A Bizarre Fat Airplane that Changed Military Aviation Forever
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- Опубликовано: 7 сен 2024
- The early 1930s saw the most extravagant aircraft with unique shapes and sizes as part of a widely experimental phase in the aviation industry. And still, the Stipa-Caproni stood apart.
The inventive airframe designed by Italian aeronautical engineer Luigi Stipa and manufactured by the Caproni Company was in many ways like a cartoon aircraft. But it was functional!
The so-called flying barrel consisted of a mere tube for a fuselage and an engine and propeller that washed the airflow through the cylinder’s length, creating thrust.
Some experts consider the Stipa-Caproni the ugliest aircraft ever built, while others still call it an aerodynamic aberration. Still, there is reason to suggest that the bizarre concoction was the direct predecessor of the modern turbofan engine…
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Yea, I have a degree in aeronautical engineering and remember studying this. I remember my instructor saying "...now if Stipa had put 4 of these beasties under wing of a larger aircraft, he'd have had something...."
Was thinking the EXACT same thing, ducting a Pratt and Whitney double wasp from the p47, multiplied by 4 in nacelles (which could be slightly armored even, puting a chin, rear plus top and bottom turrets with three .50 cals or some configuration of maybe twin 303,s x 2 plus 20mm cannon for defense it could have likely tripped the bomb load of the b17, and carried it just as far, faster it could have really been something then later improving it with twin 28 cylinder 3000 hp engines with superchargers for altitude, then pressurizing crew compartment puting an aiming camera system in the guns and control it from the compartment the crew could have not frozen to the extent of slower reaction time to bandits or nausea from being in a quickly spinning and even upside down gun turret physically could have provided an improved defense, ability to run, once empty of bombs it could go faster still already likely 70mph or more faster than the b-17, now we're talking
@@travisverlinde191 I tend to disagree. The P&W wasp was radial engine. Would have blocked airflow beyond the advantages given.. Would need a very narrow, very lightweight high horsepower inline engine(4,6,8,12 or greater ) to really make a difference. Or just reconfigure the Bernoulli tube and stick a big pulse jet in the middle. It will suck air in at front and blast it out out back( Similar tech is used in commercial aircraft slide bags to inflate them.)
I like how it’s essentially a big ducted fan with wings, stabilizers, and a cockpit attached to it…
basically anyone's first plane in ksp
Looks like one of my notebook doodles from elementary school when I was obsessed with ww2 for some reason
that it entirely what it is
@@dopium1770
N
Mo
L do.
Too
Too so
I like it when people speak
in plane English.
Stupa seemed to have a great idea he couldn't expand on...not a turbofan, but a shrouded prop with a venturi behind, he was so close.
Him suing for copyright infringement makes me think he had some hurt feelings when someone was able to take in that step further.
It works exactly like a turbofan. On a turbofan the majority of the thrust is provided by the huge fan which doubles as the first compressor stage. The only real difference is that Stipa used an internal combustion engine to power the fan whereas modern aircraft engines use a turbojet nestled in the heart of the duct.
The Caproni Campini N1 took the concept one step further and added an afterburner…
What if you put this shroud around a bombers engines in nacelles in a flying wing design?
Says the anonymous cowardly infant!
@@jakelittle1261 Nicola Tesla never understood what he was playing with.
Tesla wasted time on wireless power transmission and went broke.
Marconi did. Marconi used radio for communication and made a mint.
Both were building on the work of Heinrich Hertz who discovered radio waves in 1892 - he died two years later. Neither Tesla nor Marconi were the discoverers - they merely developed applications (which they patented).
Marconi took out his first radio communication patent in 1896 in England.
Tesla took out his first radio patent in 1897 in the United States.
So Marconi was first but Tesla beat him to a United States patent.
You gotta admire how people back then had to actually put their designs to the test and often risk their lives in the process just to see if something worked.
Absolutely. Watch Franz Reichelt plummet from the Eiffel Tower with his self designed parachute.
Dude; Tails wouldn't touch that flying abomination. As a true Tails fan you should know that; 'cause that flying sausage ain't no Tornado.
They still do, there’s just a much longer set of initial tests before they leave the ground for the first time.
