Core77

The always excellent DeputyDog shows us some of the coolest things we've never heard of--like this prototype 1950s-era inflatable escape airplane. The idea is that you airdrop it to a soldier stuck behind enemy lines; he blows it up (using a compressor, not his mouth), hand-cranks the engine into life, and it's up, up, and away.

Alas, the program was ultimately scuttled due to technical difficulties of the sort that will kill you.

In the same entry, DD also discusses the "Fulton Skyhook," which you've no doubt seen in the new Batman movie (but if you're Gen-X or older, you saw it in Thunderball first). The video is unbelievable: