The Plane That Will Change Travel Forever

the ability to fly around the world in a matter of hours has absolutely transformed human life we now live in a world where the furthest place is only a day away and as a result the world has shrunk and expanded at the same time but when we think about air travel we're probably only thinking of those regular passenger jets that most of us have seen and many of us have traveled on but the world of aircraft is a whole lot crazier than you might expect from a flying barrel to a gigantic boat plane that flew only once before it retired here are 20 airplanes you won't believe exist [Music] number 20 xf-85 goblin this is the smallest jet propelled airplane that's ever been built the idea of this teeny weeny little plane was that of a parasite it was designed to be carried by the b-36 bomber so that it could be used in the event that the larger more cumbersome aircraft needed to be defended from attack the xf-85 goblin could be launched from the bombay and sent out to engage in a battle with an attacking enemy aircraft that was all well and good except that the little plane was good at being released but not so good at being retrieved once again the goblin had no landing gear so if it were released it was then necessary for the mother ship being the b-36 to haul it back in by way of hook and trapeze that as it turned out made for a much easier said than done maneuver the thing that caused the most difficulty in this process was that the tiny plane got buffeted about so much by turbulence from the larger jet that it was virtually impossible to hook it back in after seven test flights of the combination of the b-36 and its little companion the xf-85 goblin there were only three successful connections between the plane and the trapeze the project would be ultimately abandoned and the goblin never flew from the b-36 again oh poor little goblin before we go on like this video smash the subscribe button and click the notification bell right now or this centipede will crawl on your face when you're sleeping now it's time for the fancy topic another day another picture of a dubious origin this time we have an image that's allegedly of a new plane that will change travel forever it looks a lot like a flying cruise ship and that's because it's essentially what it is do we need such a thing well you know i want to know exactly what you think about such crazy ideas a plane with swimming pools and dance floors and gardens bananas or the next big thing you decide as always comment down below using the hashtag fancytopic number 19. stipa caprone despite the italian association with elegance and impeccable design the early days of aviation were not the finest hour for this stylish nation the stipa caprone is really exactly how you would imagine a cartoon plane but apparently it could actually fly although it might be just a tad embarrassing to be seen flying around in this thing the plane also has a teensy bit of a problem with fascism back in 1932 mussolini's fascist government was hell-bent on boasting about the brilliant things that italy could do and one of their big fixations was that of technology the newest technology in aircraft at the time was the development of jet engines well sort of so they funded the development of this oddity the design of this funny tubby little plane which is known as the flying barrel for obvious reasons was the work of luigi stipa his design was basically a giant tube with a propeller on the front and it was left open at both the front and the back so far so barrel-like but although the design was flyable the test pilot said that it lacked maneuverability again it is a barrel after all and ultimately it did not get chosen to be produced in the future as it was actually no better than the existing contemporary aircraft oh well what do you expect when trying to fly a barrel anyways number 18 antonoff an-225 mariah the largest aircraft in the world ever this is the antonov an-225 mariah a behemoth of a cargo plane that could actually transport up to 250 tons of cargo at any given time it measured more than 275 feet long weighing in at 175 tons before it had even started loading anything else on board only one of these mammoth machines was ever built to completion and it now no longer exists at all as it has since taken its final flight and been subsequently destroyed the mariah was no shrinking violet this plane was gigantic featuring six turbofan engines 20 steerable wheels in the 32-wheel landing gear and four steerable ones in the nose and it had a whole bunch more in the rear 18 wheels to be exact the plane made its international debut in the least subtle display of boasting that's ever been witnessed when it turned up at the paris air show in 1989 with the soviet space shuttle program's very own shuttle strapped to its back there are ways to make a statement and having the biggest airplane in the world and an advanced space exploration program on display is certainly one of them there was no missing this message no matter how hard you tried number 17 the super guppy airplane from one spaceship carrier to another this time the plane in question is the super guppy a plane that was designed