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12 crazy airplanes that look straight out of science fiction

Avrocar Wikimedia Commons

Aircrafts have taken lots of shapes throughout the history of flight, from flying saucers to hollow tubes. Not all have been successful, of course, but it’s still fun to admire the aeronautical innovations that engineers and designers have attempted over the years. Scroll down to see some of the strangest planes that have ever left the ground.

De Lackner Aerocycle

Flickr/army.arch

A flying platform, the Aerocycle was commissioned by the US Army as a reconnaissance tool and first tested at the Brooklyn Army Terminal in 1955. It was designed to fly up to 70 miles per hour and only require 20 minutes of instruction before a soldier could use it. But the platform proved too accident-prone during the initial test flights, and the project was abandoned.

Nemeth Parasol

Flickr/SDASM Archives

Students at Miami University built a prototype of the strange-looking aircraft, which was designed by inventor Steven Nemeth, to demonstrate that a circular wing could be used to fly a plane effectively. The round wing also doubled as a parachute if the engine stalled, allowing the plane to float softly down to the ground. Despite a successful test flight in 1934, the Nemeth was never mass produced.

Avro Canada VZ-9 Avrocar

Wikimedia Commons

No, this isn't a flying saucer or spaceship from Star Wars. The Avrocar was developed by the Canadian government in the early '50s as a fighter bomber. To take off vertically from the ground, the turbojet engines directed thrust downwards, creating a cushion of air. The US Army and Air Force took over the project in 1958 and developed two prototypes, but the plane proved unstable in aerodynamic tests. The project was canceled it in 1961, and the two prototypes now sit in the US Army Transportation Museum and the National Museum of the US Air Force.

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