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Designed by Charles H. Zimmerman as an experimental aircraft during Second World War, the American Vought V-173 is better known as the ‘Flying Pancake’. The colloquial christening came from its flat, roughly-disk shaped body (with the circular wing having dia of 23.3 ft) that was tailored to lifting. But beyond the gimmicky design, the Vought V-173 did have some problem relating to its obtrusive gearbox that intruded upon the power served to the engines.
