Almost everyone, especially if you are someone who takes a special interest in history or airplanes, knows who the Wright brothers are. If you don’t know who they are, they’re some of the most well-known aircraft designers in history. Even so, they failed numerous times before they eventually succeeded. They weren’t the only ones who tried and failed, though. Specifically, during the 1950s and 60s, people tried time and time again to reinvent the airplane but mostly failed. Let’s see some of the biggest failures of airplane history.
The Fisher P-75 Eagle
When this plane was being thought up, everyone had very high hopes for it. The plane was made as a symbol of victory, and the “75” was driven from the Great War weapon, the French 75-mm gun. The “eagle” is a symbol of America, as its mascot is the bald eagle. This aircraft took multiple parts from different planes and combined them to make this one. Unfortunately, it did not perform as well as people had hoped, and it ended up being a big letdown.
The Fisher P-75 Eagle
The Douglas DC-10
With 55 accidents resulting in many deaths, this is arguably one of the worst planes ever created. The problem with this plane was that the doors opened outward, not inward, which made it difficult- if not impossible- to properly close. During a flight in 1972 the door opened mid-air, and this happened again in 1974. In 1979, a wing fell off of this plane during takeoff. Luckily, many changes have been made to ensure this plane would be safer.
The Douglas DC-10
The Bell FM-1 Airacuda
In 1937 the Airacuda was introduced, and it was anticipated to be great due to its innovative design and features. One of its positive aspects was where it placed engines and guns, because it made it quite easy to be used as a fighter jet. Unfortunately, this plane overheated quickly and had a poor design for a gunner to escape from. In addition, firing a gun from inside of the plane caused the entire interior to be filled with smoke.
The Bell FM-1 Airacuda
The Vought F7U Cutlass
The Cutlass became well-known for its unique design, as it was not built with a regular tail and had a non-traditional wing design. Despite its cool design, the plane came with a plethora of problems. Though the plane could reach high speeds, it couldn’t reach high altitudes or remain in the air for long periods of time. Not only this, but the plane barely had enough strength to successfully complete a takeoff; in fact, nearly twenty-five percent of the time, the plane crashed.
The Vought F7U Cutlass
The Convair NB-36
A nuclear reactor is used in order to start a nuclear chain reaction, which is exactly why it should only be used in controlled places like nuclear power plants. Despite the dangers, in the ‘50s, it was added onto an airplane. The result was an airplane that was so dangerous and risky that another plane had to follow its tracks every time it flew… which was only 47 times.
The Convair NB-36
The PZL M-15 Belphegor
The PZL M-15 Belphegor, which was created in Poland, was the first-ever biplane. This plane was created in 1972 and was initially made to serve as a cropduster. The plane was made with jet power, which turned out to be much more expensive than anyone had anticipated.
The PZL M-15 Belphegor
The Wright Flyer
The Smithsonian says this about the Wright Flyer: “the first powered, heavier-than-air machine to achieve controlled, sustained flight with a pilot aboard.” In addition, it was unable to last even one minute in the air and was extremely difficult to navigate. On the 17th of December in 1903, this plane attempted to fly four times, but that was it.
The Wright Flyer
The Harrier Jump Jet
Taking inspiration from the British Navy, the Soviet Union made a plane which they called Yakovlev Yak-38. Unfortunately, the Soviet version of the British plane didn’t live up to its standards. When it was hot outside, the plane could only stay airborne for 15 minutes. In better weather, the aircraft could still only fly about 800 miles when it did not even have any weapons on board.
The Harrier Jump Jet
The Lockheed Martin VH-71
Honestly, this plane had a pretty good design on paper. Augusta Westland and Lockheed Martin started to market this plane in the United States in 2002. This plane seemed to be so amazing that the Marine Corps even suggested it be used to transport the President! Unfortunately, the pricepoint moved from $6.1 billion to $11.2 billion just a few years later, which was not realistic.
The Lockheed Martin VH-71
The Bristol 188
No matter what you’re selling or doing, it’s always important that you are, at minimum, on-par with your competition. When Chuck Yeager invented the Bell X-1 in 1947, it prompted other people to try and create a plane similar to it. The British had their version which they called the Bristol 188, but there were many imperfections with the plane. Not only did the fuel tank leak during flights, but the plane could not take off until it reached a ground speed of 300 MPH.
The Bristol 188
The Aerodrome
In 1901, scientist and inventor Samuel Pierpont designed an airplane that could successfully fly for over a mile. He then went on to create the very first manned power flight. The Aerodrome was quite impressive with its 52 hp radial and a successful power-to-weight ratio, but unfortunately, it failed and twice landed in the Potomac River.