Because they didn't have access to the cheap computational modeling tools of today.
software creates cowards, lack of software creates people with giant, sun-eclipsing balls of chromium
This is ducted fan tech. I’ve flown RC aircraft off and on for decades and many of the “jet” engine RC aircraft are actually ducted fan powered with an internal combustion piston engine providing power for thrust.
This is interesting to read! Thanks for sharing this info 👍
Neat
Once in a while an old ducted fan RC jet comes up for sale at club auctions and swap meets. I never had one but they were popular for a long time. I recall the kit for an F-86
@@C.Mc. well said my friend
@Kirk Bolas, Yes!!! You hit that nail on the head.... And this design, like the high by-pass jet engines as compared to pure jet engines, is noticably quieter than an engine with an exposed propeller...However, the main differences between this propulsion design and an actual high-bypass jet engines seem to be : the power to weight ratio, and the AMOUNT of power, driving the 'Fan' .... Otherwise, there are a lot of similarities to a modern high-bypass jet engine....
Feels like they accidentally made the first thrust vectoring aircraft by putting those tail controls right after the “nozzle”
Pretty sure it wasn't accidental.
you ain't wrong.
Nope! Traian Vuia invented and flew the first jet plane in 1912!
@@cristianzaharescu8694 Nope! You got the wrong Romanian and the wrong year. Besides, only in Romania do people believe that Coanda invented the jet engine while everyone else points out that it's not a jet engine if there's no combustion chamber. Furthermore, the plane he built in 1910 never flew. Once the Germans and the British designed, built, and flew actual aircraft powered by actual jet engines did he start claiming that he had done it first with ever-changing stories.
@@CaptHollister yep! you are right about everything but one thing! The plane actually flew!
Actually, this Italian effort is recognized and credited as a foundation in jet design, even if the patent is not.
No it isn't, it had nothing to do with jet propulsion (which works on a fundamentally different principle) and was just a bizarre dead end. A different Italian pseudo-jet design really was related to jet propulsion (also by Caproni). Note also another clickbait title.
@will hardy +1 for that one!
@will hardy Frankly, it seemed obvious.
@@brettbuck7362 You are correct, It is Obvious to everyone that you spew quite a lot of nonsense here on RUclips and anywhere else you can get away with it!!! LOL!
I have been an aircraft enthusiast since childhood, but I have never seen that Fat Airplane. Thanks Dark Skies for another great documentary video.
Same here
Check out the Gee Bee racer. It was from the 1930s and would fly at 300 mph. They look the same, but were full of engine, and crashed easily.
Fabulous! If this had been in Studio Ghibli's The Wind Rises with other Caproni creations, most would have assumed the animators made it up for comedic effect, but it was real. It does look comical, but given the period, it has to be seen as early days, aviation developing by trying radical new ideas. Many would not work out, but some did...
It would have been a great addition to Porco Rosso.
Hayao Miyazaki lead the way🇮🇹
Designer: Do you want me to start with the engine or create the airframe’s fuselage?
Government: Yes.
When you think about it, Stupa invented the ducted fan, and that is the future of, well, everything flying. The high bypass turbine powering the world is just a further step from this incredible aircraft.
Imagine walking down the street, and you hear some buzzing in the air behind you, and you look up and one of those is bearing down on you...
I love it. It's brilliant. Certainly not a perfectly designed aircraft, but a well executed concept.
Italians: are known for their love to beauty and sport shapes
Also Italians:
Don't you dare body shame that plane by calling it fat! It's full figured and should be proud. 😆
ha ha ha haaa, love that comment. soon we will be forced to become obese by peer pressure. and its pleasantly plump.
Thanks for the history lesson. As a history buff I'm always interested in untainted and straight up history without a bunch of embellishments of others! 💯👍
This is a great episode! I'm an aerospace engineer, but never learned about this aircraft until now! Thanks for presenting it!
Never heard of this plane before. It looks "right". 15 years after his design every fast military jet had that look - engine in a tube, wings on the side, and a bubble canopy on top.
You should check out the Custer Channel Wing
It looks right. Something about it, it just gives you that feeling.
I think the biggest problem is that the engines and materials of the time weren't advanced enough to provide the justification for the aircraft. It would be interesting to see this prototype built with a modern engine and construction techniques.
