The Paris Air Show has hosted some of the world's weirdest and quirkiest aircraft - these are the highlights

The famous Paris Air Show has seen some truly quirky and weird aircraft take flight in the skies above France.

The show has taken place since 1953 at Paris-Le Bourget, with the first show itself taking place in 1909.

Over the years, a wide array of aircraft have been on show. Aviation development has, of course, been incredibly interesting over the last 116 years.

We here at Supercar Blondie have taken a look at some of the quirkiest and weirdest aircraft to ever take flight at the show, ranging from military aircraft to truly incredible airliners.

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France itself has produced its fair share of weird aircraft, with the SE.212 Durandal that appeared at the 1957 Paris Air Show one of them.

Designed by French manufacturer SNCASE, the Durandal was built as an interceptor, using an experimental rocket and jet engine setup.

Its top speed was 1,036mph/Mach 1.57.

The project was canceled not long after it appeared at the airshow.

Reasons given for this were the fact that it had just one air-to-air missile as armament, as well as influence from Britain due to the 1957 Defence White Paper.

One of the most famous weird aircraft to ever appear at the airshow was the Soviet Union’s Tupolev Tu-144.

It was this, not Concorde, that became the world’s first supersonic airliner after flying for the first time at the end of 1968.

However, despite looking like Concorde and earning the nickname Konordski, the aircraft was nowhere near as capable as its rival.

It could fly faster, but only on full reheat, and thus it drained its fuel tanks at an alarming rate.

Concorde, meanwhile, could cruise at Mach 2 with reheat off thanks to its ‘supercruise’ feature.

The Tu-144 was also noisy inside the cabin, hopelessly unreliable, and rushed into service to beat Concorde.

Sadly, it became most famous in Paris for its crash at the airshow in 1973, after its pilot put it into a steep dive, causing it to break up.

The controversy surrounding this crash, as the Tu-144 may have been avoiding a French Dassault Mirage taking pictures of it, continued for many years.

Russia was also responsible for another incredible aircraft appearing at the show, the sole Antonov An-225 Mriya.

This was the largest aircraft ever built.

That was until it was destroyed in 2022 during the Russian invasion of Ukraine at its Hostomel base.

When it debuted at the show in 1989, the Mriya was being used to carry the Soviet space shuttle, the Buran.

This was much like the adapted Boeing 747 used by NASA.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the An-225 sat for many years.

Ukraine eventually restored it and used it to carry giant payloads across the globe.

The aircraft also provided medical aid around the world at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ukraine has vowed to rebuild the An-225, using the partially built second aircraft, which so far has survived the war.

The main attraction at the 41st Paris Air Show in 1995 was the debut of the Northrop B-2 Spirit stealth bomber.

The B-2 Spirit had been shrouded in secrecy for years.

The first flight took place in 1989, and parts of its design are still highly classified.

The B-2 is one of the most expensive aviation projects ever undertaken.

It cost the United States an average of $2.13 billion for the 21 aircraft built.

Each individual aircraft costs around $737 million.

Thanks to its almost non-existent footprint on radar, no B-2 has been shot down in service.

It has served with distinction in conflicts such as the Kosovo War and Afghanistan.

One other notable aircraft that has been displayed in Paris is the German Dornier Do 31.

This was a prototype vertical take-off or landing (VTOL) transport aircraft, developed for use by the German Air Force.

The radical jet showed some promise, and it made its public debut at the 1969 Paris Air Show.

There was even an idea to create an airliner version.

Sadly, the Do 31 was too complex, and the number of engines needed to fly vertically meant it was also too heavy.

Just three were built, with the first flight taking place in 1967 before the project was canceled in April 1970.

As we can see, the Paris Air Show has featured some remarkable, quirky, and weird aircraft over the years, from all over the world.

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