The Aerodrome
The McDonnell XF-85 Goblin
This plane was made for one specific reason: to be a parasite fighter. If you aren’t sure what this means, imagine this small plane attached to a much larger plane, being ejected mid-flight to help fight off enemy planes. While this sounds brilliant, it did not work out as planned; these small planes got overpowered by huge enemy planes and their weapons.
The McDonnell XF-85 Goblin
The Lockheed XFV-1 Salmon
In the 1950s the U.S. military had loads of out-of-the-box ideas, and thanks to its huge budget, some of those ideas became reality. This plane was created with the intention of taking off vertically, but this also meant that it had to land vertically, which ended up tearing the engine apart and ruining the plane.
The Lockheed XFV-1 Salmon
The Grumman X-29
The U.S. Airforce obtained the Grumman X-29 between the 1980s and 90s. Its forward-facing wings were designed to give it better aerodynamics and a sleeker look, but actually, it just made it astronomically impossible to fly properly. Despite the fact that it was designed by the Air Force, NASA, Grumman, and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, it still had many major flaws. A NASA employee stated, “It was unflyable — literally — without a digital flight computer onboard, which made corrections to the flight path 40 times a second.”
The Grumman X-29
The Baade 152
This German-built plane was built with the design of a bomber plane. The plane had characteristics that would have been great for a bomber plane, but not for an actual airline aircraft. Its test run crashed and killed every crew member on board after only two flights. The prototype was canceled in 1961 and is the only aircraft that was ever built in East Germany.
The Baade 152
The Rockwell XFV-12
Designing the first type of airplanes must have been a difficult concept to bear, but by the 1970s, you’d think the design would be strong enough to ensure that one of the top airline companies wouldn’t mess up so badly. However, when the Rockwell XFV-12 was invented, that proved the thought to be incorrect. It had a unique design and interesting features, though it never took off for a flight.
The Rockwell XFV-12
The Tupolev Tu-144
The Tupolev Tu-144 was a supersonic airliner that was originally designed during the 1970s. Unfortunately, its prototype crashed and failed during the Paris Air Show. The plane attempted to fly about 55 times before it was retired and never used again.
The Tupolev Tu-144
The Dassault Balzac V
This idea was one that looked incredible on paper but was unspeakably horrible when put into real-life action. The French wanted to hop on the vertical-takeoff train and create a plane that would do so properly, and it took its design from that of the Mirage III. Two pilots died during its test run, but that didn’t stop the French from trying again… though that plane also crashed. This time, thankfully, the pilot was able to eject himself and survived.
The Dassault Balzac V
De Havilland Comet
While the De Havilland Comet did have a lot of great features, its negative ones sorely outweighed the good ones. In fact, at one point the De Havilland Comet was the face of horribly-designed aircrafts. The engineers tried their best to rework the design, but unfortunately, none of the fatal events could be avoided.
De Havilland Comet
The Devil’s Hoverbike
Did you know that hoverboards, which are quite popular today, were designed from a 1950s U.S. military aircraft design? They designed a one-man chopper plane in order for the U.S. Infantry to be able to hover into battle. This might sound awesome until you think about the fact that these very powerful blades that were propelling you into the air were located a mere four inches from your feet and you had to balance yourself above them!
The Devil’s Hoverbike
The Christmas Bullet
The Christmas Bullet was originally designed and created by Dr. William Whitney Christmas, who was known to be a psychopath. Christmas created this plane fully knowing that the pilot would certainly die after reaching a certain– very dangerous– altitude. Christmas invited a pilot named Cuthbert Mills to test the plane, and Mills invited his mom to join him and watch her son fly an airplane. While Mills was performing the flight’s takeoff, the wings of the plane folded in, which made the plane unflyable. As you can imagine, the plane crashed and Cuthbert Mills did not survive.
The Christmas Bullet
The Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet
The Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet is a rocket-powered interceptor made to shoot down enemy planes. How intimidating does that sound? This plane could accelerate from 0 to 100 miles per hour faster than any of its competitor’s planes. Unfortunately, it had such a small fuel tank that it could only stay airborne for up to three minutes until it had to land to refill. Since there was a problem with the fuel tank and it seemed to leak a lot, it crashed and caused fires, and plenty of pilots died.
The Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet
The Noviplano
Caproni, an Italian plane-maker, created this giant aircraft in the 1920s. Its original intention was to carry 100 passengers across the Atlantic Ocean, but it never even made it out of the country. This hideous plane featured eight engines and nine wings, which sounds like a complete and total disaster in itself.
