The massive Hughes H-4 ‘Spruce Goose’ flying boat, the largest aircraft ever to have flown, made only one mile-long flight over Los Angeles harbour in 1947 before being retired to a museum.

The amazing Spruce Goose is just one of 75 prototype and experimental aircraft featured in this fascinating book, from America’s Bell X-1 rocket research aircraft – the first manned aircraft to break the sound barrier – to the experimental Lockheed A-12 Mach 3 fighter, based on the record-breaking SR-71 spyplane. Including bizarre concepts like the Lockheed XFV-1 Salmon, designed to take off vertically with the pilot lying on his back, and the Junkers Ju 287, a WWII jet bomber prototype with wings that swept forwards rather than backwards, this book explores the boundaries of aviation research over the decades.

Among the many unusual aircraft described here are

– The Fairey Delta 2, which became the first aircraft in the world to set an air speed record of over 1000 miles per hour

– The Miles Libellula, a little-known World War II British prototype with a canard-wing configuration, designed to be fast and unstallable

– The Vought XF5U ‘Flying Pancake’, a bizarre-looking prototype fighter which was almost circular – led to rumours that the USAF was testing a crashed UFO

Each prototype or experimental aircraft is covered in detail, with an annotated full-page photograph or artwork, in-depth text and full specifications.

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