especially to transport space stuff or even whole other airplanes during the 1960s the united states was locked in a fierce battle of one upmanship with the soviet union in the goal of being the first to dominate space travel it thus became necessary to be able to transport extremely large pieces of space equipment from one side of the united states to another they needed to do this as quickly and as efficiently as possible and the space race was very real feeling like every second really did count the first guppy in the series was the so-called pregnant guppy this was named because of the airplane's appearance being reminiscent of the guppy fish which gives birth rather than laying eggs so those crazy engineers and all of their ideas later on would develop the super guppy and iron out the issues of the original allowing for the transportation of the gigantically proportioned parts for nasa in the big belly of the aircraft although the plane was fit for purpose it's always been more complicated to fly than any regular aircraft so a specialist crew must be employed whenever this thing leaves the ground it's no picnic getting this thing into the air either or indeed safely bringing it back down again number 16 boeing x48 the boeing x48 is an unmanned aerial vehicle which is i believe the way that we're supposed to say spy plane without actually saying what it is shh don't tell anyone though this space-age looking thing is allegedly designed to examine the characteristics of the blended wing body style of aircraft interestingly the boeing x-48 was allegedly designed for use as a passenger aircraft but lo and behold the military is now developing the possibility of its uses for their requirements hmm who would have thought it [Music] constructed from extremely lightweight composite materials the x-48 is a fully modern aircraft which has been designed for maximum aerodynamic efficiency and the ultimate operating capabilities it can also be controlled remotely and does not require a pilot it's very fuel efficient and eerily and creepily quiet you know all of those things that would absolutely not be necessary for a spy plane then right number 15. cessna skyhawk sp these very small light aircraft are typically used all over for personal and small business use and also more often than not for training new pilots the cessna skyhawk sp may not be the most thrilling or even dynamic of airplanes but it is fit for purpose so much so that these things have been around in one form or another since 1955. it's so much the plane of choice for training that the united states armed forces use a military version of the aircraft for their own training purposes when you see a scallywag making an escape at some remote airfield in a movie or even a drug baron taking off to avoid extradition laws likely as not the light aircraft that they're doing it in is a cessna skyhawk a ringing endorsement no doubt the skyhawk is a four seat aircraft which can have either one or two pilots the single turboprop construction keeps things simple but effective and it's been one of the most successful aircraft of all time and cessna had delivered over 45 000 of these things and counting number 14 boeing 747 dream lifter the name of these big boeing cargo planes evokes a sense that these things must have some sort of special or even magical properties a dream lifter is a heavenly sounding title so what exactly are these things and can they possibly live up to that moniker well probably not these are regular but modern cargo planes that have been constructed by one of the giants of aviation in fact these colossal aircraft were actually developed by boeing to support their own project the dreamliners the parts for those aircraft were under construction in many places from italy to japan and that was causing rather a lot of logistical issues for boeing so then they decided to create the 747 dreamlifter as a response to this problem they converted existing 747 400s in order to become massive cargo haulers specifically to carry the components for the new aircraft in particular the boeing 787 dreamliner now these aircraft did find themselves performing a reasonably useful function to society back in 2020 they were brought into service in order to deliver the massive quantities of ppe that were then suddenly required all over the place they carried and distributed tons of supplies and materials that were needed in the global health crisis that hit in the spring of that year you know the one i'm sure so these massive flying ships could deliver vast quantities of necessary gear to areas where it was needed most and that was a very good thing indeed number 13 airbus a300 600 st beluga this big old fatty airplane was developed by airbus as their air apparent to the super guppy of times past and it turns out that the logistical headaches of manufacturing aircraft means that many of the big companies need to move their own components and large bits and pieces around the world in the process of building their own these manufacturing needs have led to the design and development of several of the aircraft that we've seen so far and the a300 600 st beluga is airbus's solution to the problem currently four out of