Germany's Top 10 UGLIEST Aircraft 

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"Simply bullied the laws of physics and aerdynamics into complying" is my quote of the week now, thanks! :D

Are we going to ignore the guy at 10:31 that used the gigant as a slide?

I feel like the Stuka falls into the same sort of category as the A-10 (which is appropriate seeing as they filled similar tactical roles) in that it is such a pure example of form following function that it wraps all the way around from looking ugly to looking cool again.

Rex: _Calls the Stukas ugly_ *Jericho trumpet sounds intensify*

Aircraft number 9 on the list - the "smushed pigeon" - looks like the Spirit of St Louis if it got pregnant. As for the Heinkel 162, you omitted to mention the sheer horror of attempting to bale out of it. And as for your question, I'm going with the Ju-287, because the only word in my head when I saw it was "what?" (plus a couple of sweawords for effect). Edit: how dare you diss the majestic BV-141 ?!

He-162: “…had a tendency to disintegrate during flight.” Like many late war German weapons, the 162 was built by slave labor. These people discovered the interesting fact that the glue used to hold the wooden parts together tended to decompose if exposed to human urine. The inmates would relieve themselves on the planes when the guards weren’t looking. However, the glue the Germans had to use that late in the war was of such poor quality that even planes that hadn’t been peed on fell apart.

Awww, I like the 162 Volksjäger. It might look like an oversized V-1, but the design just screams fast and dares you to fly it.

Set yourself a challenge Rex and give us the"Top 10 Ugliest Aircraft Blackburn Edition"

Ok, that isn't even a contest for the top spot! It's obviously the dornier Delphin, because the ju 287 at least tries to adhere to the general shape an aircraft *should* have, while the delphin never even considered that to begin with.

He162 and Stuka in the ugly list? Just shameful.

Great video, as always. One minor nitpick: it seems that the He 162 was called "Salamander"; "Volksjäger" was the name of the whole program of emergency fighters.

How dare you calling stuka ugly

I think a strong contender for "Ugliest German Aircraft" is the Do-31, the VTOL cargo aircraft prototype, which somehow didn't make the list. From its lift nacelles, which look like someone had bolted an extra cabin on the end of each of its stubby wings, to the absurdly long nose spike, it looks more like a collection of random Lego parts than a functional aircraft.

Thank you! I am so glad to see someone on RU-vid finally giving the Gigant the respect she deserves! I'm sick of always seeing her on "Worst Planes Ever" lists. Everyone always brings up the disastrous Afrika Korps supply mission as to why the Gigant was "bad" but that was due more to inadequate fighter escort and strategic blunders than any fault of the aircraft. The modern equivalent of that mission- sending an unescorted formation of C5 Galaxies on a supply run over enemy territory crawling with interceptor bases and SAM sites- would end up being just as much of a massacre, but no-one considers the C5 a "bad" heavylift transport. So it was nice to see someone pointing out how useful the Gigant was when the Luftwaffe had air superiority. That said, much as I have a soft spot for the Gigant, you're entirely justified putting that giant, bloated tadpole with wings on the ugly list.

I saw a tale in an aviation magazine years ago that when the Gigant was stationed in Sicily to take supplies to The Afrika Korps, one hot & boring sunny afternoon a few Gigant crews were lazing around on the airfield, relaxing and drinking wine, as their next mission wasn't for a few days Thus fuelled and motivated by the wine, they seriously considered taking up a Gigant to see if they could loop it Fortunately they decided against it, probably because further consumption rendered them incapable

The 287 was a flying test bed to test different wing and engine options. It was built with whatever they had lying around to reduce development time/cost. It was never intended to be a production aircraft

The Ju 87 looks like a fighter escort for a Bristol Brabazon bomber squadron (apart from the country situation). The Dornier flying boat with the cabin looks like a flying art deco building from the front.

The flying clog is honestly one of my favorite plane from Blomm and Voss and the central engine made it look so much better LONG LIVE UNORTHODOXY

I have to agree that the collection of odd bits and spare parts lying around the shop (Ju287) ranks as number one. I also loved the printed disclaimer you so briefly showed about the Ju87, I went back and paused the video so I could read it. It was a nice bit of humor. Cheers from Texas.

