Hell’s Half Dozen
This article is going to be subjective. Some of the aircraft named may well be in the favourites list of some readers. So I should start by stating that this is my list of worst planes, and you may well have a completely different list. Mine is not the correct list; it’s just mine.
To give an example, someone else’s list of the worst fighter aircraft found on the Internet had the General Dynamics F-111 at Number 1. That particular aircraft is close to the top of my world’s best aircraft! (the RAAF should have kept them flying until at least 2060, if for no other reason than to display at air shows).
Having said that, some of the aircraft I’ve researched are truly awful, and I’d be surprised if anyone disagreed with one or two of those on my list. Another up-front observation is that the world has been blessed with just as many fantastic, loveable, awe-inspiring and beautiful aircraft as it has been afflicted with hundreds of ugly, stupid, awful and deadly shockers. To trim down the list of the worst, I’ve narrowed down the selection to aircraft that actually went into production of some sort. Not one-hit wonders, but aircraft where somebody actually decided the design was worth pursuing.
In constructing a list of this sort, a set of evaluation criteria is useful. Here’s mine.
• Were two• Did the design include features that turned out to be mistakes?• Was the aircraft worse than its contemporaries in the role for which it was intended?• Did the project cost a disproportionate amount of money?• Did the aircraft result in deaths of pilots, passengers or designers?• Did the developers pursue the project when it was apparent it wasn’t going to be successful?