The Noviplano
The Blackburn Roc
This fighter plane was designed with the intention of protecting other planes from being shot at by enemies. Right behind the pilot’s seat was a slot where four machine guns fit perfectly. The plane proved to be far too heavy and slow to do its job properly, and the Royal Navy stopped its production and wouldn’t let it fly. During WWII it shot down only one enemy plane.
The Blackburn Roc
The Blackburn Botha
The 1930s and 40s were not Blackburn’s finest moments, to say the least. Believe it or not, the Botha was their second horribly-crafted plane. This two-engine torpedo bomber had plenty of flaws, such as a horrible crew view and the fact that it was so underpowered that a fourth crew member was absolutely necessary. Because of this, it was too heavy to fire torpedos. To top this off, the plane was so difficult to fly that it suffered from multiple fatal accidents.
The Blackburn Botha
The Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia
If you think the Embraer EMB-120 has a very odd design, you are not the only one. One of the biggest problems with this plane was that its turboprop engine broke up mid-flight and killed 14 people. This plane has been called one of the worst passenger planes in history, but even so, it is still used sometimes today as a freight plane.
The Embraer EMB-120 Brasilia
The B.E.9.
The B.E.9 was first created during the Great War by the British Royal Flying Corps. This plane had a large range of fire for a machine gun, which made it stand out amongst its competitors, but this design actually didn’t work out because it left the gunner in a very unsafe position, and the placement of the propellors was so dangerous that it could have cut the pilot in half. A Royal Air Force commander once said that the plane was “an extremely dangerous machine from the passenger’s point of view.”
The B.E.9.
The Fairey Albacore
There is obviously something very off about a plane if a pilot prefers to fly the older version of it rather than one that is supposed to be new and updated. The Albacore was intended to replace the Swordfish and was designed between 1939 and 1943 for use by the British Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm. Unfortunately, pilots dreaded flying this plane, so it got retired very quickly.
The Fairey Albacore
The MiG-23
The Mikoyan-Gurevich-23, a Soviet fighter aircraft, was the first of its kind to come with a “look-down/shoot-down” radar. Similar to other planes, the older model of this one was much more popular than the newer one. The updated version had a much smaller cockpit and a far more restricted view. After the Cold War, the MiG-23 was retired, but the 21 is even still being used today!
The MiG-23
The Yak-42
In a Jalopnik article, Sir Halffast said that the Yak-42’s design was so horrible that he couldn’t believe it was still in use in 2013: “I had the misfortune of flying in one on a domestic Ukrainian flight from Kyiv to Donetsk and was amazed. For one, the top of the entry door is chest high on a 6’0″ man. And of course, it has the horrible Soviet seats that fold flat forward with little provocation. And the rear stairway that rattles in flight as if it’s about to pop open at any moment.”
The Yak-42
The Ilyushin Il-62
One pilot who went by the name “For Sweden” spoke on their experiences of using this old-aged fighter plane: “It still uses manual flight controls, no power assist to move those flight control surfaces,” he explained. “If some ice gets in a hinge, it’s just your muscles that will break it loose. It also has a history of failed thrust reversers and exploding engines that damage neighboring engines.”
The Ilyushin Il-62
The Brewster Buffalo
The Brewster Buffalo was the first monoplane jet to fly for the U.S. Navy, though the Finnish and Royal Australian Air Forces also used this plane. At the beginning of World War II, it was a popular plane, but by the end, not many country’s armies used it because it was too difficult to maneuver. Some even called it the “flying coffin.”
The Brewster Buffalo
The Tupolev TU-144
This Russian-made futuristic plane was the only one to go into commercial use. Though it can reach 1,200 miles per hour, it also failed quite often, which is why plenty of people actually went out of their way to avoid flying on this plane; it was simply too unpredictable for someone to feel comfortable in. In addition, the plane was so loud that people had to pass notes back and forth to be able to speak to one another. Its final flight took off in 1978 and suffered from tank valve failures.
The Tupolev TU-144
The ATR 72
Before American Eagle retired the ATR 72, Alex Murel warned people not to fly on this plane. “Its massively outdated, and the existing fleet is really starting to fall apart,” he explained. “I understand that turboprops can be more cost-efficient for some flights, but these are old and feel like they’re shaking the plane apart. 11 of the 508 built have been destroyed in crashes that resulted in the deaths of over 190 people.”