the five of these belugas is in service for the company to support the manufacturing process by transporting large sections of the assembled fuselage and the wings of various aircraft in its large interior the fifth beluga in the fleet is a backup for airbus and is available for transportation services outside of the company this is a thrill a minute now isn't it so many modern aircraft seem to be built entirely in service of building more aircraft open up a big fat plane and inside there's a slightly smaller one and then another and then another until you realize this is just like a massive scale russian nesting doll situation number 12 nasa helios prototype after a whole lot of kind of average looking if even substantial aircraft we now have something completely crazy looking that simply boggles the mind this is nasa's helios prototype it is an unmanned remotely piloted aircraft that was developed under nasa's environmental research aircraft and sensor technology project otherwise known as erast for simplicity the goal of this particularly peculiar aircraft is to demonstrate flight that can be sustained at an altitude near 100 000 feet with an ability to fly non-stop for at least 24 hours the general idea is to test the limits of this remote flight machine in order to see if it can sustain 14 hours of continuous flight above 50 000 feet so far you may have been able to believe that most of the other planes on the list do exist and indeed you have possibly even traveled in some of them but this one well this one is insane and kind of unbelievable actually what do you think about it and what earthly reason does nasa have for needing to fly so high and so low you know the drill pop all your excellent thoughts about this in the comments down below number 11 northrip yb-49 flying wing known as the flying wings or the bat bombers these xb49s and xb35s were developed in the 1940s as bomber aircraft the whole project was relatively short-lived and the aircraft were then scrapped in 1953. there are no examples of these left in the world the only remaining evidence of their existence is now in photographs and vintage footage the predecessor to the b-2 stealth bomber the northrup yb-49 flying wing was designed to slice through the air delivering as much as 32 000 horsepower under optimum conditions the trouble though was that despite the apparent aerodynamics of this aircraft it was actually really difficult to handle test pilots would report that the b-49 was extremely unstable and very difficult to fly on a bombing mission the pilot was required to be constantly controlling the plane and it was more or less impossible to hold a steady course or even maintain constant air speeds and altitude none of these issues were especially ideal in an aircraft least of all one that's capable of carrying nuclear weaponry so perhaps it would be for the best that the flying wings were ultimately scrapped nobody wants an unwieldy flying machine staggering about the sky with a big old bomb dangling precariously from underneath that's just asking for trouble number 10 bird of prey plane back in the 1990s there was a real fixation on stealth technology the relatively new advances in the field meant that all the aircraft manufacturers were working on some sort of stealth machine or another boeing's offering to the world of sneaky military planes that could hide from detection was the bird of prey this appearance of the plane is enough to spark the imagination because it kind of looks like a futuristic movie sort of plane or even something that batman might fly around in but it is actually real the story behind it is shrouded in mystery it would be now wouldn't it there's not much point in developing stealth technology than telling everyone what you plan to do with it right the technology that was used within the construction of the bird of prey was also a closely guarded secret so much so that the whole thing was created and developed at area 51. so go on and tell me what you think about this stealth aircraft get your conspiracy theories flowing in the comments section down below you know you want to but of course the name bird of prey is kind of cool so there have been other planes that have taken on that same moniker so we may well be showing you footage of something banal like the airbus bird of prey concept which is not really a real aircraft and is definitely not as cool as this stealthy boeing one even if it does have a snazzy paint job number nine c5m super galaxy the c5m super galaxy is a strategic transport aircraft that was designed by lockheed martin to extend the fleet of their c5 galaxy aircraft which are operated by the us air force this plane is basically an upgrade of that original c5 which is rocking some fancier features all in order to keep things going until at least 2040. the modernization program was designed for enhanced reliability always an important feature in a metal tube that hurtles through the air at tens of thousands of feet as well as having an upgraded engine and several other features including new pylons thrust reversers and wing attachment fittings to the basic c5 galaxy model of the aircraft this was part of an extremely lucrative contract