# Most Famous Flying Failures and Freaks!



## scotpens (Sep 6, 2003)

Antimatter's "Your picks for the most famous planes" thread got me thinking about the flipside: What about aviation's biggest flops? What would you include on a list of the least successful, worst conceived, most impractical, or just plain weirdest aircraft?

The Capelis XC-12 is my first nominee for the list. The single prototype ended up as a movie prop at RKO Studios. Its best-known appearance was in the survival melodrama _Five Came Back_.

Capelis XC-12 Wikipedia article








That's the revised version above. The original was even uglier:


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## alex1485 (Feb 13, 2009)

thats nothing.

Caproni Ca.60 

























and yes, it did fly, for a little bit.

google to find the history.


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## aric (Jun 23, 2009)

B.O.A.C. de Havilland Comet: one of the worst safety records of commercial aircraft


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## scotpens (Sep 6, 2003)

Yes, some of the early Comets crashed due to unforseen metal-fatigue problems in the fuselage structure. But later production models were successful in both civil and military service. And besides, it was so damn pretty.


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## miniature sun (May 1, 2005)

One of the factors that caused the Comet to crash was the use of the big rectangular picture windows seen in the second photo...once they redesigned them to the oval type it went on to be very successful and formed the basis of the Nimrod maritime reconaissance aircraft.


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## miniature sun (May 1, 2005)

If you're looking for freaky planes, try here...

http://www.fortunecity.com/tattooine/farmer/120/index.html


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## falcondesigns (Oct 30, 2002)

aric said:


> B.O.A.C. de Havilland Comet: one of the worst safety records of commercial aircraft


and one of the most beautiful airplanes to grace the skies.


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## ta152h (Sep 6, 2009)

What about the Martin-Baker MB5? Better than the Mustang and Spitfire, never got a chance to show it's mettle.


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## Tone (Jan 21, 2006)

My vote for the most outrageous "flying freak" is the eastern European, jet-powered crop duster biplane, the "Belphegore."

I was searching this forum last night and I saw this interesting thread from two years ago. I saw this XC-12 in an old movie once and thought it was a figment of the prop (pun intended) department's imagination.

It turns out there is a circa 1940 pressed steel toy that closely resembles this "Capelis XC-12" but of course, it does not have that funny biplane tail.

Capelis XC-12 Wikipedia article


















Wyandotte Defense Bomber, missing wooden bombs.



scotpens said:


> Antimatter's "Your picks for the most famous planes" thread got me thinking about the flipside: What about aviation's biggest flops? What would you include on a list of the least successful, worst conceived, most impractical, or just plain weirdest aircraft?
> 
> The Capelis XC-12 is my first nominee for the list. The single prototype ended up as a movie prop at RKO Studios. Its best-known appearance was in the survival melodrama _Five Came Back_.


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## Rotwang (May 25, 2011)

Sorry guys, I couldn't resist.


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## Seaview (Feb 18, 2004)

Regarding that Caproni Ca.60, I'm guessing the model number was actually the altitude- in-feet number. That test pilot was lucky!
Very "steampunk-looking".


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## Rotwang (May 25, 2011)

Count Caproni's folly.


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