OOOOHH YEAH!!! TOTALLY WOULD BE COOL! 😍😍👌👌👍😄😀
If you put the engine somewhere else like in the wings and only connect a shaft to the propeller you could get rid of the drag which hampered the Stipa Caproni. Ofc you then need sturdier wings than the little fairy wings it had ^^.
@@thingamabob3902 Engines to day are probably much more powerful than the same size engines of that day, so that alone may solve the drag problem.
@@ffjsb definitely more powerful, but then you still have wasted energy you could put to use if you optimize
@@thingamabob3902 I wouldn't call it wasted energy, I think it would translate into more speed.
A very interesting plane that was created with un-conventional methods... This design would be very effective, for short take off / landings... A lot of drag, kept the speed down, but the range was long, and the rate of climb was high...This fuuselage really reminds me of high by-pass jet engine outer cowlings, found in so many airliners and other types of planes....
Carrier based stealth bombers ?
@@blackcorp0001 yeah!!!! The radar folks would think it is a bird, flying at those bird-like speeds!!! Maybe a good way to disguise the plane, could be to put several flush mounted bird seed pans in the fuselage , so the birds stop and harness themselves on the fuselage for food/drinks & bird entertainment while in flight then have them escort this bomber/recon aircraft to the areas of concern... Again, the radar folks will think it's just a group of birds.... 😲
this is the first jet engine concept ever invented, whatc it like a engine whit wings, italy was the first
@@michaelmartinez1345 the birds work for the bourguoisie
@@karimshebeika8010 Good one!!! Maybe they will get more water & seed in their feeders!!! 🐦
That is awesome! Very innovative. It’s a shame the design was not viable or exploited in its time.
It was impractical and fragile, the Military wasn't interested.
It wasn't exploited because it was not viable.
What it is, you try stuff and see if it works. Even if it doesn't, others see it and and gives them a platform to think about things in a different way which might lead to innovation. You do get the feeling he had the concept down, just that there was one component missing to make it work, ie, jet engines which were only a few years in the future.
@@TheJhtlag The scientific method:
Observation - Research - Hypothesis -
Experiment - Analysis - Report
Saying it is "try stuff" gives a really distorted impression of what went into the effort.
@@shadowopsairman1583 Big area to shot at, for one.
This aircraft was the first to use a shrouded propeller. The advantage of this arrangement over a "free-running" propeller is that the shroud reduces thrust losses due to turbulence at the blade tips of the propeller. There is an increase in power relative to diameter, but not in propeller efficiency. The first mention of the shrouded propeller is found in 1918 in a patent specification of Mercur Flugzeugbau GmbH. This describes a "device for improving the efficiency of propellers" based on the use of guide vanes with adjustable pitch and a ring surrounding the propeller.
It'd be interesting to see a modern interpretation of this, with a high bypass turbofan
It would probably be something like the a-wing in Star Wars fast but difficult to steer well
This is also an annular wing, which is probably more interesting than the ducted fan ( given every turbofan is also a ducted fan ).
You have: an AB 380 engine, but with the cockpit on top of the engine instead of in the fuselage.
Nearly every jumbo jet has high bypass turbofans mounted on the wings.
@@dangeary2134 No shit. They don't use a high bypass turbofan for their fuselage though. Is the difference really that difficult for you to understand?
The Dark Skies narrator constantly speaks with the tone of voice as though everything is a secret conspiracy. Hard to take seriously.
What jumps out at me is the elliptical wings. Seems to be a very early example of that air foil. The brits used it on the spitfire, but the american P47 also owed some of its speed advantage to the elliptical wing.
Also, I wouldn't necessarily call him a crackpot, as his ideas were powerful and still resonate with many to this day.
Quite the unusual aircraft, but interesting nonetheless.
The USA BeeGee aircraft from 1932... built in Springfield, Massachusetts. Very similar.
I thought it was a racing plane. There are several designs that look like this even to this day. It's just a tube imagine how light it was even though it looked fat.
Quite the interesting aeroplane, but unusual nonetheless.
Neat
Reminds me of the gee bee race plane
or what Jim Winchester calls it in his book "a sewer pipe with wings"
The first thing I thought of was that it looked like a ducted fan with the fuselage being the duct. It also reminds me of a high bypass jet engine with the jet replaced with a piston engine.
