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56-427: The Pitts Sky Car was an unsuccessful aircraft designed for vertical take off , by inventor John W. Pitts of Detroit , Michigan . Pitts filed a United States patent in 1924 for a propeller , "which will cause an immediate vertical lift of any aerial car to which the propeller is attached". This consisted of a "mushroom-shaped" rotor of 60 blades, each hinged at the root. An engine would rotate and reciprocate

112-627: A DFS 230 glider and a rotor from a Fa 223. Another project was the Fa 330 kite with rotor, capable of being deployed by a submarine at a moments notice and then used as a towed spotter. It was stored in a watertight container on the deck of the U-boat and was used during the war. A powered version of the kite would have been the Fa 336 which was in the design phase when the war ended and built in France postwar for testing. Focke subsequently manufactured

168-620: A turbofan in static or hovering conditions. Its efflux can be used for Upper Surface Blown architectures to boost the Lift Coefficient to values exceeding 8.0. Heinrich Focke Henrich Focke (8 October 1890 – 25 February 1979) was a German aviation pioneer from Bremen and also a co-founder of the Focke-Wulf company. He is best known as the inventor of the Fw 61 , the first successful German helicopter. Henrich Focke

224-631: A VTOL (helicopter) show up in Leonardo da Vinci 's sketch book. Manned VTOL aircraft, in the form of primitive helicopters, first flew in 1907, but would take until after World War Two to be perfected. In addition to helicopter development, many approaches have been tried to develop practical aircraft with vertical take-off and landing capabilities, including Henry Berliner 's 1922–1925 experimental horizontal rotor fixed wing aircraft, and Nikola Tesla 's 1928 patent, and George Lehberger's 1930 patent for relatively impractical VTOL fixed wing airplanes with

280-543: A conventional wing and tilts the whole assembly to transition between vertical and horizontal flight. A tail-sitter sits vertically on its tail for takeoff and landing, then tilts the whole aircraft forward for horizontal flight. Thrust vectoring is a technique used for jet and rocket engines, where the direction of the engine exhaust is varied. In VTOL, the exhaust can be varied between vertical and horizontal thrust. Similar to tiltrotor concept, but with turbojet or turbofan engines instead of ones with propellers. A lift jet

336-488: A designer with the North German Automobile Company ( Nordwestdeutscher Fahrzeugbau ) of Wilhelmshaven . In 1952, Focke and other members of his former design team were employed by Brazil's Centro Técnico Aeroespacial (CTA), at the time the air force's technical center, to develop a Convertiplane , the "Convertiplano", which drew heavily on Focke's wartime work on the Fa 269 . Also recruited

392-783: A followup story was part of the April 2006 issue that mentioned "the fuel-consumption and stability problems that plagued earlier plane/copter." Retired from the British Royal Navy in 2006, the Indian Navy continued to operate Sea Harriers until 2016, mainly from its aircraft carrier INS  Viraat . The latest version of the Harrier, the BAE Harrier II , was retired in December 2010 after being operated by

448-584: A helicopter, then transitions to fixed-wing lift in forward flight. Examples of this include the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey A tiltrotor or proprotor tilts its propellers or rotors vertically for VTOL and then tilts them forwards for horizontal wing-borne flight, while the main wing remains fixed in place. Similar to tiltrotor concept, but with ducted fans . As it can be seen in the Bell X-22 . A tiltwing has its propellers or rotors fixed to

504-439: A helicopter. The rotors would become stationary in mid-flight, and function as wings, providing lift in addition to the static wings. Boeing X-50 is a Canard Rotor/Wing prototype that utilizes a similar concept. A different British VTOL project was the gyrodyne , where a rotor is powered during take-off and landing but which then freewheels during flight, with separate propulsion engines providing forward thrust. Starting with

560-462: A new company dedicated to helicopter development and issued him with a requirement for an improved design capable of carrying a 700 kg (1,500 lb) payload. Focke established the Focke-Achgelis company on 27 April 1937 in partnership with pilot Gerd Achgelis , and began development work at Delmenhorst in 1938. The new company built the experimental Fa 225 using the fuselage of

616-716: A nose-mounted machine gun , and could carry one or two bombs , but the Drache was never used for combat. Towards the end of Nazi Germany Focke started design work on the Focke Rochen , also known as Schnellflugzeug . On 1 September 1945, Focke signed a contract with the French company SNCASE and assisted in development of their SE-3000 passenger helicopter, which was based on the Focke-Achgelis Fa 223 "Drache" and which first flew in 1948. In 1950, he worked as

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672-489: A proposal in 1948 for an aircraft capable of vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aboard platforms mounted on the afterdecks of conventional ships. Both Convair and Lockheed competed for the contract but in 1950, the requirement was revised, with a call for a research aircraft capable of eventually evolving into a VTOL ship-based convoy escort fighter. At the end of 1958, the French SNECMA Coléoptère ,