which was secured by lockheed martin to the tune of 454 million dollars [Applause] the maiden flight of the first c5m production aircraft took place back in 2010 and the operational testing and such like were then finished later that year as always the upgrades were designed with greater reliability and efficiency but also the ever important reduced operating costs and overall considerably reduced required maintenance as it stands now there are 52 of these massive fancy aircraft in operation with the air mobility command and air force reserve command units of the u.s air force number eight tupolev tu-144 the soviet union produced its own version of the famous anglo-french aircraft concorde this soviet version officially went by the rather uncatchy name of tupolev tu-144 so it was quickly dubbed the concord ski by the press this airplane was first unveiled to the world at the 1971 paris air show where everyone went ooh and ah appropriately and the french president even conceded that it was indeed a beautiful plane the company that produced the original concorde also added that the soviet version was in fact more quiet and cleaner than their own aircraft so far so successful it actually turns out though that the soviet tu-144 had actually beaten the concorde to the skies taking her maiden flight a full two months before and then again in 1969 the soviet plane achieved supersonic speeds a full four months ahead of the west's version but then disaster would strike in 1973 the two rival aircraft were again on show and they were demonstrating their stuff in the skies over france concord completed its demo without a hitch but the tupolev tu-144 attempted a much more boastful display and it overstretched its bounds the plane broke up in mid-air crashing into the earth afterwards and it killed 8 people in the french village on which it fell and six people on board the plane itself unfortunately this high-profile crash was only the beginning of the end for the aircraft it never fully recovered and the reputation of the plane was irreversibly tarnished it began flying passengers in 1977 but was actually even a cramped and noisy disappointment and ultimately the tu-144 would only fly a total of 55 return passenger flights it then crashed once again in 1978 and that's when passenger flights would end the whole program was completely grounded in 1984. number seven douglas xb19 the douglas xb19 was the largest bomber in the united states army air corps up till 1946. it was a long-range bomber aircraft that was developed and tested though never became a standard aircraft due to such rapid advances in technology during this era many of its features became obsolete before the testing of the xb19 were even completed even so the army air corps decided that they would continue to use the aircraft prototype for testing it would then serve as a cargo carrier until it was eventually scrapped in 1949 this large aircraft had a length of 132 feet and 2 inches and had a wingspan of 210 feet along with a height of 42 feet and 9 inches the maximum takeoff weight for the xb19 was 164 thousand pounds it would come armed with five m2 browning machine guns six m 1919 browning machine guns and two auto cannons and also had space in its bay for 18 700 pounds of bombs that is rather a lot now isn't it number 6 beluga xl when airbus built the regular beluga they were mostly trying to solve logistical issues in their own production networks but the beluga xl is designed to be a really big super transporter for the company and beyond the big old fatty fat beluga xl now has a smiling face and a whole fleet of friends set to operate all across europe these large freight aircraft are gradually being rolled out to replace the original belugas these new planes are based around the airbus a330 which includes its rolls-royce trent 772-b engines the new elements that have been included in this bigger and better version also feature a lower cockpit the greatly enlarged cargo bay and the rear and tail section of the new model has been modified as well these xls have a 30 percent bigger transport capacity than their predecessors and the new aircraft are capable of transporting two a350 jetliner wings as opposed to the one that the standard beluga could transport number five the spruce goose plane the eccentric inventor and billionaire businessman howard hughes was responsible for the concept and design of the spruce goose the biggest ever flying boat this gigantic flying machine was the brainchild of hughes and the american industrialist henry kaiser they would propose a very tight 24-month schedule from inception to production of the aircraft during the second world war but progress was slow the war was actually over before the testing of the giant plane had even begun so by the time that the project was actually nearing completion the need for a mammoth flying boat was gone and the whole thing was already obsolete and this is before it even had gotten off the ground in the end the spruce goose grew famous anyways her taxi trials were given the buzz and excitement of a hollywood premiere vips famous people and the media even turned out to watch then on november 2nd 1947 with a huge crowd watching