Most Beautiful Aircraft Ever Built

[ultralajt]

Slender lines from a forgotten czech brand - Skoda-Kauba SK-V4 (1942, designed by an austrian engineer as a fighter-trainer or/and tank-destroyer for the 3rd Reich)
I bet a modern replica of this small plane wouldn't be any slower than comparable actual homebuilts (Vmax was over 230 mph for a 240 HP inverted V-8 Argus engine.)

View attachment 24324View attachment 24325View attachment 24326

It is quite for a some time one of my "must build" RC plane!

 

[Xanadrone]

It is quite for a some time one of my "must build" RC plane!

Mine too...
Some interesting details here: Skoda-Kauba

"Performance included maximum speeds of 261 mph (420 km/h) at altitude and 240 mph (385 km/h) at sea level, an initial climb rate of 2,008 ft/min (10,2 m/sec), a service ceiling of 24,600 ft (7 500 m), a range of 578 miles (930 km) cruising at 195 mph (314 km/h), and an endurance of 2.94 hr. Empty and loaded weights were 2,249 lb (1 020 kg) and 2,756 Ib (1 250 kg) respectively, and overall dimensions were: span, 24 ft 11} in (7,6m), length, 18 ft 41 in (5,6 m), and wing area, 90.42 sq ft (8,4 m°)."

The bigger SK-257 variant (more powerful, V12 engine, intended to replace the Focke-Wulf 190D) is beautiful too:

 

[BBerson]

Homebuilt Canards only being considered, what do you think of this? My own design and scratchbuilt Orion, largest of all homebuilt canards

Largest of all Homebuilt canards? Most Beautiful Aircraft Ever Built

What did Orion weigh?

 

[Victor Bravo]

Oh, I'm sorry... did someone say this thread was about the most beautiful aircraft ever built?

Why don't I just end the discussion right here once and for all, just to prevent HBA from wasting any valuable bandwidth -

 

[TarDevil]

Because I'm old enough to remember...



Because it planted the seed..
.

 

[Mcmark]

Just plain sexy!

 

[Pilot-34]

Could anything be prettier ?

 

[Angusnofangus]

This one is right up there in my book.

 

[poormansairforce]

 

[Angusnofangus]

View attachment 102093

Another favourite of mine.

 

[N804RV]

This is (was) one of the most stunning airplanes from the golden age. I can't wait to see the replica fly.

Ed Hall's Bulldog

 

[don january]

My FAV.

 

[Pops]

My FAV. View attachment 102099

With retracts. Nice

 

[Chris Matheny]

My favorite and also the background on my computer.

 

[flitzerpilot]

Bob Ladd's retractable Taylor Monoplane was an inspiration for the prototype's conversion into a 'Yak 9', but we never got as far as the retractable gear.
The Skoda-Kauba fighter trainers inspired this projected 'variant', possibly for a flat six.

 

[PagoBay]

Largest of all Homebuilt canards? Most Beautiful Aircraft Ever Built

Just WOW !!
Raises the elephant in the room question about a certain other canard presently in ground effect. The question being... "Why?"

 

[nestofdragons]

I nominate this design by Luigi Colani. The Optica.

 

[Bill-Higdon]

Bob Ladd's retractable Taylor Monoplane was an inspiration for the prototype's conversion into a 'Yak 9', but we never got as far as the retractable gear.
The Skoda-Kauba fighter trainers inspired this projected 'variant', possibly for a flat six.

I've thought of making a KR-1 into a Yak

 

[geraldmorrissey]

Mitsubishi AM6 Zeroooooooooo.

 

[don january]

As far as retracts on the T-mono I'm amazed they where able to fit the system into the root wing. I look at mine and say ?? on how they did it. Many homebuilts such as the VP, Mini Max, and Fly Baby would sure look better and preform better if they could get the gear up out of the slip stream. IMO