You sure do get a lot of mileage out of 4.5 seconds of clip footage. How resourceful!
When all the narration is uttered with breathless urgency, none of it has breathless urgency.
Contours. Phrasing.
Weirdest thing I've ever seen! Thanks for bringing this unusual, to say the least, aircraft to our attention. As always God bless you and yours and thanks again for everything you do!
It's wonderful! So chunky. I bet the elevator was very effective being directly within the prop stream.
This barrel airplane is simply ingenious.
No way this unusual looking plane's engine can overheat. Impressed nevertheless. 👏
The great Italian chef Enrico Cannelloni was much impressed by the design of the Stipa-Caproni. He eventually bought the patent and successfully turned it into pasta.
Keep doing what you do so well. There are may military pers out here that haven't even seen info like this.
Well done.
Literally a flying engine, a good example of modern turbofan engine
1:55 The 1920's?? Daniel Bernoulli published his "Hydrodynamica" in 1738. Nevertheless, thanks for creating and posting this video. I remember reading about this airplane (along with many other oddities such as the German Horten bomber) in an oversized comic book back in the late '60's. Fascinating stuff!
Also: _ a reasonably well known axiom?_ An aeronautical engineer not familiar with Bernoulli’s principle would have been an odd fish indeed, whatever the date.
Also: There is a bit more to Bernoulli’s principle than that.
The Bernoulli principle actually states that "the internal pressure of a fluid decreases and its speed increases". It doesn't say anything about a tube because that's irrelevant.
And Viktor wasn’t Australian. He was Austrian. 🤣🤣🤣 Great work!
Caproni studied at the Montefiori Institute of Liege, where he met Henri Coanda ( yes, that one ), who displayed a similar, piston powered, ducted centrifugal rotor design at the 1910 Paris Aeronautics exhibition.
This is one of those that, if you HAD ever heard of it before, it would have probably been in the context of one of those "the most stupid aircraft ever!" vids. But it seems to have worked. I wonder what kind of performance it could have had if they'd resurrected the concept a few years later and contrived to squeeze, say, a DB601 into it
Viktor Schauberger forest caretaker, naturalist, philosopher, inventor and biomimicry experimenter. was an Austrian,put another shrimp on the barby! :) not Australian, he investigated how fish could stay stationary whilst water past by them and found water pressure caused by the motion of the water and the shape of the fish were the main factors in this phenomena, he would later apply mathematical formulas to his discoveries and found the fibonacci sequence was a common occurrence in the math of nature, he was also an environmentalist and warned of the danger caused by damage to the water ways by deforestation and water damming.
He was anything BUT a "crackpot". Thumbs down for that one.
@@christheother9088 He was ahead of the game and we are going to go back to his area of study to solve the worlds energy problems.
Great idea for delivering large pipe. Stap on wings,cockpit, landing gear, engine inside with remote control. Flying pipes, great for remote location oil pipelines. 😉
L'AEREO BARILE!!!!!! FINALLY!!! thanks for the vid!!!
As an Italian airplane enthusiast I know very well the peculiar looking Stipa Caproni airplane. In this Luigi Stipa demonstrated a high engineering skill but ultimately this airplane never really caught the interest of the aviation because did not offered advantage compared to the conventional airplanes. Sadly Stipa was embittered by this lack of interest and never having received what he viewed as his just recognition for inventing the jet engine. Honestly I find it stretching a bit too much his claim but he definitely should have been supported much more by the authorities of the Italian Regia Aereonautica......
I don't think the Stipa-Caproni looks ugly. It definitely looks goofy as heck, but I think that's what makes it so wholesome too.
Wow! This literally brought tears to my eyes! The design of this aircraft resembles the design I put in early 1990s to build my own aircraft, although mine used a jet engine! I've had never known about Stipa-Caproni till now!
I was young and full of ideas and dreams ;(
And now we are old and full of angst......
"Tears to my eyes" One of the most worn out fake phrases used for comments.
I can see it being a direct predecessor to the modern turbo fan engine. It looks like one, but with wings
Its more a direct predecessor of the Kort nozzle (1934)- the only thing this has in common with a turbofan is the round shape.
