The Strangest Aircraft of All Time

Book excerpt: If your idea of a "bizarre" aircraft is pre-war DH Dragon Rapide, a bloated Boeing Super Guppy, or a BA Airbus with an "ethnic" tail design, then think again! What about . . Horatio Phillips's Multiplane with its 200 separate wings? The Goodyear Inflatoplane, a totally inflatable aircraft which needs to avoid landing near rose bushes? There was the Fieseler F1 103R, basically a V1 flying bomb with a seat, or the Nakajima Ki-115, a plane designed to take off but not to land. Who could forget the Caspian Sea Monster, a 10-engine 500-ton giant designed to fly at 500 km/hr at a mind boggling altitude of just 16 feet . . Not to mention the Hughes H4 Hercules, the plane with the longest wingspan ever, made entirely from plywood. Now THAT is what bizarre aircraft is all about!