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Are there any aircraft where the wings are swept forward to form a C shape ahead of the cockpit? Something like this:

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I want to do a research on that kind of aircraft and there are many science fiction examples, but I wonder if there are any real-world ones? If so, what is that wing configuration called?

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    $\begingroup$ I'm voting to close this question as off-topic because it's about fictional space ships, not about aviation. $\endgroup$
    – David Richerby
    Mar 9, 2018 at 11:24
  • $\begingroup$ The experimental Grumman X-29 had forward swept wings, but they didn't actually go so far as to be forward of the cockpit. (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grumman_X-29) $\endgroup$
    – abelenky
    Mar 9, 2018 at 16:46
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    $\begingroup$ I have voted to reopen this question. The question seems to be answerable, and in fact, is answered satisfactorily, if in fact there are no real world aircraft with that wing configuration. The fact that the question is based in science fiction does not mean it's not about aviation. If the reason there have been no aircraft shaped like that, an answer that explained why it would be impractical may actually be more beneficial to the OP. $\endgroup$
    – CGCampbell
    Mar 9, 2018 at 17:23
  • $\begingroup$ This wing planform would be statically unstable and needs to be much heavier than a straight or sweptback wing. $\endgroup$
    – Peter Kämpf
    Mar 9, 2018 at 17:32
  • $\begingroup$ It is easy to find forward swept wings, but C shape seems to not be interresting enough to be experimented $\endgroup$
    – Manu H
    Mar 10, 2018 at 21:19

2 Answers 2

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The closest thing from the real world that comes close to the ones you found on deviantart are "Canard Aircraft"

Beech Starship

If you read about this concept you will find that it is complicated to implement it succesful.

Then most of the art employ a forward swept wing, this has some complications as well. I would suggest you read some more about the NASA X-29 NASA X-29

As far as I know a combination of the two has never been demonstrated in real life and only exist in fiction, therefore there is no general name for as far as my knowledge goes.

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  • $\begingroup$ If you find a picture of the starship with flaps deployed, the canard is even slightly swept forward. Yes, the Starship was a subsonic variable-geometry aircraft. $\endgroup$
    – Peter Kämpf
    Mar 9, 2018 at 17:33
  • $\begingroup$ I think the Hansa Jet from the 60's is the only production aircraft with forward swept wing. (There were some gliders that tried it too) The sweep creates more problems than it solves, however. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamburger_Flugzeugbau_HFB_320_Hansa_Jet $\endgroup$
    – Mackk
    Mar 10, 2018 at 7:00
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The Junkers 287 was a WW2 testbed that had forward swept wings, although they didn't extend past the cockpit at the very front of the fuselage. If the 287 had a more conventional bomber cockpit location, the wings would have been swept to about the cockpit location.

This was a real hodgepodge of aircraft parts. The fuselage was a HE177, rear landing gear from a JU352 transport, and front landing gear came from crashed B24's.

The forward swept wings were said to give better response at lower speeds, as the early turbojets didn't accelerate very quickly.

It never went into full production.

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