Onboard the Dornier X

via darkroastedblend.com

ffffffound:

x planes

(via michiganswampmonkey)

This is a Nazi Messerschmitt Me 163, the only operational rocket aircraft.  About 300 of them were built and used in WWII.  The wheels in this picture aren’t part of the plane, they’re a dolly.  The aircraft’s landing gear is the skid.  The reason for this is that the pilots weren’t really expected to come back, and if they did, well, do your best at landing it.

(Source: retrowar)

johnnypayphone:

Hoverbus at Mutopia, Oodnadatta Track, South Australia.

http://rocwiki.org/Cooley_Airship

http://rocwiki.org/Cooley_Airship

bassman5911:

The Cooley Airship: overall length 81’ width 421’ Weight 2 800lbs cabin size 37’ long x 2 1/2’ wide. The Cooley airship under full spread of sail.” The airship was constructed in 1910-1911 near the Baker’s

(via meinekleinefabrik)

From some picture book of wacky vehicles from the 70’s

bassman5911:

General Airborne Transport XCG-16, 1943.

The XCG-16 was a military transport/assault glider ordered by the Army Air Force, from General Airborne Transport Co., for competition against the Waco CG-13A at Wright Field.

(via t-s-k-b)

xplanes:

While we wait for a record breaker, another (potential) one caught my eye the other day:

“An amateur aircraft designer can tailor a plane to fit his or her precise requirements, no matter how outlandish. Take David Rose. Inside his hangar at Montgomery Field in San Diego, this former airline pilot is building a machine that he hopes will earn him aeronautical immortality.

If all goes according to plan, a thunderously overpowered racing machine called RP-4 will reach a straight and level speed in excess of 528.3 mph and become the world’s fastest piston-driven plane. The 22-year-old record is held by a modified World War II—era Grumman F8F Bearcat.”

from Popular Mechanics, 12/10/2011. I cannot find any update on the status of this aircraft since then.

(bottom photograph by Jake Stangel. Other great ones from the same shoot can be found here.)

(via maxforcepatrol)