The ATR 72
The Heinkel He-162
This plane nearly broke records with how quickly it was designed and produced- in fact, it was finished in 90 days. Unfortunately, this plane was made out of wood and the pilots were all teenagers! It was the kind of plane that really needed to be handled with care, but the glue that held it together was not strong enough to withstand flying conditions. It was only used for four months, from January until May of 1945.
The Heinkel He-162
The Fairey Battle
This Rolls-Royce Merlin piston-engined plane had a lot of high hopes when it was designed for the British Royal Air Force in the 1930s. Unfortunately, the plane turned out to be far too slow and way too heavy to ever work out properly. In just one week of use, about 100 of these planes got shot down, and by the end of 1940, the Royal Air Force retired the plane.
The Fairey Battle
The Douglas TBD Devastator
The problem with this plane wasn’t something small; this plane was actually quite deadly. It could only successfully release a torpedo if the plane was flying totally straight and at exactly 115 miles per hour, which meant that it was basically an open target to its enemies. They launched 41 torpedos and only successfully shot out six.
The Douglas TBD Devastator
The LWS-6 Żubr
Just because a plane is ugly, it doesn’t mean it won’t work well. Unless you’re talking about this plane, then that’s definitely what it means. This plane that was crafted right before World War II ended up just being used for training purposes. Four LWS-6 Żubr planes were captured by the Soviet military during the invasion of Poland.
The LWS-6 Żubr
The Saab 340
Though this Swedish-built plane is still in service today, people say that it is the noisiest and one of the most uncomfortable planes in history. BuckeyeFanFlyer said on FlyerTalk, “I flew the Saab-340 last week for the first time…I could not believe the loud noise of the engine, yes I was sitting right next [to] it. Might think about having earplugs available.”
The Saab 340
The MD-80
Believe it or not, the MD-80 had so many issues that even the New York Times wrote about them! Not only was it involved in many crashes that killed passengers, but it was also slow, inefficient, and had barely any personal space. Believe it or not, American Airlines and Delta both still fly these planes!
The MD-80
The Bombardier Dash 8
A user on Jalopnik posted about this plane: “They use these to get across the smaller islands with small landing strips,” he then went on to talk about the horrible features of the plane. “I can deal with the loud propeller noise and the tossing and turning by crosswinds, but what gets me the most is the fact that these planes cannot hold the luggage of every passenger on board for weight reasons. Ideally, the solution is to tell persons to carry less luggage but most persons taking these smaller planes are transferring from a 757 or other planes.”
The Bombardier Dash 8
ME-163 Komet
This plane was an experimental one used by the Germans toward the end of World War II. Though it had more speed capabilities than any other plane during the war, it had some horrible qualities as well. One of the major issues was the fact that a pilot could only stay in the air for three minutes since these planes could barely hold any fuel. Since they had to stop and land so quickly, they were an open enemy target.
ME-163 Komet
The Hindenburg
This plane is actually known to be one of the worst planes that was ever created. In 1936 while attempting to land in New Jersey the plane crashed and caught on fire, and it was discovered afterward that the crash was caused by an electrostatic discharge, which set the gas on fire!
The Hindenburg
The British B.E.-2
This plane never really stood a chance, as many huge flaws were pointed out right from the start. The plane had a tough time maneuvering, had a bad engine, and had an obstructed view for the pilot due to the gunner being in the front. German pilots shot these down during World War I, which proved that they were useless.
The British B.E.-2
The Starship
Everyone thought the Starship would come out to be quite impressive, but it was anything but that. Its carbon-composite construction and turboprop engines had engineers thinking it would be flawless, but it actually was very slow and difficult to fly. In 1989, 53 of these designs were created, but only a handful got sold.
The Starship
The Hiller VZ-1
This aircraft was horrible in reality, so our only hope is that people thought on paper that it would be impressive. The concept of this aircraft is actually terrifying; there are no gears, but the pilot is expected to steer with his bodyweight. The highest speed it could reach was 16 miles per hour, and everyone hated it once they saw it in action.
The Hiller VZ-1
The Flying Dorito
The Pentagon decided to fund this plane in the 1980s, and it was one of the most horrible investments they could have made. Its radar systems were not reliable, and its use of composite materials was nothing to brag about. When the Department of Defense found out that each plane was projected to cost $165 million in 1991, Dick Cheney put an end to it.
The Flying Dorito
XB 15
The XB 15 was the largest U.S. plane created until the Spruce Goose came along. The plane was so big that it had capabilities of hiding passengers inside. Sadly, in 1937 no company was making engines powerful enough for this, so the plane couldn’t reach any higher than 200 miles per hour. The U.S. Army canceled the plans for this plane, and it was only ever used in World War II as a cargo plane.
XB 15