Infamous Aircraft: Dangerous Designs and their Vices

by Robert Jackson

An in-depth look at some of the 20th century’s notoriously terrible aircraft.

Many aircraft, some famous and some rare, gained a reputation for being difficult to fly and sometimes downright dangerous. This book looks at some of the worst culprits over a period spanning World War I to the age of supersonic flight. The following aircraft are included . . .

The Royal Flying Corps went to war in it in 1914. The B.E. was easy to fly and very stable—but it was difficult to maneuver and very easy to shoot down.
Tarrant The Tabor was grotesque, a massive misfit of an experimental bomber that predictably came to grief on its first flight.
Avro The twin-engine Manchester would fly all the way to Berlin and back—only to burst into flames over its own base.
Messerschmitt Me 210: The Me 210 was developed as a successor to Goering’s Destroyer, the Bf 110. It was a disaster with a phenomenal accident rate.
Martin B-26 They called the B-26 the “widowmaker,” fast and powerful, with some savage characteristics.
Reichenberg The manned version of the V-1 flying bomb was a desperation weapon, and its pilots intended to fly suicide missions against Allied shipping.
Rushed prematurely into its test program to beat the Anglo-French Concorde, the Tu-144 was intended to be Russia’s supersonic dream.

Genres: Aviation

176 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 1, 2005

About the author

Robert Jackson was born in 1941 in the North Yorkshire village of Melsonby. A former pilot and navigation instructor, his active involvement with aviation lasted many years. Following his retirement from the RAFVR in 1977 as a squadron leader, he became a full-time aviation writer and aerospace correspondent and lectured extensively on strategic issues. He speaks five languages, including Russian, and has written more than forty nonfiction works on military affairs. He is also the author of the popular Yeoman and SAS fiction series.

Reviews

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

Infamous Aircraft: Dangerous Designs and the Vices is a rather disappointing book in that it falls between the two stools of neither having enough information about an appropriate range of aircraft that nominally fits the criteria of the book's topic, and too much arcane information that will probably bore the non-specialist reader. Throw in the application of a series of random and not always helpful photos that supposedly support the text and the end result is Robert Jackson has produced a book that doesn't meet expectations.

The first and perhaps most significant problem with this book is the types chosen by Jackson for his historical analysis. There are some aircraft that are highly relevant for what the author is trying to achieve. For example, the discussion of the service history of the Messerschmitt Me-210 is a spot on, and it should have served as the exemplar for the rest of the book. The combination of erroneous specifications or design flaws, misapplied operational use and mechanical or other service related issues are all relevant to the consideration of this type. Aircraft that fit the paradigm of how badly the Me-210 flew are not just dangerous because they have a couple of issues; they are inherently 'wrong'.

So, when one reads in this book about how potentially dangerous the Sopwith Camel was, which it definitely was when it was flown by inexperienced air crew who were not fully aware of its unique flight behaviours, it seems wrong to then read of how successful the aircraft was in combat during WW1. It is not an 'infamous' aircraft, with all the negative connotations that come with that description; it was perhaps the single most famous and most successful scout fighter flown during the First World War.

On the other side of the coin, whilst Jackson cites the very relevant case of the Avro Manchester, the exceedingly disappointing twin Rolls Royce Vulture engined bomber that served as the (inadvertent) base for the legendary Avro Lancaster, he has missed out on the Boulton Paul Defiant, Blackburn Roc, Blackburn Botha and the Saro Lerwick. The author does a bang up job of talking about the Me-163 Komet and Me-210, yet he barely says anything about the Heinkel He-177 Greif which was a huge mistake when it came to German aircraft manufacture and operations during WW2.

Another case in point regarding what Jackson doesn't do well when it comes to chosen types is the similar careers of two supposed 'Widow Makers', the Martin B-26 Marauder and the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter. The former aircraft, an American twin engined medium bomber that served in several Allied air forces during WW2, had some serious problems when flown and serviced by inexperienced crews had a tragic history when it came to fatal training accidents. Jackson does very well to explore this bomber's records, and how it was ultimately a very successful aircraft. The Lockheed F-104 Starfighter, a jet interceptor and fighter that served with numerous western air forces during the Cold War, had an abysmal record when flown by the post-war German Luftwaffe. Somehow Jackson totally misses this aircraft, whilst detailing the invariably successful X-1, X-2 and X-15 experimental aircraft as 'dangerous designs'.

The other problem that I had with Infamous Aircraft: Dangerous Designs and the Vices is a couple of the chapters, most notably those that focus on the early Soviet and French jet aircraft, where Jackson throws a lot of information about the different types that he considers worthy of study, yet there isn't a clear and distinct narrative for specific types. He makes some interesting points regarding the MiG-9, one of the most important Soviet early jet fighters, yet it gets buried in the chapter among a lot of other aircraft that are perhaps less significant. It would also have helped in such chapters if there had been more photos to help illustrate these specific types.

