Aircraft. The most unusual aircraft in the world (22 photos). Briefly about aircraft
Over the past hundred years, humanity has come up with a wide variety of aircraft. We saw airplanes and helicopters, aircraft with both a propeller and jet propulsion, capable of taking off from land and sea, taking off and landing with a running start and vertically. We saw aircraft of various shapes - without a fuselage, without a tail or wings, with variable geometry, in the shape of a disk, cylinder or cone. We saw unusual hybrids - flying cars and motorcycles, flying boats and even submarines, flying packs and a hybrid of an airplane and a spaceship. Unfortunately, it is simply impossible to give an overview of all unusual aircraft, so we will try to talk about the most unusual and truly unique.
Solar powered planes
Can a plane fly without fuel and almost indefinitely? Maybe modern technologies allow us to build similar aircraft.
The photo shows the “Solar Impulse” aircraft, built in 2014 in Switzerland. To lighten the weight, the aircraft is made of composite materials, while its mass is 2300 kg with a wingspan of 72 meters. The aircraft is equipped with solar panels located on the wings and powerful batteries that can store energy during the day and maintain flight at night. In 2015-2016, the plane flew around the world, while the longest flight from Japan to the Hawaiian Islands took more than four days.
Solar Impulse is a manned aircraft, so it still cannot fly for too long. Unmanned aircraft of a similar design do not have such restrictions. Back in 2010, a solar-powered unmanned aircraft, Zephyr, was able to spend 2 weeks in the air, flying at an altitude of more than 20 kilometers. This success led to the development of even more ambitious projects in different countries, including Russia. Such aircraft, potentially capable of staying aloft for months or even years, would be able to perform many of the tasks currently assigned to satellites - observing the weather, conducting research, providing communications and wireless Internet in remote areas.
Testing of the Russian solar-powered drone "Sova"
Muscle planes
Since ancient times, man has thought about flying like birds. Myths arose in which people, attaching wings, rose into the air. True, in practice, all such attempts ended unsuccessfully or simply tragically. But even after man mastered flight with the help of airplanes with powerful engines, people continued to wonder: can a person fly only with the help of his muscle power, using aircraft without engines? There were doubts about this, because the largest flying birds weigh only 15-20 kg.
But enthusiasts took on this task and still achieved success. By using the lightest possible materials, it was possible to create a muscle plane weighing only 30 kg. The first long-term successful flight on such an aircraft was made by cyclist Brian Allen in 1979, flying across the English Channel. He covered a distance of 35 km in 2 hours 49 minutes.
Flight across the English Channel
In 1988, enthusiasts decided to go even further and reproduce in reality the ancient Greek myth of Daedalus and Icarus. According to myth, the talented inventor Daedalus escaped from Crete, from the evil ruler Minos, making wings for himself and flying through the air from the island to Greece. A muscle plane was built at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Greek cyclist and Greek cycling champion Kanellos Kanellopoulos performed the flight. Despite the doubts of skeptics, the flight was successful; Kanellos covered 116 km in less than 4 hours, reaching a speed of about 30 km/h. True, during landing, a gust of wind broke the wing and the muscle plane fell into the water near the shore. This flight is still a record-breaking one.
Muscle plane "Daedalus"
Video - flight of "Daedalus":
Airplane with steam engine
And here is another example showing that if many people, after many attempts, do not succeed, this does not mean that it is impossible. The industry began to use the steam engine back in the 18th century, and at the same time the first attempts were made to adapt it to vehicles. Steam locomotives appeared at the beginning of the 19th century. From the very beginning of the 19th century, attempts were made in different countries to build an aircraft with a steam engine. But nothing worked, the steam planes barely took off from the ground and fell, flying no more than fifty meters.
The Wright brothers designed the first airplane that could actually fly using a lightweight internal combustion engine that ran on kerosene. After this, the belief arose that it was generally impossible to build an airplane with a steam engine, because it was too heavy. After all, in addition to the engine itself, a boiler, a firebox, fuel supplies, and also water were needed.
But in 1933, the Bessler brothers from the USA refuted this belief by building a steam-powered aircraft that flew quite successfully.
