GERMANY’S COCKEYED KITES

When it comes to creating extreme aircraft—both good and bad—it’s difficult to outdo Nazi Germany. The Reichsluftfahrtministerium (Ministry of Aviation, or RLM) was apparently willing to invest in any aeronautical idea, regardless of how bizarre. For their part, German engineers happily obliged by coming up with some of the most outlandish aircraft ever conceived. Arado’s little Ar-231 floatplane, designed to be transported and launched from a submarine, has to come near the top of the list.

The concept behind the design, meant to fulfill a. Designed in 1939, the 377-foot-long U-cruiser would have been the second largest sub in the world, after the Japanese floatplane-carrying I-400 class.