A closer look
Imagine a breakfast dish taking flight—that was the Flying Pancake. Built during World War II, this experimental plane had no graceful wings, only a broad round body shaped like a flapjack. Engineers hoped its unusual shape would give it incredible lift and agility. And in flight, it worked surprisingly well, skimming the air in defiance of every textbook drawing of airplanes. Though it never saw combat, the Flying Pancake remains an odd reminder that sometimes the best way to test science is to take even the silliest ideas sky-high.