Airspeed 2000 - steam engine aircraft
Moreover, this aircraft even had certain advantages over conventional ones, for example, engine power did not decrease with altitude, the aircraft was more reliable and easier to maintain, and the engine was very quiet. But lower efficiency and flight range led to the fact that the steam aircraft remained built in a single copy.
Video - Bessler steam plane:
Hybrid of airplane, helicopter and airship
Airlander 10 is a unique aircraft, built in 2012 in the UK, which combines the features of three main types at once aircraft- airplane, helicopter and airship.
The huge hybrid airship has a length of 92 m (the largest aircraft in the world) and a carrying capacity of 10 tons. The helium-filled body creates lift and saves fuel to keep the device in the air. 4 engines allow you to reach speeds of up to 150 km/h. And this aircraft can stay in the air for up to three weeks continuously.
Video - Airlander 10:
Ornithoptera
Balloons, airplanes, helicopters, rockets - almost all aircraft built by man have no analogues in nature. All living creatures that fly, from insects to birds and bats, fly because they flap their wings. It is not surprising that people, even just out of interest, began to try to reproduce the principle of flight that dominates nature. Aircraft of this type began to be called flyers or ornithopters.
Oddly enough, creating ornithopters turned out to be much more difficult than airplanes and helicopters. At the moment, all ornithopters are unmanned and have relatively small sizes.
Here is a video of some ornithopters.
Bird-like ornithopters:
A heavy ornithopter weighing about 30 kg, created by Russian inventors:
People have been obsessed with the idea of taking to the air for centuries. In the myths of almost all nations there are legends about flying animals and people with wings. The earliest known flying machines were wings imitating those of birds. With them, people jumped from towers or tried to soar by falling off a cliff. And although such attempts usually ended tragically, people came up with more and more complex aircraft designs. We will talk about iconic aircraft in our today's review.
1. Bamboo helicopter
One of the world's oldest flying machines, the bamboo helicopter (also known as the bamboo dragonfly or Chinese pinwheel) is a toy that flies upward when its main shaft is quickly spun. Invented in China around 400 BC, the bamboo helicopter consisted of feather blades attached to the end of a bamboo stick.
2. Flying flashlight
A flying lantern is a small balloon made of paper and a wooden frame with a hole in the bottom under which a small fire is lit. It is believed that the Chinese experimented with flying lanterns as early as the 3rd century BC, but traditionally, their invention is attributed to the sage and general Zhuge Liang (181-234 AD).
3. Balloon
The hot air balloon is the first successful technology for human flight on a supporting structure. The first manned flight was carried out by Pilatre de Rosier and the Marquis d'Arlandes in 1783 in Paris in a hot air balloon (tethered) created by the Montgolfier brothers. Modern hot air balloons can fly thousands of kilometers (the longest hot air balloon flight is 7,672 km from Japan to North Canada).
4. Solar balloon
Technically, this type of balloon flies by heating the air inside it using solar radiation. As a rule, such balloons are made of black or dark material. Although they are primarily used in the toy market, some solar balloons are large enough to lift a person into the air.
5. Ornithopter
An ornithopter, which was inspired by the flight of birds, bats and insects, is an aircraft that flies by flapping its wings. Most ornithopters are unmanned, but a few manned ornithopters have also been built. One of the earliest concepts for such a flying machine was developed by Leonardo da Vinci back in the 15th century. In 1894, Otto Lilienthal, a German aviation pioneer, made the first manned flight in history in an ornithopter.
6. Parachute
Made from lightweight, durable fabric (similar to nylon), a parachute is a device that is used to slow an object's movement through the atmosphere. The description of the oldest parachute was found in an anonymous Italian manuscript dating back to 1470. Today, parachutes are used to release a variety of cargo, including people, food, equipment, space capsules, and even bombs.
7. Kite
Originally constructed by stretching silk over a frame of split bamboo, the kite was invented in China in the 5th century BC. Over time, many other cultures adopted this device, and some of them even continued to further improve this simple flying machine. For example, kites capable of carrying humans are believed to have existed in ancient China and Japan.
8. Airship
The airship became the first aircraft capable of controlled takeoff and landing. In the beginning, airships used hydrogen, but due to the high explosiveness of this gas, most airships built after the 1960s began to use helium. The airship may also be powered by engines and contain crew and/or payload in one or more "pods" suspended beneath a gas cylinder.
