Where fighter planes are concerned, the distinction between genius and calamity is paper-thin. For every iconic plane that goes down in history, there’s typically another one that crashes and burns—be it due to miserable design, bad luck, or simply bad timing. Take a peek at ten of the most notorious military aircraft and how they acquired their dubious reputations.
10. Seversky P-35
The P-35 was America’s initial all-metal, single-wing, enclosed-cockpit, retractable-gear fighter—a radical design for its time. But by the beginning of World War II, it was outdated. Only 76 were accepted into U.S. service before production ceased. They were largely shipped to the Philippines, where the pilots had to contend with Swedish manuals, foreign metric instruments, and no spares. Outclassed by newer Japanese aircraft, the majority of them were lost almost immediately. Nevertheless, the P-35 set the stage for the P-47 Thunderbolt, demonstrating that failure is a stepping stone to success.
9. Messerschmitt Me-210
Meant to take over for the Me-110, the Me-210 was impressive on paper: streamlined design, extensive armament, and a bomb bay. In practice, it was seriously unstable, liable to stalling and spinning, and underperformed the aircraft it was designed to replace. The Luftwaffe made the expensive error of ordering a thousand before testing, and when only a few hundred had been completed, the programme was abandoned. The Me-410 was hastily rushed into production to cover the gap.
8. Focke-Wulf Ta-154 Moskito
Germany’s response to the British Mosquito, the Ta-154, was a wooden night fighter intended for speed. The prototype proved excellent—but only after stripping out most military gear. When Allied bombs took out the factory where the special glue needed for its wooden structure was produced, later production models were compromised, causing disastrous failures. Only about 50 were constructed, none of which ever engaged in actual combat. There were even proposals for converting them into flying bombs, but that never materialized.
7. Blackburn B-25 Roc
The Blackburn Roc was the ultimate symbol of British infatuation with the turret fighter. In effect, a dive-bomber with a turret on top, it was slow, underpowered, and clumsy in the air. It never saw service as a real fighter and was reduced to an arget tug or a static anti-aircraft device. The Roc is the very epitome of a design that attempted too much and accomplished nearly nothing.
6. Curtiss-Wright CW-21 Demon
A variant of a trainer aircraft, the CW-21 was promoted as the best-climbing interceptor in its era. The U.S. Army Air Corps rejected it, but it was sold overseas. In combat, it was soon outperformed. Underarmed and underpowered, all were lost within months of service. The CW-21 illustrates that speed is not enough to succeed in combat.
5. Caudron C.714
This French fighter had begun as a raceplane and was hastily converted into a light, inexpensive fighter with a mere four machine guns. Although it had a respectable top speed, its range and rate of climb were deplorably low. France removed it from use after only a week, and even countries desperately in need of planes rejected it. A few brave Polish pilots flew it during the final days of France’s resistance, but for the most part, the C.714 was a mechanical disappointment.
4. Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Gudkov LaGG-3
Made from plywood covered in resin to save metal, the LaGG-3 was heavy, slow, and clumsy in the air. Soviet pilots nicknamed it the “varnished guaranteed coffin.” Designer Lavochkin later refined the model to make the much superior La-5. But thousands of pilots had to first put up with the LaGG-3’s dangerous handling.
3. Fiat CR.42 Falco
By the late 1930s, biplanes were irretrievably out of date, but Italy still manufactured the Fiat CR.42, an open-cockpit, fabric-covered biplane with fixed landing gear. Although agile, it was no competitor against quicker monoplanes such as the Spitfire. Italy possessed a contemporary monoplane but continued to construct twice as many CR.42s. Its history is a lesson that holding onto the past will not win wars.
2. Brewster F2A Buffalo
The Brewster Buffalo was notorious for poor performance during the Pacific War. It was overweight, underpowered, and mass-produced poorly, and thus proved no match for Japanese fighters. U.S. Marines at Midway derisively nicknamed it the “Flying Coffin.” Finnish pilots managed some success, but by depending on skill and not the capabilities of the aircraft. The chaotic production by the manufacturer led to its failure, and the company ultimately went out of business after the war.
1. Heinkel He-162 Salamander
Germany’s He-162 was a last-ditch effort to operationalize an inexpensive, jet-powered “people’s fighter” near the end of the war. Essentially constructed of plywood and being put into production in a hurry, it was afflicted by structural weaknesses, instability, and an engine that would fail if the plane was inverted for too long. Of more than 300 that were built, most were destroyed through crashes and not in combat. Even veteran pilots referred to it as a death trap, and it was never appropriate for the inexperienced young pilots it was meant for.
These planes are grim reminders that innovation without careful design and experimentation can be fatal. In the military flying world, ambition does not get you flying.