ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Vincent Burnelli

Okay kiddo, have you ever seen an airplane flying high up in the sky? Well, a long time ago, a man named Vincent Burnelli wanted to create an airplane that would be different from all the other ones. He thought that airplanes shouldn't look like big birds with long pointy noses, but that they should be shaped more like a big fat sausage.

So he created airplanes that looked like a fat sausage with wings on top, or like a big bathtub with wings attached. He said that this new shape would make planes fly better and be safer too.

Vincent Burnelli kept inventing and testing these new airplane designs, until he finally created a very special one called the UB-14. It was a flying machine with wings that were tilted up and backward, and a round body with a bulge in the front.

This shape made it so the airplane could carry more weight and passengers, while still being very stable and easy to fly. It also made it so the airplane could take off and land on shorter runways, which is really important when you're flying in a smaller airport or out in the countryside.

Unfortunately, not many people were interested in Vincent Burnelli's airplanes at the time, and he had a hard time getting enough money to keep inventing. But even though he didn't become famous for his airplane designs, he still showed us that sometimes thinking outside the box and trying new things can lead to really cool ideas!