9. Glider
A glider is a heavier-than-air aircraft that is supported in flight by the dynamic reaction of the air on its lifting surfaces, i.e. it is independent of the engine. Thus, most gliders do not have an engine, although some paragliders can be equipped with them to extend their flight if necessary.
10. Biplane
A biplane is an aircraft with two fixed wings that are located one above the other. Biplanes have a number of advantages over conventional wing designs (monoplanes): they allow for greater wing area and lift with a smaller wing span. The Wright brothers' biplane became the first aircraft to fly successfully in 1903.
11. Helicopter
A helicopter is a rotary-wing aircraft that can take off and land vertically, hover and fly in any direction. There have been many concepts similar to modern helicopters over the past centuries, but it was not until 1936 that the first working helicopter, the Focke-Wulf Fw 61, was built.
12. Aerocycle
In the 1950s, Lackner Helicopters came up with an unusual aircraft. The HZ-1 Aerocycle was intended to be used by inexperienced pilots as the standard reconnaissance vehicle for the US Army. Although early testing indicated that the vehicle could provide sufficient mobility on the battlefield, more extensive evaluations indicated that it was too difficult for untrained infantrymen to control. As a result, after a couple of accidents, the project was frozen.
13. Kaitun
Kaitun is a hybrid of a kite and a hot air balloon. Its main advantage is that the kite can remain in a fairly stable position above the rope's anchor point, regardless of wind strength, while conventional balloons and kites are less stable.
14. Hang glider
A hang glider is a non-motorized, heavier-than-air aircraft that lacks a tail. Modern hang gliders are made of aluminum alloy or composite materials, and the wing is made of synthetic canvas. These devices have a high lift ratio, which allows pilots to fly for several hours at an altitude of thousands of meters above sea level in updrafts of warm air and perform aerobatic maneuvers.
15. Hybrid airship
A hybrid airship is an aircraft that combines the characteristics of a lighter-than-air vehicle (i.e., airship technology) with the technology of a heavier-than-air vehicle (either a fixed wing or a rotor). Such designs were not put into mass production, but several manned and unmanned prototypes were produced, including the Lockheed Martin P-791, an experimental hybrid airship developed by Lockheed Martin.
16. Airliner
Also known as a jetliner, a jet passenger aircraft is a type of aircraft designed to transport passengers and cargo through the air, propelled by jet engines. These engines allow the aircraft to reach high speeds and generate sufficient thrust to propel a large aircraft. Currently, the Airbus A380 is the world's largest passenger jet airliner with a capacity of up to 853 people.
17. Rocketplane
A rocket plane is an aircraft that uses rocket engine. Rocket planes can reach much higher speeds than similarly sized jet aircraft. As a rule, their engine runs for no more than a few minutes, after which the plane glides. The rocket plane is suitable for flight at very high altitudes, and it is also capable of much greater acceleration and has a shorter takeoff run.
18. Float seaplane
It is a type of fixed-wing aircraft that can take off from and land on water. The buoyancy of a seaplane is provided by pontoons or floats, which are installed instead of the landing gear under the fuselage. Float planes were widely used before World War II, but were then replaced by helicopters and aircraft operated from aircraft carriers.
19. Flying boat
Another type of seaplane, the flying boat, is a fixed-wing aircraft with a hull shaped to allow it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that it uses a specially designed fuselage that can float. Flying boats were very common in the first half of the 20th century. Like float planes, they were subsequently phased out after World War II.
Also known by other names (such as cargo aircraft, freighter, transport aircraft, or cargo aircraft), a cargo aircraft is a fixed-wing aircraft that is designed or converted to carry cargo rather than passengers. At the moment, the largest and most payload-carrying aircraft in the world is the An-225, built in 1988.
21. Bomber
A bomber is a combat aircraft designed to attack land and sea targets by dropping bombs, launching torpedoes or launching air-to-ground cruise missiles. There are two types of bombers. Strategic bombers primarily intended for long-range bomber missions - i.e., attacking strategic targets such as supply bases, bridges, factories, shipyards, etc. Tactical bombers are aimed at countering enemy military activities and supporting offensive operations.
