It's time again for .... yep! you guessed it! ...

[Mark Allen M]

... "hideous contraptions that had promise, but were just too d*mned ugly" ...

For my first exhibit, I present to you for your viewing dis-pleasure, The Short S.B.3

"The Short company found themselves with a promising airframe in search of a role to fulfill. This hideous contraption was conceived for the M.6/49 light anti-submarine aircraft requirement -it was in fact the only contender. Short re-engined their Sturgeon with two 1,147 hp AS Mamba turboprops and, horror of horrors, a monstrous nose affair with the radar in its “chin” and a pair of radar operators above. The first of the two prototypes took flight in Dec. 1950 and proved that it wasn’t only ugly in appearance: it's Mamba engined jet exhaust made the S.B.3 highly unstable. The project was soon cancelled."



















[img]http://warbirdsresourcegroup.org/pix_for_wix/Mark%20Allen%20Colledtion/its_time_again_for/its_time_again_for_WRG-00071445.jpg[/im54

[Lon Moer]

Well that is certainly a WTF ugly airplane......but Short has a long history of WTF ugly airplane designs.

[Stoney]

in the next to last pix, what are those two in the background?

[Courier Sportster]

i guess those are little vents of some sort, as they appear in another photo, but it kind of looks like someone took an axe to it, and removed some camo, in one of the flying shots. seemingly random and haphazard vents, not at all gracefully placed. hand holds?

[DB2]

in the next to last pix, what are those two in the background?

I believe the jet is a Hawker Sea Hawk and the prop is a Boulton Paul Balliol.

[Joe Scheil]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/1944-USAAF-ATC ... %7Ciid%3A1

here is another one....

[Chris Brame]

Might as well post the photos now, they'll be sold in less than an hour:

Haven't heard of a C-76 modded as a "hospital ship" before.

[Sopwith]

Yes I think you are right DB2. Re the Shorts aircraft I think it is only the droopy chin that makes it look ugly, otherwise if it didn’t have that it would be pretty good.

[Joe Scheil]

Chris,

thank you for posting that photo. It wasn't pretty at all. It also was deadly, perhaps the truest visage of an ugly aircraft.

From Wiki....

"The first flight of the YC-76 prototype took place on 3 May 1943.[2] The C-76 proved severely underpowered from the start, with a cruising speed of 160 mph (260 km/h), a service ceiling of 22,600 feet (6,900 m), a range of only 750 mi (1,210 km), and a cargo capacity of under 8,000 lb (3,600 kg). Colonel J.W. Sessums, a USAAF officer at the Air Materiel Command at Wright Field, later related:
'The first flight [of the C-76] was made and the airplane was very heavy. It developed some serious vibrations. In fact, the pilot was awful glad to make a quick circuit to get back on the ground. Two of the Curtiss test pilots took it out on a flight and the Army requested that our project officer on the airplane be allowed to fly along on this trip. The Curtiss Company refused. We were very glad that they refused because on this second flight, it [the C-76] flew apart and the pilots were lost and so was the plane."

[JohnB]

The Short is an airplane that makes the Fairey Gannett look like an F-104!

Plus it has a Mamba engine.
When two were placed in the Gannett, it was termed the "Double Mamba"...my all time favorite engine name (Which also sounds like a Latin dance or a euphemism for an act which is unmentionable on a family website such as this.)

[Chris Brame]

And the C-76 was mostly composed of mahogany, so it was built like a grand piano and flew like one. Curtiss cranked out 25 of them and they mostly ended up as ground trainers; eight of the survivors went to the RFC for surplus sale. Guess they might have made good sheds?
ETA: Per William Larkins' book Surplus WWII Aircraft, one C-76 was listed for sale at the WAA facility in Americus, GA with a price tag of $16,000.

Now, what was the final fate of that Short critter?

[JohnB]

There is a good history of the C-76 in American Aircraft Development of WWII, Special Types 1939-1945 by Bill Norton.

His series of books on Fights, Bombers, Special Types (cargo, helicopters, seaplanes) are my favorite new book series. He has one being released soon on experimental & researcher types.

[Pat Carry]

Talk about having nasal problems!

[airnutz]

Well that is certainly a WTF ugly airplane......but Short has a long history of WTF ugly airplane designs.

In later times it might been named the Shorts Leno.

[Scott Rose]

Avro Bison II