X Planes

March 2, 2012 8:45 PM

X Planes, a tumblr. x planes is a tumblr devoted to historical aviation, and with a specific interest in experimental aviation.

Found, I think, via the sainted Things.

The weird. The incredible (an autogiro and a variable-geometry aircraft in airshow flight, 1930s). The improbable.

The archives.

I would of course be remiss were I not to point out the LTA. Er, make that the Italia.

posted by mwhybark (7 comments total)

(In the post office, talking to the squeaky-voiced teen clerk)
Burns: Yes, I'd like to send this letter to the Prussian consulate in Siam by aeromail. Am I too late for the 4:30 autogyro?
Kid: Uh, I better look in the manual.
Burns: [groans] Oh, the ignorance.

...

Kid: This book must be out of date: I don't see "Prussia", "Siam", or "autogyro".
Burns: Well, keep looking!

The first 20 or levels I "climbed" through were all autogyros, which pleased me greatly.
posted by Chekhovian at 10:14 PM on March 2, 2012

Oh man, don't give me pictures of airplanes. My first love.
posted by Xoebe at 11:07 PM on March 2, 2012

Fantastic tumblr, it's been my most reliable source of desktop backgrounds for a few years now.
posted by scottjlowe at 1:05 AM on March 3, 2012

Xoebe, my first love too. Only in hindsight in my 40s do I think it was a little odd that a grade school kid in 70s suburban chicago could identify nearly every european, asian, and american plane of the second world war, and probably built a model of it.

We used to go to the Experimental Aircraft Association jam in Oshkosh every summer, that was probably a formative experience.
posted by C.A.S. at 2:26 AM on March 3, 2012

Well, that x planes a lot.
posted by e.e. coli at 2:58 AM on March 3, 2012 [2 favorites]

I still think the Douglas X-3 has to be one of the most gloriously *fast* looking planes in the world.
posted by ewan at 8:12 AM on March 3, 2012 [1 favorite]

More like ex-planes, amirite?

"The Rooster" is all kinds of awesome.
posted by ShutterBun at 9:22 AM on March 3, 2012