7:00 The design goal of the BV-141 was to create a dedicated reconnaissance aircraft with greatly increased visibility for the observers and greatly reduced vibration for clear photography. By all accounts, this amazing asymmetrical ug-fest accomplished those goals admirably. In my opinion, its failure hinged on three points: (1) It was a Blohm & Voss design. As an old-time ship-building firm, B&V was well-known and trusted by the German navy, by the Reichsluftfahrtministerium not so much. B&V had some innovative designers on staff and submitted many radical aircraft proposals, the craziest being the P163, but it was their seaplanes that enjoyed the greatest success. Evidently, the RLM reasoned that a ship-building company was best suited to build flying ships. (2) It looked scary. (3) The most important flaw, the real reason it failed, B&V designed this airplane in strict adherence to the specifications that called for all-around visibility for the crew, low engine vibration for the cameras, and ONE ENGINE. Given the restrictions, Blohm & Voss created the perfect solution. However, Focke-Wulf won the competition by ignoring the specifications. Instead of a single-engine recce plane, FW delivered a twin-boom multi-engine design that looked much less scary. Walther also won the semi-auto infantry rifle competition against Mauser by ignoring the specifications.

Hey, i always liked the BV 141, BV 138 and He 162 because they were so odd and different, and always thought they looked cool

Both Blomm & Voss entries and the JU-87 Stuka don't seem ugly to me. While I would not call them beautiful, they have a certain charm to them. As for the Natter, it always reminds me of my first attempts at building aircraft with LEGO back in the days before they made swept wings and aircraft canopies. (Yes, I am old.)

Erich Bachem, designer of the Natter (a true mad scientist if ever you saw one) made good use of his plywood working skills after the war and denazification. He started a firm producing small plywood caravans. Look up Eriba Caravans (Eri ch Ba chem), the firm he founded is still going strong...

Is it just me or is the lip sync out of whack on the talking head parts? Not a biggy but thought I was having a stroke for a second there!

The natter feels more like a rocket with lack of ambitions rather then a plane..

Dornier Delphin. Please note, that hangar in shot 2 still stands today, one kilometer from where I am now. As does the slipway and the mooring spot. That, sort of, makes this a Swiss aircraft and not a German aircraft. The hangar was later used to build the Do X (10). Today this place is called St Gallen Altenrhein Airport and is on the southern shores of Lake Constance (Bodensee). And yes, it is ugly as hell.

Woot, the VFW Fokker 614 made it into the list! And as regards the first place - the little flying boat is actually quite pretty 🙂

What about the Heinkel 111 Zwilling? The Stuka is still the most iconic aircraft ever. I wouldn't call it ugly, it looks just right.

I have long thought that without its fixed undercarriage the Stuka did not look too bad. It's just that big clunky fixed undercarriage which spoils it. A difficult choice but I would have to go with the Ju-287. It definitely looks like a bad day at Ikea

I LOVE THE Bv-141! 🤭 I feel the same way about the Ju-87 Stuka. It is actually one of my favorite WWII German aircraft...👍

I’m so tired of dealing with Stukas in Warthunder that I genuinely laughed seeing the thumbnail.

The Stuka looks much better from a distance. I think it just seems to have ALL the greebling up close. Kinda like a real life Y-wing.

picking the Ju-87 over the Hs-129 "ente"-"duck" is an outrage and a half , but i love them both

The Natter is a good reminder that the V in V-weapons didn't only stand for Vergeltung (Vengeance/Retribution), but also for Verzweiflung (Desperation).

Please don't start putting music over everything.

By the logic of Engines on top = ugly, was surprised not to see the Do18 or Do24 on this list Though personally I dont find either ugly

Surprised the do355 is not on here

In my mind, the parts collection immediately disqualifies itself by being so unbelievably quirky and odd. It looks like something I would build out of Lego as a child, and to be honest, I'm half tempted to build something like that here and now as an adult, too.

Rex casualy brightening my day again.

Even if I'm a Stuka fan. I need to agree that it isn't the best looking dive bomber lol. That radiator makes a smile that haunts me every time I'm on War Thunders hangar lol

Man oh man... BW 141 is one of the coolest airplanes ever built. It is actually too cool to call it ugly. Ju-87 was a true war machine. Its frightening looks served it's purpose. VFW-614 is a cute airplane with a clever design feature. Same goes for He-162 Salamander.

Haven't watched in a while, I see you have a new office setup! Very nice, happy to see this channel grow.

The Pilot of the only fatal launch of the Natter, Lothar Sieber, hat a connection to #5 as well, as he had flown one of the few Arado 232 in high risk rescue missions on the eastern front, picking up downed pilots and cut off troops from behind soviet lines in 1944 before becoming a test pilot.

