Another bizarre entry from the early days of aviation.

[Hoomi]

Just when you think you've seen all the weird ideas early aeronautic designers played with, another one pops up from the archives of history to prove you wrong.

I could see this concept being fun to play with for a club build challenge.

[Pogo]

Just when you think you've seen all the weird ideas early aeronautic designers played with, another one pops up from the archives of history to prove you wrong.

I could see this concept being fun to play with for a club build challenge.

Bet it did awesome barrel roles!:Cool:
Tom

[Bill Wakeley Jr.]

I had a garbage disposal that looked just like that plane!

[Hoomi]

I had a garbage disposal that looked just like that plane!

But, how well did it fly?

[rifleman_btx]

Worlds first ducted fan?

[Bill Wakeley Jr.]

LOL, it flew like trash.

[fhhuber]

For what it was, it flew OK. It was an experiment based on an idea that wasn't really thought out too well.
They thought they were going to gain a lot of performance from a low power engine.
Actually, they got better performance than the conventional configuration would have had with the same engine and aircraft weight, just not as good as they had expected.

The design of the tube wasn't right. We now know to "squeeze" the air with the outlet being 85% of fan swept area. They squeezed the air, and then opened it back up to original diameter, ensuring they got the drag of the venturi without the benefit of accelerating the eflux.
Just that one change to the thing would have been significant.

Pushing the engine back so the prop tips were inside the tube instead of leading the tube would have also helped.

Good idea, but executed without the knowledge we have today.