5 Strangest Airplanes of World War 2

Thanks to its rear-facing pusher propeller design, the American Curtiss-Wright XP-55 Ascender was referred to as the “Butt-ender.“ A special lever had to be included to jettison the propeller to prevent pilots from hitting it when bailing out. The unusual configuration came from a 1939 US Air Corps request for unorthodox solutions to improve pilot visibility and armament space. A strange design for its time, the XP55 had a canard configuration, with a rear-mounted Pratt & Whitney X-1800 engine, swept wings, and two vertical tails that gave it an arrow-like appearance. In 1940, Curtiss received an Army contract for a wind tunnel model under the P55 designation. Although the Air Corps did not like the results, Curtiss decided to build a full-scale model to continue testing.