728-518: A short time later. The Harrier is usually flown in STOVL mode, which enables it to carry a higher fuel or weapon load over a given distance. In V/STOL the VTOL aircraft moves horizontally along the runway before taking off using vertical thrust. This gives aerodynamic lift as well as thrust lift and permits taking off with heavier loads and is more efficient. When landing the aircraft is much lighter due to

784-543: A successful landing after boosting 11 commercial satellites to low Earth orbit on Falcon 9 Flight 20 . These demonstrations opened the way for substantial reductions in space flight costs. The helicopter's form of VTOL allows it to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forwards, backwards, and laterally. These attributes allow helicopters to be used in congested or isolated areas where fixed-wing aircraft would usually not be able to take off or land. The capability to efficiently hover for extended periods of time

840-406: A tailsitter annular wing design, performed its maiden flight. However the sole prototype was destroyed on its ninth flight in 1959, and financing was never sourced for a second prototype. Another more influential early functional contribution to VTOL was Rolls-Royce 's Thrust Measuring Rig ("flying bedstead") of 1953. This led to the first VTOL engines as used in the first British VTOL aircraft,

896-494: A tilting engines. In the late 1930s British aircraft designer Leslie Everett Baynes was issued a patent for the Baynes Heliplane , another tilt rotor aircraft. In 1941 German designer Heinrich Focke 's began work on the Focke-Achgelis Fa 269 , which had two rotors that tilted downward for vertical takeoff, but wartime bombing halted development. In May 1951, both Lockheed and Convair were awarded contracts in

952-490: A vertical take-off research aircraft issued in September 1953. The design was accepted by the ministry and a contract was placed for two aircraft (XG900 and XG905) to meet Specification ER.143D dated 15 October 1954. The SC.1 was also equipped with the first "fly-by-wire" control system for a VTOL aircraft. This permitted three modes of control of the aerodynamic surfaces or the nozzle controls. The Republic Aviation AP-100

1008-524: Is an auxiliary jet engine used to provide lift for VTOL operation, but may be shut down for normal wing-borne flight. The Yak-38 is the only production aircraft to employ lift jets. Lift fan is an aircraft configuration in which lifting fans are located in large holes in an otherwise conventional fixed wing or fuselage. It is used for V/STOL operation. The aircraft takes off using the fans to provide lift, then transitions to fixed-wing lift in forward flight. Several experimental craft have been flown, but only

1064-672: Is designed to perform missions like a conventional helicopter with the long-range, high-speed cruise performance of a turboprop aircraft. The FAA classifies the Osprey as a model of powered lift aircraft. Attempts were made in the 1960s to develop a commercial passenger aircraft with VTOL capability. The Hawker Siddeley Inter-City Vertical-Lift proposal had two rows of lifting fans on either side. However, none of these aircraft made it to production after they were dismissed as too heavy and expensive to operate. In 2018 Opener Aero demonstrated an electrically powered fixed-wing VTOL aircraft,

1120-527: Is due to the helicopter's relatively long, and hence efficient rotor blades, and allows a helicopter to accomplish tasks that fixed-wing aircraft and other forms of vertical takeoff and landing aircraft could not perform at least as well until 2011 . On the other hand, the long rotor blades restrict the maximum speed to about 250 miles per hour (400 km/h) of at least conventional helicopters, as retreating blade stall causes lateral instability. Autogyros are also known as gyroplanes or gyrocopters. The rotor

1176-585: Is thought that further work on the Beija Flor was then abandoned. Focke returned permanently to Germany in 1956 and began developing a three-seater helicopter named the "Kolibri" ("hummingbird") at the Borgward company in Bremen, with its first flight taking place in 1958. While working at Borgward Focke set up a wind tunnel in a disused hangar in central Bremen; this wind tunnel was rediscovered in 1997 and

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1232-552: Is today the centerpiece of a museum devoted to him. After Borgward collapsed in 1961, Focke became a consulting engineer with Vereinigte Flugtechnische Werke of Bremen and Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Luft-und Raumfahrt. Focke was awarded the Ludwig-Prandtl-Ring from the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Luft- und Raumfahrt (German Society for Aeronautics and Astronautics) for "outstanding contribution in

1288-421: Is unpowered and rotates freely in the airflow as the craft travels forward, so the craft needs a conventional powerplant to provide thrust. An autogyro is not intrinsically capable of VTOL: for VTO the rotor must be spun up to speed by an auxiliary drive, and vertical landing requires precise control of rotor momentum and pitch. Gyrodynes are also known as compound helicopters or compound gyroplanes. A gyrodyne has