hughes would complete one low-speed taxi run and line the colossus up for a second faster go this time the spruce goose actually lifted off of the water for the first time ever and finally proved that she could actually fly after all but that was it and the now legendary plane was never to fly again number four airbus a380 over the course of 14 years airbus would produce 251 of these a380s for various airlines the company's passenger jet was the world's largest super jumbo and the model proved very popular with some airlines but did not manage to achieve the multi-generational golden ticket in the way that boeing had managed to do it with their 747 the airbus a380 is a double-decker aircraft that has the potential to seat more than 500 passengers depending on the airline's chosen seating arrangements these planes were especially popular with emirates and singapore airlines both of which packed the extra space available with lots of luxury features it's common to find in-flight bars shower spas first class suites and business class suites as well as the full number of economy seats as well and those luxury suites are really proper rooms with full-size beds and everything etihad airways would go one step further creating full apartments that were complete with a living room bedroom shower and a private butler well that certainly beats being crammed in like cattle in economy class right number three tupolev tu-160 the tupolev tu-160 is a russian aircraft designated as white swan on the account of its maneuverability an anti-flash white paint job but being named for a swan is one thing what else is swan like about this insane military vehicle though well it is a murder machine for one and we all know that swans are absolute psychos where a swan might drown you as soon as look at you they have not as far as i'm aware develop the ability to carry nuclear weapons thank goodness the tu-160 on the other hand most definitely has the entire purpose of this aircraft is to deliver both nuclear and conventional weapons deep into the continental theaters of combat it is an all-weather machine with capacity for both day and night missions and it has the ability to operate at all latitudes meaning i suppose that this so-called swan is a death dealing psycho weapon delivery system of which we should all be very afraid indeed number two b-52 stratofortress the b-52h stratofortress is a long-range heavy bomber that can perform a variety of military missions this big bomber is capable of flying at incredibly high subsonic speeds at altitudes of up to fifty thousand feet it can also carry nuclear or precision guided conventional weapons and it has worldwide precision navigation capability these iconic aircraft are known for their use in campaigns like operation desert storm during which they would be responsible for 40 percent of all the weapons that were dropped by coalition forces and although they are designated as a bomber these big planes are also useful in ocean surveillance and can often be brought in by the united states navy to provide assistance in anti-ship and mine laying activities in just two hours the b-52 is capable of monitoring 140 000 square miles which is a massive area so their support can prove invaluable to naval tactics these planes are also designed for easy aerial refueling in practice this means that the range of the aircraft is actually only limited by the air crew's endurance number one lockheed c-130 hercules the lockheed c-130 hercules has been around since 1954 and has remained in service in many armed forces across the world ever since it is a four engine turboprop military transport aircraft and the unique design of the hercules allows it to use short and unprepared runways for takeoff and landing a completely invaluable quality when in the unpredictable environment of combat situations this aircraft first entered into service with the united states in the 1950s and although there have been improvements in such along the way it is military aircraft which has been produced the longest with over 60 years under its belt and counting and there you have it a full selection of aircraft which varied in size and shape and function but could you actually believe that they really exist and did any of them really blow your mind my pet guinea pig twinkle has already popped on a flying helmet and goggles she's so inspired to take to the skies as always let me know all your pondering and marvelous ideas in the comment section down below also be sure to check out the other cool stuff showing up on the screen and i'll see you next time

Channel: The Fancy Banana

Views: 575,388

Keywords: engineering, science, technology, education, real, inventions, tech, facts, ugly planes, unusual planes, hideous planes, the ugliest planes, strange planes, aviation, airplanes, super guppy, beamazed, be amazed, airplane, plane, aircraft, planes, fact, weird, boeing, flight, strange, amazing, exist, incredible, flying, unusual, bizarre, air, strangest aircraft, bizarre airplaces, strange airplane, jet, pilot, airport, you wont believe exist, airline, helicopter, airbus, bizarre airplanes

Id: BfHh-S48-ac

Length: 30min 22sec (1822 seconds)

Published: Fri Apr 29 2022