I was evaluating a kit of the Fairey Barracuda recently and I was struck by how ugly this fairly capable RAF torpedo bomber was. Then I ran down the list of WW II planes, excluding biplanes as these really have little chance in a beauty contest with Spitfires, FW-190Ds, etc., and it soon became obvious that the Barracuda had lots of competition for the title of ugliest monoplane used in that epic conflict. Interestingly, the Brits seemed to specialize in this area. Their list of eyesores includes the York, Albemarle, Wellesley, Skua, and Whitley but other countries did their best to compete. As examples, consider the U.S. Vultee A-35 Vengence or Brewester Buffalo; or you might take a look at Italy's Fiat BR-20 bomber, Germany"s BV-141, Japan's Kyushu Q1W1 "Lorna", or the incredibly ungainly Russian TB-3 four-engined bomber/troop transport. What do you guys think? Aside from the Buffalo and Skua, which have already been done in diecast would you buy any of these other "beauties"if Corgi, Dragon, HM, et.al. tried to market them? Would their performance outweigh their looks?
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In a previous life I posted a poem about the Barracuda and how bad that plane was,
I think both the British and French excelled at building ugly planes in the between wars period.
However for something different how about the DoX flying boat?
Sorry I dont have a photo I can post.