22. Spaceplane
A spaceplane is an aerospace vehicle that is used in the Earth's atmosphere. They can use both rockets and auxiliary conventional jet engines. Today there are five similar devices that have been successfully used: X-15, Space Shuttle, Buran, SpaceShipOne and Boeing X-37.
23. Spaceship
The spaceship is vehicle, designed for flights in outer space. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, Earth observation, meteorology, navigation, space colonization, planetary exploration, and transport of people and cargo.
A space capsule is a special type of spacecraft that has been used in most manned space programs. A manned space capsule must have everything necessary for daily life, including air, water and food. The space capsule also protects astronauts from cold and cosmic radiation.
25. Drone
Officially known as an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), a drone is often used for missions that are too “dangerous” or simply impossible for humans to fly. Initially they were used mainly for military purposes, but today they can be found literally everywhere.
Man never lost his desire to fly. Even today, when traveling by plane to the other end of the planet is a completely common thing, you want to assemble at least the simplest aircraft with your own hands, and if you don’t fly yourself, then at least fly in first person using a camera, for this they use unmanned vehicles. We will consider the most simple designs, diagrams and drawings and, perhaps, we will realize our old dream...
Requirements for ultra-light aircraft
Sometimes emotions and the desire to fly can overcome common sense, and the ability to design and correctly carry out calculations and plumbing work is not taken into account at all. This approach is fundamentally wrong and therefore several decades ago the Ministry of Aviation prescribed General requirements to homemade ultra-light aircraft. We will not present the entire set of requirements, but will limit ourselves to only the most important ones.
- A homemade aircraft must be easy to control, easy to pilot during takeoff and landing, and the use of unconventional methods and systems for controlling the aircraft is strictly prohibited.
- If an engine fails, the aircraft must remain stable and ensure safe gliding and landing.
- The aircraft's run-up before take-off and lift-off from the ground is no more than 250 m, and the take-off speed is at least 1.5 m/s.
- The forces on the control handles are in the range of 15-50 kgf, depending on the maneuver being performed.
- The clamps of the aerodynamic steering planes must withstand an overload of at least 18 units.
Requirements for the design of an aircraft
Since an aircraft is a high-risk vehicle, when designing the aircraft structure, the use of materials, steels, cables, hardware components and assemblies of unknown origin is not allowed. If wood is used in the structure, it must be free of visible damage and knots, and those compartments and cavities in which moisture and condensation can accumulate must be equipped with drainage holes.
The simplest version of a motorized aircraft is a monoplane with a pulling motor propeller. The scheme is quite old, but time-tested. The only drawback of monoplanes is that in emergency conditions it is quite difficult to leave the cockpit; the monowing gets in the way. But the design of these devices is very simple:
- the wing is made of wood according to a two-spar design;
- welded steel frame, some use riveted aluminum frames;
- combined or full linen cladding;
- closed cabin with a door operating according to an automobile circuit;
- simple pyramidal chassis.
The drawing above shows a Malysh monoplane with a 30-horsepower gasoline engine, take-off weight is 210 kg. The plane reaches a speed of 120 km/h and has a flight range of about 200 km with a ten-liter tank.
Construction of a braced high-wing aircraft
The drawing shows a single-engine high-plane Leningradets, built by a group of St. Petersburg aircraft modelers. The design of the device is also simple and unpretentious. The wing is made of pine plywood, the fuselage is welded from steel pipe, classic linen covering. Wheels for the landing gear are from agricultural machinery so that it is possible to carry out flights starting from unprepared soil. The engine is based on the design of the MT8 motorcycle engine with 32 horsepower, and the take-off weight of the device is 260 kg.
The device proved to be excellent in terms of controllability and ease of maneuvering and was successfully operated for ten years and took part in rallies and competitions.
All-wood aircraft PMK3
The all-wood PMK3 aircraft also showed excellent flight qualities. The plane had a peculiar shape of the nose, a grounded landing gear with small-diameter wheels, and the cabin had a car-type door. The aircraft had an all-wood fuselage covered with canvas and a single-spar wing made of pine plywood. The device is equipped with a water-cooled Vikhr3 outboard motor.
