i want one

World War II-era aircraft designer Charles Zimmerman's "Flying Flapjack," the experimental prototype V-173 shown here eventually became the XF5U-1 Navy fighter, with folding rather than fixed landing gear. It had an incredible range of speed, from nearly motionless (standing straight up against a stiff wind) to 500 mph. Its pioneering STOL (Short Take-Off and Landing) capabilities were intended for the aircraft carrier endgame of the war in the Pacific to provide air superiority in regions where the Americans did not have land-based airfields.

Manufactured by Chance Vought. Just at delivery, the XF5U-1 was scrapped; jets were the future, propeller and piston technology was over for military aviation. The Defense Department ordered the few XF5U-1s destroyed. Pilots described them as difficult to fly at first, but a lot of fun to fly.

A V-173 survived and is on display at the Smithsonian in Washington DC.