In the world of combat flying, where seconds count, a fighter’s success hinges on split-second choices. A minor design adjustment can make a legend out of an aircraft—consider F-16s or Spitfires. A design misstep, hasty development, or poorly timed introduction can sentence even the best plane to failure, however. Air forces over the years have flown their fair share of clunkers. Ten examples follow, ranging from the moderately disappointing to the downright notorious.
10. Seversky P-35 (USA)
When it was flown for the first time in the 1930s, the Seversky P-35 seemed revolutionary—America’s first all-metal monoplane fighter with retractable landing gear and enclosed cockpit. But by World War II, it was already obsolescent. The Army Air Corps purchased only 76. Those delivered to the Philippines came still packed in crates, with Swedish manuals and metric gauges, and lacking armor, self-sealing gas tanks, or adequate firepower. They were rapidly destroyed.
9. Messerschmitt Me-210 (Germany)
Conceived to replace the Luftwaffe Me-110, the Me-210 was more of a warning than a success. Filled with high-tech innovations such as remote-controlled turrets and a streamlined cockpit, it was hazardous to fly, tended to stall, and provided scant actual advantage over the original. The Luftwaffe commissioned 1,000 before the aircraft had even taken to the skies. After only 400 disappointing specimens, the project was abandoned, and a superior follow-on aircraft was redesignated as the Me-410 in order not to tarnish its good name.
8. Focke-Wulf Ta-154 Moskito (Germany)
Germany’s wooden night fighter was intended to compete with Britain’s de Havilland Mosquito. Initial prototypes had potential, but when loaded, the plane became slower. The factory that made the specialized glue for the airframe was destroyed by Allied bombing. Replacement adhesive caused the planes to crash during flight. A total of only about 50 were constructed before the project was dropped, and even a proposal to use them as remotely operated drones never existed.
7. Blackburn B-25 Roc (UK)
The Roc was a Royal Navy design for a power-turreted carrier fighter that never worked. Constructed on a dive-bomber chassis, it was slow, heavy, and clumsy, with a top speed of only 223 mph. It never saw frontline duty, but was used as a target tug or a stationary defense. The floatplane version did not do even better.
6. Heinkel He-162 Salamander (Germany)
Near the end of WWII, Germany produced the He-162 hastily as a “people’s fighter,” which was meant for pilots with minimal training, including teens. Rush job and short testing resulted in the aircraft being fragile, finicky, and susceptible to structural failure. More were destroyed in crashes than by enemy action, and its contribution to combat was negligible.
5. Curtiss-Wright CW-21 Demon (USA)
As a so-called fast-rising interceptor, the CW-21 was the model of a trainer airplane. Turned down by the U.S., a handful were exported to China and the Netherlands. Without armor or substantial firepower, it had little chance against Japanese Zeros and Ki-43s. All Dutch aircraft were lost within months of the Japanese invasion of the Netherlands, and the design fell out of history.
4. Caudron C.714 (France)
Originally designed as a racing aircraft, the Caudron C.714 was adapted to be a fighter plane. Light and inexpensive to manufacture, it was too light and poorly equipped to serve effectively. French units removed it after being in service just one week. Finland rejected it as well, and only a few Polish pilots flew it in France before it was taken out of commission.
3. Lavochelin-Gorbunov-Gudkov LaGG-3 (USSR)
Constructed largely of resin-coated plywood in an effort to conserve metal, the LaGG-3 was underpowered and slow, which earned it the handle “varnished guaranteed coffin” among Soviet airmen. Though designer Semyon Lavochkin went on to create the much-superior La-5, the LaGG-3’s reputation remained catastrophic.
2. Brewster F2A Buffalo (USA)
The Buffalo was overweight, underpowered, and shoddily made. Against Japanese Zeros, it was useless. U.S. Marines at Midway called it the “Flying Coffin.” Only Finnish pilots achieved limited success, due to their ability rather than the merits of the plane. Brewster’s bid to make Corsairs under license also failed, with none seeing combat, and the company went broke in 1946.
1. McDonnell XF-85 Goblin (USA)
The Goblin is the award for outright weirdness. It was conceived as a parasite fighter to be launched from a B-36 bomber and was small, underpowered, and all but impossible to dock in flight. Only two were manufactured, and the airborne aircraft carrier project was dropped. Now, it is a strange footnote to aviation history, a reminder that not all lofty ideas have a place in the skies.
From bad designs and ill-timed launches to hasty manufacturing and underestimated strategy, these ten planes show how rapidly a warplane can deteriorate from potential to disaster. Behind each aviation legend lies a tale of warning—and these are among the most enduring.