The U.S. Navy's Unconventional 'Flying Pancake' Fighter

Vought V-173 prototype's 427 square feet of wing area gave it the capability of taking off nearly vertically with typical wind over a ship’s deck.

Jason McDowell

Tuesday, October 15, 2024 at 11:21 AM ET

Verified

Edited By:

Kimberly Johnson

With the 22-degree deck angle on the Vought V-173, the pilot was forced to look forward, past his feet, through windows on the underside of the nose. [Courtesy: U.S. Navy]

Key Takeaways:

The Vought V-173, known as the "Flying Pancake," was an unconventional saucer-shaped aircraft designed by Charles Zimmerman in the late 1930s for the U.S. Navy, aiming for fighters deployable from various ships.
Despite its unusual appearance and initial skepticism, the V-173 prototype successfully flew, demonstrating remarkable performance with a landing speed of only 22 mph due to its massive wing area and large propellers.
Powered by two small 80 hp engines buried in its fuselage, the aircraft proved surprisingly robust, accumulating 131 flight hours and even surviving a forced landing with minimal damage.
While its more powerful successor, the XF5U, never achieved full flight, the V-173 itself was later restored by the Vought Aircraft Heritage Foundation and is now on display at the Frontiers of Flight Museum.

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If one were to claim that their new aircraft design utilized two 80 hp Piper Cub engines that turned two 16.5-foot propellers, that individual’s mental state might be called into question. If that individual were to go on to claim that their new aircraft design would resemble a flying saucer and could land at 22 mph, we might suggest that they sketch their design out on paper so they could show it to a psychiatrist and receive powerful prescription medication to help them control their delusions.

Such a design did emerge in the late 1930s, but the designer, Charles Zimmerman, was not insane. On the contrary, his unconventional vision, which became the Vought V-173 and was nicknamed the “Flying Pancake,” did, in fact, come to fruition. Not only did it fly, but it demonstrated remarkable performance.