CRAZIEST Abandoned Military Projects

"From Aircraft Carriers made out of ICE, to the MYSTERIOUS Flying Saucer, these are 5 CRAZY Abandoned Military Projects

HEY YOU ! There are more awesome videos being made every week, like and subscribe to World Unearthed so you don't miss a beat !

5. Airborne Laser
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:USA
DATE:1996-2010
COST: $5 BILLION

4. The Green Cheese
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: UNITED KINGDOM
DATE: 1950’s
COST: UNDISCLOSED

3. Project Habakkuk
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: UNITED KINGDOM
DATE: 1942
COST: UNDISCLOSED

This one, this one is really bizarre guys. Geoffrey Pyke, an inventor that worked for the British Combined Operations Headquarters during the war, came up with an insane idea.

An aircraft carrier made out of… ICE ! Well, pykrete to be exact, which is a mixture of wood pulp and ice. Since steel and aluminum were in extremely short supply, the allied forces needed something cheap and efficient to use in their winter operations in the Atlantic.

The ice structures would act as mid-way points for aircraft that were deep in enemy territory and could not fly all the way back to. Even Churchill was interested in the project, and scale models started popping up around Canada. However, it turned out that the ice ship would need a lot more than just wood pulp to keep its structural integrity.

A fun side note, during the Quebec Conference in 1943, there was a demonstration of the strength of pykrete. Lord Mountbatten, a British Naval officer, shot a gun at a block of pykrete, the bullet ricochet and grazed the leg of one Admiral Ernest King.

By the end of 1943, it was realized that the total cost of one of these ice ship islands would be more than building an actual fleet of conventional aircraft carriers, and thus, Project Habakkuk was no more.

2.Bartini Beriev VVA
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USSR
DATE: 1970’s
COST: UNDISCLOSED

The Bartini Beriev VVA, VVA standing for vertical take off, amphibious aircraft was thought of by the Italian - born designer Robert Bartini.

His story is actually quite interesting, during the rise of fascism in Italy, the soviet union welcomed him with open arms. He defected in 1923 and took many secret plans and designs with him. He became an important part of the Soviet Union’s Air Force cabinet. Bertini also spent 8 years in prison after being falsely prosecuted, but that did not stop him from creating new plans for strange airplanes.

Okay, back to the project, the aircraft was designed to be able to fly at high speeds at high altitudes, while also having the capability to “fly” just above sea surface. It was supposed to somehow help destroy U.S. Navy Submarines.

It is believed that only a few prototypes were built, and due to inefficiency from companies supplying required parts, the project slowed down immensely. In 1974, the aircraft’s fate was sealed when Bertini passed away. You can find the last known survivor at the Russian Federation Central Air Force museum…. By the looks of it, it won’t last there that much longer.

1. Avro Canada VZ-9 Avrocar
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN:CANADA
DATE: 1958-1961
COST: $10 MILLION

In the early years of the Cold War the U.S. Air Force and Army commissioned a top secret aircraft project, and they chose Canadian Based Avro Aircraft to design and build it.

The U.S. wanted a VTOL, vertical take-off and landing, aircraft, that was very fast, efficient, and deadly. Well, that was the original concept anyway, the project was scaled back immensely over the years due to design problems.

The project started off as wishful thinking and turned into proof of concept in the span 3 years. The most important part of the Avrocar, was its concept creator, “Jack” Frost. He was a very respected aircraft designer that moved from Britain to Canada after the war.

Design 1 had its issues, Design 2 tried to improve on them, but ultimately, the craft was unstable. It never got close to reaching the estimated maximum speed of 300mph, in reality, it could not pass 35mph due to serious instability.

Funding was cut abruptly, the project was seen as a “dead end” and we never got to fly high in saucer shaped aircraft, and because the U.S. commissioned and paid for the concept, the VZ-9 1,2 were transferred south of the border.

The first avrocar collected dust for over 40 years in the basement of the National Air and Space Museum, it was eventually restored and put on display, nowadays you can find it in the Presidential Aircraft Gallery. The second design is currently under restoration at the U.S. Army Transportation Museum in Virginia.

Everyone wants to believe that the truth is out there, and maybe it was, maybe the project was “scrapped” from the books, but continued somewhere in the Nevada desert. *clears throat*. What do you think ?"