Hi guys, here are my two runner-ups for this month’s “Ugly Duckling” competition. As I have said in the past, every screenshot has its own attributes so what makes us select one over another all boils down individual preference. As the old adage says, “beauty is in the eyes of the beholder”. I apologize for selecting the Vickers’s Vimy as my “ugly duckling” candidate, particularly to those that recognize and admire the aircraft’s remarkable achievements and contribution to the advancement of flight. To be honest when I decided to go with the Vimy, I had the original WWI bomber version in mind. The commercial livery shown is a variant of the military version with a lot more eye appeal. Anyone interested in recreating either of these screenies in part or in whole for this month’s competition is more than welcome to do so. Both are default FSX shots taken along the California coast just before dusk. The first shot is just off Big Sur and the second over San Francisco Bay. Lens flair is active in both screenies………………. Ziggy   

Very nice shots...well done...

Passing seven plus decades now with six with my head in the air I can honestly say I never saw an aircraft I did not like or flew.

I was going to post the Douglas DC3 or the Consolidated PBY5A/Canso/Catalina as ugly aircraft I knew.

But ugly in the sense to work with not looks.

The Consolidated PBY5A/Canso/Catalina we used when the ice moved off the bay or lakes.  Everything went by air, food, oil etc. etc.  It all had to be loaded through the side blisters or dutch doors that some of the aircraft had. 

Think about bobbing up and down, back and forth in three or four foot waves and trying to unload six hundred and sixty pound metal drums through that space and into a flat bottom boat bobbing up and down also.

One pilot would stay on the controls keeping engines running and into the wind while the other two unloaded everything by hand.

New guys got seasick real quick and yes we did have a few folks hurt in the boats, but that was the only way to do it, there were no roads back then and the barge was lucky to get part way down before freeze-up.

Ugly...you bet...

Now for the dang old Douglas DC3, we used it during the winter and would land with wheel skis on the ice to unload everything.
Again everything was hand bombed off and on and by all three crew (Captain as well...I slugged my share of metal drums up and down that blasted beast on a snow covered slippery floor.

Then putting the dam ugly thing to bed, engines covers, wing covers etc. in minus thirty or fourty celsius with high winds was dam ugly.

We took turns staying with the old Herman Nelson Heater because if they ran out of fuel, sometimes they would catch fire.  Company did like burn't aircraft.

http://www.aerotech-herman-nelson.com/AppDetail.aspx?app=7

Fuel was wobble pumped from metal drums also at most locations and the fuel was taken from caches set up prior to and during World War Two so it had to be strained as well.

Ugly...you bet...

When the Twin Otters and other turbine aircraft started to make an appearance, it was just a plug into the front of an engine and off for a wobbly pop...

So there are two of the ugly aircraft I can think about, not sure if that is exactly what they had in mind for the competition or not...

Right on Ziggy and I had a look at your photos...all 227 of them...awesome...very nice...

Nice shots Ziggy - I think you made the right choice of Vimy, the original WW1 bomber version is much prettier than this ugly bird (no offence to Vickers )

Steve