Weird planes

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Foot launched glider. I'd love to have a go:

Pixels.
Please be pixels...

 

[pogofish]

From my New Year Trip - All sorts of aero weirdness here:

 

[spitfire]

That has to be Germany. Whereabouts is the museum?

 

[pogofish]

Its the Deutsches Museum, Munich. The aviation, engineering and technology halls are outstanding!

 

[spitfire]

Looks brilliant. I had a couple of days to kill in Munich a few years ago and I didn't know that was there, missed opportunity. Ah well, next time.

 

[Bernie Gunther]

Not quite a plane, more a cruise missile with severe personal hygiene problems. Definitely bonkers though. Project Pluto.

Pluto's namesake was Roman mythology's ruler of the underworld -- seemingly an apt inspiration for a locomotive-size missile that would travel at near-treetop level at three times the speed of sound, tossing out hydrogen bombs as it roared overhead. Pluto's designers calculated that its shock wave alone might kill people on the ground. Then there was the problem of fallout. In addition to gamma and neutron radiation from the unshielded reactor, Pluto's nuclear ramjet would spew fission fragments out in its exhaust as it flew by.

http://www.merkle.com/pluto/pluto.html


They actually tested the fission ramjet engine a bit before being given thorazine and jackets with nice long arms to wear ...

 

[souljacker]

Its the Deutsches Museum, Munich. The aviation, engineering and technology halls are outstanding!

I've been a few times. Its a fantastic place on an island in the middle of the Isar. I went once when they had a big Porsche exhibition and another time when they had a VW thing going on. Karmann Ghias and camper vans everywhere. It was fantastic.

 

[spitfire]

/snip

http://www.merkle.com/pluto/pluto.html


They actually tested the fission ramjet engine a bit before being given thorazine and jackets with nice long arms to wear ...

That is batshit crazy.

 

[pogofish]

Looks brilliant. I had a couple of days to kill in Munich a few years ago and I didn't know that was there, missed opportunity. Ah well, next time.

It is! - You would need a few days to get round the whole place - Its huge, sits on an island in the Isar, just east of the old city.

And the museum has a secondary aviation collection/restoration unit at Schleissheim, not far from the Airport with much more interesting stuff. Notably the Dornier Do 31 prototype VTOL transport plane!

Where I'll be heading on my next visit!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deutsches_Museum_Flugwerft_Schleissheim

 

[spitfire]

Nice one thanks pogofish. I have Munich on my list as a must revisit and will factor those in for next time.

 

[pogofish]

They actually tested the fission ramjet engine a bit before being given thorazine and jackets with nice long arms to wear ...

IIRC the US got a lot further down the road with nuclear aircraft engines than anyone with any sense would want. The TAN ground-based tests stopped just short of building a flyable model.

And more recently I recall reading that the rise of drones has brought the research interest in nuke engines right back because they can be flown more or less round the clock, with no crews to irradiate.

 

[A380]

Its the Deutsches Museum, Munich. The aviation, engineering and technology halls are outstanding!

I last went 23 years ago. Do they still have the entire sailing ship in one of the halls?

Edited: scratch that, I think the ship is in the Milan Science Museum. But I now need to go back to Munich.

 

[A380]

Pixels.
Please be pixels...

Happily (?) not. There's a whole range...:

 

[A380]

it gets better, there are powered versions too:

 

[Bob_the_lost]

Looks brilliant. I had a couple of days to kill in Munich a few years ago and I didn't know that was there, missed opportunity. Ah well, next time.

I was there two weeks back and was bored off my skull. Why didn't someone tell me!?

 

[pogofish]

I last went 23 years ago. Do they still have the entire sailing ship in one of the halls?

Sailing ship, tugboat, salvage from ships of the Hamburg Amerika Line. Higher-up -Bleriot Monoplane, bits of Zeppelin:

Then you turn round and find the first U-Boat sticking through the floor:

The rest is in the basement - didn't make it down there.

Also a Lockheed Constellation at the airport itself - entry a whopping one Euro!

And a fair bit of Aviation interest at the BMW Museum plus loads of other stuff I hardly scratched the surface of - And they can fairly party!

 

[A380]

Easyjet £36 one way...

 

[pogofish]

Best currywurst I've yet found in Germany!

Urban outing forming?

 

[snadge]

Not a wierd plane in the sense of some of the abominations that have been posted already but just for the technology and when it was designed and still being faster than most fighter jets being built today, it also looks awesome.

 

[pogofish]

I've seen the one in New York - well, the A12 - the "unofficial", faster, possibly higher flying, CIA-operated predecessor to the SR-71:

 

[pogofish]

Also a load of stuff related to Convair/General Dynamics R&D, for aircraft and missiles in the archive collection of the San Diego Air and Space Museum - well worth a rummage.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/sdasmarchives

 

[Lemon Eddy]

I've seen the one in New York - well, the A12 - the "unofficial", faster, possibly higher flying, CIA-operated predecessor to the SR-71:

The intrepid is fucking brilliant. Went to see it in January, and my five year old son was permanently gobsmacked for the 4 hours we were there. The USS Growler walkthrough was a definite highlight.

 

[pogofish]

The intrepid is fucking brilliant. Went to see it in January, and my five year old son was permanently gobsmacked for the 4 hours we were there. The USS Growler walkthrough was a definite highlight.

Yes - same here. I'd only ever read about the Greybacks, never expected to see one or a Reglus missile!

Did you go to the Queens Museum of Science? - Its a bit off the beaten track but very child-friendly and also well worth the effort - Plus it has Atlas and Titan missiles:

 

[Lemon Eddy]

Yes - same here. I'd only ever read about the Greybacks, never expected to see one or a Reglus missile!


Did you go to the Queens Museum of Science? - Its a bit off the beaten track but very child-friendly and also well worth the effort - Plus it has Atlas and Titan missiles:

Unfortunately no, didn't have the time this trip. I'll be sure to try to fit it in if we get back to New York.

 

[mauvais]

Not quite a plane, more a cruise missile with severe personal hygiene problems. Definitely bonkers though. Project Pluto.

http://www.merkle.com/pluto/pluto.html


They actually tested the fission ramjet engine a bit before being given thorazine and jackets with nice long arms to wear ...

Worse than that:

Project Pluto was a nuclear-powered ramjet, intended for use in a cruise missile. Rather than combusting fuel as in regular jet engines, air was heated using a high-temperature, unshielded nuclear reactor. The ramjet was predicted to be able to fly for months at supersonic speeds (Mach 3 at tree-top height). However, there was no obvious way to stop it once it had taken off

 

[Cid]

Last time I was visiting my nan in Cardiff was the NATO thing (yes, a slightly irresponsibly long time ago) and there were Boeing V-22s going overhead. Obviously seen many pics etc, but in real life was oddly striking. A bit dystopian, elements of Terminator or something. It helped that they were (I think) the CV-22 USAF variant and therefore dark and ominous.

 

[mauvais]

Have we had 'Snoopy' yet? A Hercules W.2:

 

[DownwardDog]

Have we had 'Snoopy' yet? A Hercules W.2:

After her stormchasing duties ended XV208 became the flying testbed for the A400M's engine.

 

[mauvais]

I knew they did that, but never realised they ran it with just one of the engines.

 

[DownwardDog]

Lockheed-Martin CATBird