Isn’t that the idea for this aircraft? The ducted fan pushes it to altitude and the ramjet ignites, probably in a dive. I have seen pictures of a similar US navy aircraft. This one had counter rotating puller props. It landed on its tail and it worked.

By: Culturedropout

Culturedropout — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 03:03:00 +0000

Apparently not just in the insect world. “Briefly and unexpectedly” are not typically good things where high-performance aircraft are concerned. But it was actually canceled because they knew all the other aviators would laugh at them.

By: Noctilucent Studios

Noctilucent Studios — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 02:03:00 +0000

Very cool. I seem to recall an american plane from that era that had 2 cockpits set up in a similar arrangement to that plane, with side by side cockpits in seperate nacelles….. Any idea what that was?

By: jimh

jimh — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 00:39:00 +0000

I really like how it gained public notoriety and captured the imaginations of so many while essentially being a non-starter. Form over function!

By: Gimlet_eye

Gimlet_eye — Fri, 08 Jun 2012 00:12:00 +0000

The huge problem with tailsitters is landing: the pilot has to transition from horizontal flight to vertical hovering, then, while facing up and on his back, look over his shoulder as he decreases power to land. That’s the sort of thing that makes even top test pilots sweat.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 22:40:00 +0000

I think it’s beautiful, reminiscent of both Firefly’s “Serenity” and the Dyson bladeless fan.

Or perhaps a hair dryer.

By: Warren

Warren — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 21:31:00 +0000

Fascinating thing, this – though the plural of aircraft is aircraft, not aircrafts.

By: petite poubelle

petite poubelle — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 21:17:00 +0000

Another bizarre aircraft of note was the Blohm & Voss BV 141. Built for reconnaissance, its asymmetrical design was intended to give pilots a nearly panoramic view. Apparently it performed quite well, but was shitcanned by the Luftwaffe for aesthetic reasons.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KA5giaFPLQs&feature=related

By: GeekMan

GeekMan — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 21:04:00 +0000

Funny: in the insect world, beetles are notoriously terrible flyers.

By: Volker

Volker — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 20:31:00 +0000

Sure not the best aircraft, but truly a fancy and futuristic design

By: petite poubelle

petite poubelle — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 20:09:00 +0000

I’m a big fan of wacky and experimental aircraft, so I’m always stoked to see something I’m unfamiliar with.

My favorite itty bitty wacky plane has to be the XF-85 Goblin. It was designed as a “parasite fighter” that was attached to the underside of B-29s and B-36s.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McDonnell_XF-85_Goblin

http://www.strangecosmos.com/images/content/176691.jpg

By: Susan Carley Oliver

Susan Carley Oliver — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 19:53:00 +0000

I think it’s beautiful, reminiscent of both Firefly’s “Serenity” and the Dyson bladeless fan.

I don’t get why there’s all this French machine hate; for the longest time they were the only folks outside of the US to have a space service capable of boosting objects into orbit, and don’t forget – the Paris Air Show has historically been one of the most prestigious aircraft events.

By: hakuin

hakuin — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 19:22:00 +0000

so would fly-by-wire have made it work?

By: David Pescovitz

David Pescovitz — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 19:03:00 +0000

Ah, thanks!

By: Stefan Jones

Stefan Jones — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 18:55:00 +0000

Looks like something from a Gerry Anderson production.

By: Katrina van Malksvig

Katrina van Malksvig — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 18:31:00 +0000

interesting bit of trivia, Zborowski was part of Werner von Braun ‘s rocket team during WW2 and allegedly also involved in the “Nazi flying saucer” project

By: airshowfan

airshowfan — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 18:23:00 +0000

The Coleoptere was only one of many tail-sitter designs… And tail-sitters were only one of many configurations explored in the history of VTOL research. It’s a very interesting history, full of creative designs. For a six-minute overview of the field (a Pecha-Kucha talk), I would recommend
http://vimeo.com/20424855

By: Ashen Victor

Ashen Victor — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 18:09:00 +0000

“Still, it was quite an attention-grabber, even making it into the comic Tintin.”

Not the comic Tintin, but the magazine.
Tintin was drawn by Hergè while Tintin Magazine was the result of several authors, including Uderzo, Will Eisner, Edgar Pierre Jacobs or Vandersteen.

By: Ipo

Ipo — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 18:08:00 +0000

This French guy’s motorcycle broke in the desert, so he made this airplane out of it …

By: mtdna

mtdna — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 18:06:00 +0000

Vive la technologie Français!

By: Ramone

Ramone — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 17:54:00 +0000

Dark Roasted Blend did a nice round-up of “tail-sitter” craft a few years ago and the coleoptere is among them:
http://www.darkroastedblend.com/2007/06/history-of-tailsitters.html

By: GTMoogle

GTMoogle — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 17:45:00 +0000

Even helicopters can land safely without power… This thing? Noooo thank you.

By: bcsizemo

bcsizemo — Thu, 07 Jun 2012 17:41:00 +0000

He did realize ramjets actually have to get up to speed to function properly right?