This plane would draw a crowed at any of todays air shows ! It’s comical but yet cute at the same time .
I'd say turbofan is a stretch. However, ducted fan is a possibility. I think Boeing entertained the idea of using ducted turboprop pusher configuration with counterotating props on a modified 727, but never went to production because of noise and other issues.
Victor Schauberger was neither Australian, nor a "crack-pot". He was Austrian, and a brilliant naturalist who contributed greatly to the understanding of forest management and natural water flow.
DA TOOOOB!
As soon as the video mentioned compressed air, I was thinking "jet engine". That's so cool!!!
I'm surprised they didn't at least try a dual engine variation with a center fuselage.
You can imagine the guy sitting there sweating the design parameters and thinking "There's got to be a way to make it look less like a flying pig, but the maths just works."
Imagine if it had an engine from a late ww2 plane and two props push and pull.
It's so cute, little fat plane and I want one.
What he should have done was build it as a dual engine with the cockpit in the middle and that would have solved most of the problems with view and turning
I can only imagine that being Italian, Luigi Stipa looked down at his bowl of steaming Rigatoni and thought "Mmm, I've got a great idea". In Italian, obviously...
If he used two tubes, one on each side, he would have had a modern jet like the ME 262
I had forgotten this plane existed but your video has jogged the memories of my youth
Has anyone done a computerized aerodynamic study of this design? I would think that we could learn a lot about this design by computer flying it.
It's kind of like the old sabres and other early jets.
NACA published an study, conducted under supervision of mr Stipa himself, providing evidence of too much drag. Can be located ay UK Cranfield repository. Blessings +
I feel like saying this inspired or is linked to the development of the turbofan jet engine is like saying the Horten brothers aircraft inspired the B-2 spirit
The only similarity is that the fan is ducted, but ducted fan fluid dynamics were already somewhat known about and undoubtedly studied by dozens of other developers independently of each other
Finally an Italian design, I love your videos! Please! Cover also the history behind MC. 72 the fastest seaplane in the world since 1934, 709,209 km/h (441 mph)! The record still holds today!!!
Thats not true, the usa made a jet seaplane concept
@@alexander1485 keyword? Concept
@@darkgeneral0192 The Convair F2Y Sea Dart was more than a concept. It was a supersonic delta-winged seaplane and several of the aircraft were built and flown.
@@soaringvulture propelled, not jet engined.
I can't imagine how they would have made Jet engines without this as the forerunner.
Very innovative and ahead of his time. Thinking out of the box for sure.
When you think about it, it's an ultimate tech demonstrator, nothing on it that's not the absolute minimum to try out the new tech.
The airfoil cross-section of the tube also reminded me of annular/tube/closed wing concept, something developed during the early 1900s before the outbreak of WW1.
It honestly looks like Spy Smasher's "gyro sub". It could fly too!
It would be interesting to take old technology like this and then iterate and develop on it further, just to see how it would evolve.
I like how you show film of random aircraft (US P-26, Fairey Battle, etc.) while talking about the completely unrelated Caproni. Confusion always aids comprehension.
This is SOP for the Dark documentary series.
Someone could always volunteer to do CGI versions of never-built aircraft for illustrative purposes.
But bitching is easier, I guess.
Neat
I only knew this plane from photographs. It seemed to me that it was just a suggestion. And when I saw the video, I was shocked. Smooth flight. Thanks for the video.
Now, imagine a blimp where the main propulsion is two engines with large slower propellers operating within a tube down the center and that tube is a large proportion of the structure of the blimp.... imagine the blimp made almost entirely out of stealthy materials and the interior tube also housing all fuel, and the avionics as well as other systems.
Now imagine a horse drawn carriage. And a steam locomotive. And any other obsolete technology. Them put a gps in it. Viola! Innovation!
well, being a *blimp*, stealthy materials are not going to save it from having the radar cross-section of a postal code. However, ducted fans (which this is the first example of) are used in lighter-than-air craft.
Pointless
Dark skies totally missed that it would have been a triumphant design had the prop had a close clearance with the duct adding 40 percent more thrust...
man I think it looks awesome and for the time definitely a huge engineering feat. I bet it handled relatively well. I'd love to have one today, could you imagine the looks you would get flying that 😂 I think it's awesome. thanks for the video
I think it self-stabilizes, so when you turn you have to fight the natural stabilization. He mentioned in the video it was hard to turn.
