For educational purposes
STRANGE SHAPES presents the most remarkable shapes ever sent into the air, from an early Flying Wing at Northrop in the 1920s that didn't work to one that does, the Stealth Bomber.
Also includes other remarkable shapes such as the Flying Pancake and the Tailless Fighter.
Aviation oddities featured include planes with backward wings, moving wings, small wings and even no wings at all; planes with backward engines that "pushed" instead of "pulled", planes with engines that pushed and pulled, planes with huge tails and planes with no tails.
Strange Shapes concentrates on the unusual forms that often grace the engineer's drawing board.
Eliminating the fuselage on aircraft was an interesting idea that didn't come to fruition. However, the concept of a smaller, more aerodynamic plane did.
Out of this idea, the Flying Wing was born. Seen in everything from the 1929 Halten Meteor, to the modern-day Stealth Bomber, this smooth design works.
Aircraft seen include Flying Wings, Bell X-5, XP-57 "Bat", SR-71 Blackbird, F-7 Cutlass, "Lifting Bodies", X-24 and X-29.