What the hell? I really like the design of the Heinkel 162... Well, it kept breaking into pieces mid-flight because of low-quality glue, but i like the looks of (almost) all the german ww2 jets (and the StuKa)... Und ich mag die Flugzeuge nicht nur, weil ich selbst Deutscher bin! Anyways: Rex's Hangar became one of my favourite aircraft-themed channels... But dude, you got a weird taste when it comes to german aircraft...

The he-162 is not an ugly plane. it is beautiful. same goes for the bv-138 and Ju-87 stuka.

Loving your channel Rex. Any chance you may cover the Vought SB2U Vindicator sometime? Or have you and I overlooked it?

The Dornier Delphin is a cute little propeller attached houseboat-shed, whereas the Junkers JU-287 gives some huge "Alien Insect" vibes...

As always a nice video but most of the planes I don´t find ugly, especially not the He 162 or the Ju 87. The reason why the Natter has crashed was that the testpilot rejected to use the stabilisation system. He wanted to fly manually. So maybe he had a black out because of high g-loads, this was said in a documentary, further it was said that the canopy broke during the flight. I knew s.o. who flew the Gigant, but passed away years ago. He said that both pilots had to pull back the elevator with pressing their feet against the instrument panel to get the nose up for take off. The reaction of the aileron was poor and the inertia high, when it begun to swing from one side to the other during the aerotow, he said, when you are for example on the left side of the towplane, you have to give aileron left, because it will react when it´s again on the right side....

The first version of the Ju 87, the A model, was the ugliest of the line. The prototype was nightmarish. The final versions D and G were far more businesslike.

Rex you left out the Focke-Wulf competitor to the Messerschmitt Bf-109, that parasol wing monstrosity. Forgot it's name.❤

Great video Rex. Thanks!

The He.162 was no uglier that the F-107.

Including the Ju87 is so brave and yet so true! Sometimes all you need is to look back and forget what an awesome craft it is to remember how beautifully hideous it is. Ugly planes rise up!

I am surprised, the Ju-52 didn't make it to the list. The central engine looks really wrong. The BV-132 looks good except for the gun turret at the nose.

Dear Rex , excellent video , I had to watch this three times over just to get my head around the choices , I’m a bit surprised that the junkers 352 wasn’t in the list!

Nooo...not the Salamander, my beloved...the He-162 is not that ugly. I agree with most of your other propositions. The Bv-138 would definetly look better without that third engine and the Stuka would look more aerodynamic with retractable gear. To settle the point of the ugliest: that Heinkel thing is the weirder one, the Dornier looks like they just strapped an aircraft engine to a paddle Steamer and called it a day.

I'm surprised you managed to narrow it down to just 10

I missed the Arado Ar 198 in the list. Only 3 prototypes of this single-motor reconnaissance aircraft from 1938 were built. Some photographs can be found via google.

Tbh I kind of expected the me 163 to feature somewhere in there. 🙂 Great video, love the new format!

*Angry Stuka fan rant in german*

Is number 2 more of maned cruise missile than a plane ?

Top spot the Delphine, the BV 138 and 141 were interesting and good designs, the crew compartment on the BV 141 was very like the one on the Focke Wulf 189

Great comparison of the different scales. 👍 I have a PRR version of that twin motor Flyer Chief Baldwin S8 Switcher. Besides the remote that comes with it you can use an apple or android phone/tablet to control the locomotive which gives you more options including a speed limiter for those young engineers and also voice control.

I am very unhappy about the ju-87, however I respect the opinions of other people and atleast you agree that it is meant fungsionality than looks.

I have always been so distracted by the asymmetrical cockpit, that I never noticed the horizontal stabilizer before.

Here some comments from a random internet stranger. 1. Come on, with that stick on the nose it looks like some fallout style retro future machine :) 2. It's cute, I may have some pity, but I think it's adorable^^ Like if a pidgeon and a whale mingled. 3. Bloom and Voss is above criticism (for style), it's Germanys way to live out it's inner Frenchnes. 4. Yeah... But it's a big boy. But I can't argue. 5. Hmm, yes, kinda looks like it has a big tumour on it's back. A pilot eating one, at that :/ 6. Looks like the flying boat concept, but with a train. ouf... that's not good. 7. Go back to point 3. But For reals, I like that one, I think it's really cool. Come on, it's amazing! 8. Yeah the stuka is ugly, cool but ugly. Like an ugly, ugly dog. :/ 9. Does that even count as a plane? It's more like a manned cluster bomb for AA purpose^^ 10. Wow I really expected the Do31, which would have been wrong^^ The Do Delphin is pretty ugly, but funny. The Ju is just a crime against eyes.

