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[Kopfdorfer]

I Thank You Catahoulak,

                               On behalf of the other contributors whose spirit commends these aircraft, whom many see as Ugly Betty's, a certain amount of affection. As an appreciation for
(all of) your support , I forward yet another aircraft worthy of an ugly medal - though in truth I am unsure as to whether it was ever considered as a bomber. Further than that I don't even know its make or model.
Can any of our distinguished aerophiles identify it?

                               

Glad to see there are those among us who believe that beauty is in the eye of the beholder!

Kopfdorfer

[Radoye]

Arsenal-Delanne 10C.2 French 1940 fighter prototype.

http://www.aviastar.org/air/france/arsenal_delanne-10.php

France had some "interesting" projects going on just before the Germans attacked, some of them even more outlandish than your typical Luft'46 paper-planes. Like these:

SNCAO-Nieuport ACA-5



Payen Pa.112C.1 Flechair:



SNCASE SE.100:

[sputnikshock]

The SNCAO-Nieuport ACA-5 is fantastic!

[juanmalapuente]

Wow! If those are paper models, I take my hat off. Apparently, after two decades of making flying Notredame hunchbacks, French were finding the formula of making beautiful weirdos. It's a pity that invasion put them to a halt.
May be German took some of those French engineers to make the ugly beast Kopfdorfer brought today. If It's confirmed as a bomber...I give her my vote
And yes, the Heyford was pretty handsome, only upside down wings but who cares...She flew great

[Ectoflyer]

appearently two of these projects were realised

 the Heyford was pretty handsome, only upside down wings but who cares...

 

[The_Jester]

Arsenal-Delanne 10C.2 was a prototype as previously stated. Not sure it was a fighter by nature. It was a two seat fighter with an 860hp Hispano-Suiza. Had a 20mm Hispano-Suiza firing through the nose, two 7.5mm MAC 1934 guns and two more in the tail. Apparently the configuration of the wings gave it a very nice variable CoG. Sorta like the FM of the spits in IL 2...

As for the Heyford, I can't call it ugly, and I certainly can't make fun of it for being a bad bomber either. It was more maneuverable(and could take more Gs) than contemporary fighters of the period.

[Radoye]

Something similar, but this one was most definitely not a fighter prototype:

[Radoye]

appearently two of these projects were realised

This isn't the same bird i posted, but they are related. Designed by Nicholas Roland Payen, the above pictured Pa.22 was a kind of proof of concept machine, to demonstrate that the 'flechair' configuration will work.

What is interesting about it is that originally it was planned to be powered by a pulsejet (yes, in 1940!) but this did not materialize so it was finished with a conventional piston engine (and a very small one - just 180 HP). As you see, it was captured by Germans and extensively test-flown.

We may only guess how much it did or didn't inspire German designers such as Lippisch or the Horten bros.

The fighter protorype Pa.112C.1 was built in the form of a full scale mock-up only, the first prototype had been in initial stages of construction when France surrendered and it was destroyed to prevent capture. It was supposed to be powered by two engines (again relatively small ones) driving contra-rotating props and carried 4 machine guns.

Payen also proposed a similarly configured design to the Japanese in 1938, the Mitsubishi-Payen Pa.400 for the role of a carrier-borne torpedo bomber but it wasn't seriously considered by the IJN authorities probably too scared by the outlandish concept.

[redfox]

Ectoflyer

Thanks for the info

Cheers - Redfox

[Catahoulak9]

I'd shit my britches if I saw that beast parked anywhere.

[Radoye]

is this a lysancaster?

Yes Sir, this most definitely is a bastard child resulting from an unnatural relationship between a Lysander and a Lancaster!

[Ectoflyer]

Sometimes they are ugly but useful

Abandoned French medium bomber Bloch MB.200, transformed by the Americans in a field kitchen in North Africa