As you can see, with certain skills in design and engineering, you can not only make a working model of an airplane or a drone, but also a completely full-fledged simple aircraft with your own hands. Be creative and dare, have a good flight!
People have dreamed of flying like birds for centuries. Daredevils of various kinds and status tried to create devices to fly of their own free will. Not all worked... and not all pilots survived. To successfully rise and stay in the air, the inventors needed to find a balance between weight, energy and aerodynamics through their own experience. Here are ten of the most incredible attempts to invent personal wings.
Although attempts to fly go back centuries, George Cayley is considered the first person to analyze the technical side of the flight issue. Trying different models, Cayley designed fixed-wing devices and came to the conclusion that flight required lift, propulsion (forward), and control. By the early nineteenth century, Cayley was working on various gliders, adding wings and rudders concave at slight angles. He also realized that his glider needed an engine, but was unable to build one. Without this component, Cayley's device flew only a couple of hundred yards (almost two hundred meters) and fell. Richard Branson created a replica of Cayley's device in 2003.
Helen Alberti (1931)
A former opera singer and burlesque dancer, Madame Hélène Alberti was also a pioneer of the flying suit. She believed so strongly in the "Greek Cosmic Law of Motion" that she intended to open a flight school after the successful demonstration of her suit. The basis of cosmic propulsion was supposed to be based on the principles formulated by Arthur Noyes. Alberti stated that people's nerves are their engines, and willpower is their ignition key. If you flap your wings back and forth, the cosmic motion will give you flight. When Alberti first tested this theory outside Boston in 1929, the wind blew and turned her into a broken toy. She enlisted the help of a man from Concord, New Hampshire to improve her costume design, and tried again... but failed. All this was filmed, by the way.
Clem Sohn (1935)
A group of daredevils, including Clem Sohn (above), experimented in the 1930s with winged suits made from canvas, baleen and silk. Son flew the plane to three thousand meters and then jumped out, using the wings under his arms and between his legs to glide for 75 seconds. Usually he landed with a parachute, but in 1937 it did not open, and Son fell to his death. Unfortunately, this happened often, and between 1930 and 1960, about 70 Birdmen died.
Francis and Gertrude Rogallo (1948)
Although Francis Rogallo worked in National Council Committee on Aeronautics, except for him, no one on the council was interested in devices with a “flexible wing”. Rogallo brought the idea home and developed a prototype with his wife Gertrude. They used cardboard and table fans to build wind tunnels. Gertrude then sewed a triangular kite out of colored kitchen curtains. Rogallo initially pitched his device as a kite, but eventually adapted it for delta and paragliding. What’s noteworthy is that NASA became interested in Rogallo’s invention in order to land space capsules back to earth. They paid him $35,000 for the idea, but eventually, in the heat of the space race, decided to stick with conventional parachutes.
Rocket Belt (1961)
Funded by the US Army, Harold Graham was the first to fly the rocket belt, which was invented by Wendell Moore in 1961. It flew 33 meters in 13 seconds using pressurized hydrogen peroxide. Due to the limited fuel that a person could carry, rocket belts allowed flight for no more than a minute and were difficult to control. This design was subsequently refined by NASA for astronauts using the Manned Maneuvering Unit to move independently outside of the space shuttle.
Aviator competitions
When human-piloted aircraft (called muscle planes) became common in the 1980s, competitions began around the world with the main goal of turning aviation into an extreme sport. Using readily available lightweight materials to produce their designs, amateur aviators built them and flew them in competition with each other. The Queenstown Festival in New Zealand hosts a "birdman competition". Another similar competition is the Icarus Cup in England, in which pilots compete in short flights, long flights, takeoffs and landings. The very first prize in this tournament went to Paul MacReady and his Gossamer Condor in 1977. This will be discussed in the next paragraph.
Gossamer Condor/Albatross
Paul Macready's Gossamer Condor successfully flew 2 kilometers in 1977 and won the British Muscle Flying Prize, established in 1959. Its successor, the Gossamer Albatross, became the first muscle ship to cross the English Channel. At some points he was flying six inches above the waves at a speed of 25 kilometers per hour. MacReady later worked with NASA to test the unmanned Gossamer Albatross at 20,000 meters above the ground. NASA (and perhaps the military) were interested in MacReady's design because it offered more speed and control than a hot air balloon and could stay above a target longer than airplanes.