As someone who loves and has a pretty solid knowledge of aviation history I came to this book with high expectations. They weren't met because Jackson and his publisher made some dodgy choices with the aircraft studied in the text, and the narrative at time becomes muddied or crowded. It's a shame because this is a very promising subject and it deserves a better book than what Infamous Aircraft: Dangerous Designs and the Vices delivered.

[Jesper Jorgensen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hats off to the test pilots who flew these planes! There was a very real risk that pilots whould suffer a violent and sudden death. Sometimes the flights - literally - became 'break tests'.

[Tekken · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nonii, kolleeg Volli pärand on mul nüüdseks enam-vähem läbi töötatud. Robert Jacksoni nimi seostub mulle selle nostalgilise perioodiga, kui me järjekordsel hommikul järjekordsesse lennukisse komberdades järjekordse lähetuse puhul ülemusi kirusime. Enne kui kofeiinilaks järele andis ja uni peale tuli, lappasin natuke aega esimest kätte juhtunud ajakirja ja tavaliselt oli seal ikka mõni Jacksoni artikkel sees. Varsti vajusid silmad kinni ja enne kohalejõudmist sai veel paar tundi tukkuda.

Vastupidiselt pealkirjale on selles raamatus lisaks lennukitele juttu ka muudest õhusõidukitest – kahtlemata kiiduväärt mõte. Samas leiab uut infi häbematult vähe ja peagi selgub, et kõik vähegi normaalsed aeroplaanid on ilmavalgust näinud autori kodumaal. Selles avastuses julgeks küll kahelda: näiteks kanadalane Hugh Godefroy on oma memuaarides kirjeldanud, kui keeruline oli nii levinud Inglise tüüpidel nagu Spitfire või Hurricane ainuüksi telikut välja lasta.

R.101 projekteerimise lugu (3. peatükk) on Briti autori kohta uskumatult pealiskaudne, et mitte öelda armetu. Peter Brooksi „Zeppelin: Rigid Airships 1893-1940“ ülevaade on täpsem ja sisaldab ka paremaid fotosid. 9. peatükis õnnestub autoril lennukitüübid segi ajada ja selline tase jätkub ka mujal. Illustratsioonid… ikka Pen ja Swordi tavapärasel tasemel.

Kunagi varem sattus mulle kätte selline raamat nagu Jim Winchesteri „The World's Worst Aircraft: From Pioneering Failures to Multimillion Dollar Disasters“. Seal oli igale tüübile pühendatud 2-3 lehekülge, kuid lisaks fotodele leidusid ka värvilised profiilid, tehnilised andmed ja üsna andekad kirjeldused. Tema lahendus oli paremini õnnestunud.

[Jen Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was interesting, but it was more of a generic overview of aircraft which had been associated with problems. I had expected more of a discussion of... well, dangerous designs and their vices, and how the design created the vice and what (if anything) was done about it.

Some chapters were better than others - the Sopwith Camel bit was one of the better ones, because it actually discussed the relationship between design (gyroscopic effect of rotary engine) and vice (tendency to pitch up/down when turning, easy to spin), as was the Flying Flea. The later chapters on some of the jets were a bit vague, and had very little actual aeroengineering content at all.

I'd've thought the Comet would have rated a mention, or even the DC10, although I suppose technically although the designs were dangerous, they didn't produce vices in handling, just a tendency to crash. The book ends with the VTOL aircraft and the development of the Harrier - nothing after that. And despite being published in 2020, there isn't even a postscript mentioning the Boeing 787 Max, which is possibly the definition of a dangerous design with lethal vices.

So... interesting as far as it went, but not what I'd hoped it would be.

[Mike Collins · Rating 2 out of 5]

I foundnthis book hard going at times - there is a lot of technical information and just reading sets of figures isn't that interesting. The aircraft selected are odd, e.g. the Short flying boat, which, by the author's own admission, was neither a bad design nor prone to crashes, so why include it? The narrative is often rambling, going off on tangents about the development of other aircraft; this book needed much more editing.
The end of the book draws no conclusions and it feels like it ends in the middle. There's some interesting stuff, but it's well hidden.

[E. Kahn · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read a few of these "worst airplanes ever" books now and it seems they all draw from the same list and have the same comments about each. Read any one of them (including this) and you've pretty much read all of them.

[Marc · Rating 3 out of 5]

A book that needed more illustrations.

This was an OK book, but really could have used some images to depict the aircraft better. Narrative didn’t much hold my interest. Half-hearted effort.

[Wilde Sky · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book about unusual / dangerous prototypes / production aircraft was interesting (in my opinion). My minor grumbles were poor writing in sections, lack of technical explanation and many of the aircraft described had no pictures.

As I finished the book my main thought was how brave the pilots must have been.

[Cecil Wells · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very detailed and informative.