The Frankenstein with forward facing wings should be the top 1. That flying boat still somehow normal looking when compared to it lol

Man do I disagree about the JU 87. For the age in which it was developed I think it is amazing and interesting to look at. it was one of my favorite models to build as a kid. I thought for sure you'd put the Dornier DO 335 on here. I thought that plane was cool, too

The pic at 10:08 is interesting because 1. the aircraft firing at the Me 323 wasn't a fighter but a RAF Marauder bomber and 2. both pilots (the german one having ditched after the picture) met in the 1980s.

16:11 "It wasn't very pretty, was it?" - "Yes. Yes it was. Especially the prototypes with the more aerodynamic landing gear looked awesome!"

seen in three quarter from the front, slightly from below the Stuka looked great imo! and the later variants were sleeker looking

The JU 87 looks perfect, because it looks rough. It looks durable. It looks (and sounds) intimidating. It’s not meant to look sexy, it’s meant to look venerable.

Putting the He-162 that close to the top is a crime.

The Ju 287 takes the biscuit for most absurd WWII aircraft design. Dornier ain't EEEEEEEEEEEEEven in it.

The Ju-287 makes the top spot because of the weird clump feet hanging from its wings and fuselage. It's like a bee which collected pollen on its legs.

Tis a puzzlement for 1st , but very good choices overall. Well Done You ! Cheers From California 😊

i prefer the older style with no face showing. your voice is perfect signature

Bv138 looks like a duck with a Mohawk. I love it.

The Stuka wasn’t pretty, but it wasn’t that ugly either. I think that rating was unfair. It was better looking than planes lower on your list, in my opinion

"Designed to have a powerful BMW engines, but" This video is basically 20 minute essay of BMW disappointing it's customers.

Haven’t watched the full vid yet But I just *know* you’ve started a goddamn fight by putting the Stuka in the thumbnail, well done Rex 😂

The ju 87 IS magnificent

I'm guessing the only controversial element of the Blohm & Voss entry at #8 is that it wasn't higher up on the ugly list.

The passengers of the Fokker 164 also get a nice view of the engines

The BV 141 is my OCD’s worst nightmare and is therefore my #1 ugliest aircraft in all of WWII.

I kind of actually like the 138, and 3D modeled a JU87 specifically because it looked cool. :D

I get why the B&V 141 is on the list -- we are hard-wired to feel revulsion at asymmetry -- and so I wouldn't argue it doesn't belong at all. It'll always trigger on a primal level that it's missing some parts. That being said, there is an elegance to its design, both in how well it works when you study it, and aesthetically in the form and proportions of the parts that *aren't* missing. It lacks the emaciation/bloating that several German twin-engine designs suffer.

For me the BV138 and 141 , they did have something going for them , the Gigant looked like it was a Circus marque with engines on it ..Great vid Rex..

Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder;I think that the Ju-87 was one of the coolest,meanest bad-ass looking flying machines ever!Love your channel Sir!Grts.🙏✌

I always loved the Stuka's looks. It's almost as pretty as the A-10. You missed the He-115 or the Ju-52 somehow. Your videos are almost always top-notch, but this one could bear revisiting.

Regarding FW A16. Around that time this particular look must have been popular because many were made. Willi Messershmit did some, so did Rhorbach and Dornier. Tupolev build first Soviet all metal ANT-2 that looks exactly like this. Spirit of Saint Louis look didn't come from nowhere.

I love how the Citrus Vision recalls the Heinkel He 162 Volksjäger

Great video! I love these top ten ugliest!!! Please carry on with them. I'm sure you could do Russian, Italian and Japanese aircraft too.

The VFW 614's engine layout also increased the risk of passengers going into the engine intakes in case of emergency evacuations.

The Delphin just looks like a steam boat with wings. The other one actually looks like a functional aircraft.

I just can’t agree on any of them but that’s on me, I can’t separate function and form, each was ugly in its own way but that was for a reason. Another great video and I enjoy this kind of video length.

This channel is the only thing that is good with this world, I mean that. You make us forget lifes problem! Thank you so much

Delphin definitely deserves its status of one of the ugliest aircraft, but Junkers took my heart with that story. You're not only getting an ugly aircraft, but you also get a bizarre story of kitbashing for a bonus.

I enjoyed this video. Thank you