The subjects of this book are not the greats, nor the near greats, of aviations history. They are the black sheep that have embarrassed their builders, enraged their owners and frightened their pilots. In many cases, these are aircraft that never should have been built and which are more starkly bizarre than the most deranged flights of fantasy. This book of "black sheep'' includes some of the worst and most dangerous contrivances ever perpetrated, such as Count Caproni's Transaereo, which was really nothing more than three huge triplanes nailed to a houseboat. Then there's the worthless Brewster F2ABuffalo, the asymmetrical Blohm & Voss Bv-141, the "disposable'' Bachem Ba-349, and the infamous Yokosuka MXY7--the only airplane ever designed to kill its own pilot--just to name a few.

The World's Worst Aircraft by Bill Yenne (1990)