That design ethos created an aircraft that was as flat as it was roundish in shape. The result was what many thought looked like a giant flapjack or pancake flying through the sky - hence its quirky ...

Local pilot and inventor Marvin Joy stands next to his experimental wingless plane that he called the “pumpkin seed.” The plane was flown twice at Pearson Field, in perhaps the first test of a lifting ...

What You Need to Know: The Vought V-173, or “Flying Pancake,” defied traditional aircraft design with its flat, flying-wing shape. Invented in the 1930s by Charles Zimmerman, the V-173 was ...