An ugly airplane, new to me.

[Jim Bow]

The Douglas Dolphin. Here in Coast Guard service. The Dolphin was the first airplane purchased for Presidential use. FDR, but he never used it, and the NAVY used it as a transport.

62A1F6C3-9A4E-4A00-BC0D-752C06DFA734.jpg

[Chip-skiff]

A Philip Bolger design?

[birlinn]

Ugly?
Nah, this is ugly!

airtruck.jpg

[Andrew Craig-Bennett]

Crop dusters obey the same rules of beauty as combine harvesters.

[Nicholas Scheuer]

I sort'a like the way they stuck that extra wing between the engines. The whole thing is not really ugly at all, to me, anyway. Now that thing in #2 is a whole 'nuther breed of cat. Seen it before. The ladder stuck on the side should'a given them a clue that maybe wind resistance might be getting out of hand. How 'bout if ther pilot just throws out a knotted rope in order to get out?

[birlinn]

Crop dusters obey the same rules of beauty as combine harvesters.

I've seen better looking combines!

[Nicholas Scheuer]

^^ Well, there's the Gleaner featuring a minimum of galvanized sheet metal covering the innards, and then there's the John Deer offering with smooth sheet metal covering everything.

[JamesCaird]

That's form following function. For sailors and pilots there is nothing more fun than a flying boat (and an amphib as well).
The hardest thing maybe is getting the engines someplace where they won't get drowned. For some footage of an amphib swallowing water have a look at a movie: Peter O'toole in "Murphy's War" on YouTube. I think it's a Grumman Duck.
Cheers/ JC

[Sandlapper]

those dealing with boats have little cause speaking about beauty as the term "butt ugly" is a far better fit for some . most anything with density lower than one will float but the air has much tighter rules. amphibians face even tighter working rules.

[willin woodworks]

That's form following function. For sailors and pilots there is nothing more fun than a flying boat (and an amphib as well).
The hardest thing maybe is getting the engines someplace where they won't get drowned. For some footage of an amphib swallowing water have a look at a movie: Peter O'toole in "Murphy's War" on YouTube. I think it's a Grumman Duck.
Cheers/ JC

Crazy funny watching him try to take off downwind....great flick

[The Ranger]

The floatplane landing strip at Kenora ended just before the starting line for the rowing races. Until you adjusted to the planes cutting back on throttle and/or pitch on the prop once they were airborne one kept looking up for the plane that was going to join you in the boat.