See, I don't find that ugly at all. It has character and charm. Looks like if they could add an airtight cockpit it would work as a submarine too.
If Dyson had built an airplane
This is awesome. Simple and to the point
Awesome as well as informative! Thank you for bringing it to us! 🤓
This would be an absolute superstar at any aircraft show! The cutest aircraft ever built :)
Great story, well researched and delivered.
Always loved the S-Caproni. A correction on victor schauberger : Schauberger was an Austrian not an Australian. And he wasn’t a crack pot, but like S-Caproni his early work influenced technology of the time and because he refused to work for the nazi’s his work was suppressed. It was his early studies in fluid dynamics that influences European river engineering to this day. And yes, sadly, at the end of his career, Schauberger too chased patents in the US to no avail.
I believe you meant to say Austrian instead you said Australian. No big deal. Incredibly interesting plane. Love your docs
@@jakelittle1261 He's talking about the V Schauberger reference, not the replica. Schauberger was Austrian.
That is what I thought ! A rudimentary TurboFan .
Porco Rosso :P
Porco wouldn't be caught dead flying that slug. 🙄
Great anime!!
@@lancerevell5979 true, but it was designed by an Italian
The most applicable modern day use of ducted fans is in the development of some drones, hover crafts, and individual flying machines using harnesses.
Genuinely interesting. It's a shame the Italians didn't have the foresight to give them more room to work on his project.
Well, it was the Italians that funded the original effort. A lot of good engineering comes from Italy.
It was not a successful design - no amount of doing was going to make this design less draggy.
I particularly like the narrator's vocal delivery, no nonsense!
9:50
‘Austrian crackpot’?
I think this man has a high reputation not only for profound research into Nature’s applications of powerful reserves in latent energy defying conventional mechanical explanation - and also for demanding humane and respectful conditions for his allotted captive assistants from SS masters who in other cases expended their energies and worked them to death under the terrifying conditions of Nazi Germany.
Australian?
@@HubertofLiege
Sounded like that to me but he was an Austrian naturalist and animal lover - he didn’t even like to be near the atom-smashing experiments near him - completely holistic it seems.
Neat
Yeah, calling him a crackpot is way out of line. Even if he was a little eccentric he was obviously a brilliant guy.
When I hear such clearly out of place and incorrect assertions as "Australian crackpot" I presume an agenda and tend to be wary of whatever else is said.
I think this is the coolest plane I've ever seen!
big chungus plane
bring back the chungus!
I love Chungus!
Ok, it's looks didn't win any prizes, but still we must give these aviation pioneers credit. In marine applications, the propeller-in-a-tube, otherwise known as a Kort nozzle has had much success even to this day, especially in tugboats.
El caproni Stipa, si no me equivoco
Ich vertehe Sie nicht!
Forty-five years later, we got the Edgley Optica, a similarly ducted-fan light aircraft.
I would have put the cockpits on the upper part of each wing instead of on top. It would have helped support the wings too.
This airplane is genius. The only problem is the stationary wings. If the were allowed the wings to wrap around the fuselage the drag would have lessened as speed increased. With today’s meta materials knowledge, this could be accomplished. None of the “modern” military industries have yet to realize this
The modern alternative is a SAAB 29 Tunnan (barrol). The difference is the backsweept wings. The first Swedish fighterplane to breaker the sound barrier. 661 built. From 1950.
It's a wild looking airplane. Before I saw it from the front, I thought it was a GeeBee. The designer was certainly thinking in the direction which would lead to jet aircraft.
Fascinating. "Close but no cigar." Thanks.
Not only that but if I didn't know any better that rudder/elevator placement gives the impression of (intentional or not) some early thrust vectoring type of design.
Duh
@@Make-Asylums-Great-Again ooh my bad, for a minute there I thought I was addressing the ignorant who don't know anything about airplanes, didn't know we had a genius in the audience 👌
Air gets thin the higher you go up. WW1 flight ceilings were at 8 or 10,000 feet. The strange configuration helped compress the thin air so a propeller would still work.
WHAT A BEAUTIFUL AIRCRAFT!