Yves Rossi
Another manned aircraft that crossed the English Channel was designed by professional pilot Yves Rossy. Rossi's device featured four jet engines mounted at the rear. Each turbine was a modified version of one used in military drones. In addition, every part of the Rossi wing was special: a fiberglass shell, a carbon fiber frame, an electronic control module and tanks with 13 liters of jet fuel. Rossi controlled the wing with his own body movements and steered by turning his head. It wasn't until 2007 that Rossi received sponsorship from watch manufacturer Swiss and stopped spending his own money on the wing. He plans to assemble a simpler model that can be put into wide production.
With the advent of winged suits made of durable fabric, BASE jumping became an extreme sport that “birdmen” became interested in. When jumping from buildings or natural cliffs, BASE jumpers either open a parachute or soar through the air with high speed using its inflatable fabric wings. Many die from accidents every year, including the death of the first winged jumper, Patrick de Gayardon, in 1998.
The Puffin
From this list, it became clear that NASA has often invested in research into personal flight devices year after year. In 2010, the agency unveiled The Puffin concept, designed by aerospace engineer Mark Moore. The Internet went wild with anticipation. According to the implementation plan (which for some reason was delayed), The Puffin would use sensitive motors and control systems so that the device would “feel” the intentions of the pilot, similar to how a horse understands the intentions of its rider. The Puffin will be able to lift 100 kilograms of weight, will be 3.7 meters in length, and has a wingspan of 4.4 meters. It takes off vertically and, once in a hovering position, turns over and flies horizontally.
When they begin to classify objects or phenomena, they look for the main, most common features, properties that serve as proof of their relationship. Along with this, they also study characteristics that would sharply distinguish them from each other.
If we, following this principle, begin to classify modern aircraft, then first of all the question will arise: what signs or properties of aircraft are considered the most important?
Perhaps it is possible to classify them based on the materials from which the devices are made? Yes, it is possible, but it will not be very clear. After all, from different materials you can do the same thing. Aluminum, steel, wood, canvas, rubber, plastics, tonal or otherwise, are used in the manufacture of airplanes, helicopters, airships, and balloons.
Can the basis for classifying aircraft be chosen: when and by whom was the device made for the first time? It is possible to classify in historical terms - this is an important question, but then devices that are dissimilar in many respects, proposed at the same time and in the same country, will fall under one heading.
Obviously, these characteristics should not be considered the most important for classification.
Due to the fact that aircraft are designed to move in the air, they are usually divided into lighter-than-air devices And heavier-than-air devices. So, the basis for classifying aircraft is their weight relative to the air.
We see that lighter-than-air devices are considered airships, hot air balloons and stratospheric balloons. They rise and remain in the air due to their filling with light gases. Heavier-than-air vehicles include airplanes, gliders, rockets and rotorcraft.
Airplane and glider supported in the air lifting force created by the wings; rockets are kept in the air by the thrust developed by the rocket actuator, and rotorcraft by the lifting force of the main rotor. There are (still in projects) devices that occupy an intermediate position between airplanes and rotary-wing vehicles, airplanes and rockets. These are so-called convertible aircraft, or convertible planes, which must combine the positive properties of both of them and combine enormous flight speeds with the ability to hover in the air, the ability to take off without a run and land without a run.
A helicopter, like a gyroplane, is a rotary-wing aircraft. Their difference is that the main rotor of the gyroplane is not connected to the engine and can rotate freely.
The main rotor of a helicopter (or several main rotors), in contrast to the main rotor of a gyroplane, is driven by the engine during takeoff, flight and landing and serves both to create lift and thrust. The aerodynamic force created by the rotor is used both to maintain the helicopter in the air and to propel it forward. In addition, the main rotor is also the helicopter's control element.
If the aircraft produces thrust air propeller or a jet engine, lift- wings, and the controls are rudders and ailerons, then in a helicopter all these functions are performed by the main rotor. From this it becomes clear how important the main rotor is on a helicopter.
Helicopters differ from each other in the number of rotors, their location, and the method of driving rotation. In accordance with these characteristics, the helicopters depicted are divided.