1344-511: The Blackfly , which the manufacturer claims is the world's first ultralight fixed-wing, all-electric, vertical take-off and landing aircraft. In the 21st century, unmanned drones are becoming increasingly commonplace. Many of these have VTOL capability, especially the quadcopter type. In 1947, Ryan X-13 Vertijet , a tailsitter design, was ordered by the US Navy, who then further issued

1400-520: The F-35 Lightning II entered into production. Aircraft in which VTOL is achieved by exploiting the Coandă effect are capable of redirecting air much like thrust vectoring , but rather than routing airflow through a duct, the airflow is simply routed along an existing surface, which is usually the body of the craft allowing less material and weight. The Avro Canada VZ-9 Avrocar , or simply

1456-476: The Fairey Gyrodyne , this type of aircraft later evolved into the much larger twin-engined Fairey Rotodyne , that used tipjets to power the rotor on take-off and landing but which then used two Napier Eland turboprops driving conventional propellers mounted on substantial wings to provide propulsion, the wings serving to unload the rotor during horizontal flight. The Rotodyne was developed to combine

1512-645: The Focke-Achgelis Fa 269 of the mid-1940s and the Centro Técnico Aeroespacial "Convertiplano" of the 1950s reached testing or mock-up stages, the Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey is considered the world's first production tiltrotor aircraft. It has one three-bladed proprotor , turboprop engine, and transmission nacelle mounted on each wingtip. The Osprey is a multi-mission aircraft with both a vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) and short takeoff and landing capability ( STOL ). It

1568-750: The Hawker P.1127 , which became subsequently the Kestrel and then entered production as the Hawker Siddeley Harrier , though the supersonic Hawker Siddeley P.1154 was canceled in 1965. The French in competition with the P.1154 had developed a version of the Dassault Mirage III capable of attaining Mach 1. The Dassault Mirage IIIV achieved transition from vertical to horizontal flight in March 1966, reaching Mach 1.3 in level flight

1624-632: The Lockheed Constellation , which necessitated a redesign of the transmission due to the increase in weight and vibration. Some 40 workers and US$ 8 million were devoted to the project, and more than 300 takeoffs were achieved. While working at the CTA Focke also developed the BF-1 Beija-Flor (hummingbird) two-seater light helicopter from 1954, which made its first flight at Sao Jose dos Campos on 22 January 1959. The BF-1

1680-460: The Short SC.1 (1957), Short Brothers and Harland, Belfast which used four vertical lift engines with a horizontal one for forward thrust. The Short SC.1 was the first British fixed-wing VTOL aircraft. The SC.1 was designed to study the problems with VTOL flight and the transition to and from forward flight. The SC.1 was designed to meet a Ministry of Supply (MoS) request for tender (ER.143T) for

1736-529: The lunar module (LEM), which had to rely on a reaction engine to land on the Moon. The idea of using the same engine for vertical and horizontal flight by altering the path of the thrust was conceived by Michel Wibault . It led to the Bristol Siddeley Pegasus engine which used four rotating nozzles to direct thrust over a range of angles. This was developed side by side with an airframe,

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1792-585: The 1960s and early 1970s, Germany planned three different VTOL aircraft. One used the Lockheed F-104 Starfighter as a basis for research for a V/STOL aircraft. Although two models (X1 and X2) were built, the project was canceled due to high costs and political problems as well as changed needs in the German Air Force and NATO. The EWR VJ 101 C did perform free VTOL take-offs and landings, as well as test flights beyond mach 1 in

1848-1262: The British Royal Air Force and Royal Navy. The United States Marine Corps and the Italian and Spanish navies all continue to use the AV-8B Harrier II , an American-British variant. Replacing the Harrier II/AV-8B in the air arms of the US and UK is the STOVL variant of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II , the F-35B. SpaceX developed several prototypes of Falcon 9 to validate various low-altitude, low-velocity engineering aspects of its reusable launch system development program . The first prototype, Grasshopper, made eight successful test flights in 2012–2013. It made its eighth, and final, test flight on October 7, 2013, flying to an altitude of 744 metres (2,441 ft) before making its eighth successful VTVL landing. This

1904-520: The VZ-9, was a Canadian VTOL aircraft developed by Avro Aircraft Ltd. which utilizes this phenomenon by blowing air into a central area, then it is directed down over the top surface, which is parabolic and resembles a bowed flying saucer . Due to the Coandă effect, the airflow is attracted to the nearest surface and continues to move along that surface despite the change in the surface's direction away from

1960-627: The aircraft lacking landing gear that can handle taxiing . VTOL is a subset of V/STOL (vertical or short take-off & landing). Some lighter-than-air aircraft also qualify as VTOL aircraft, as they can hover, takeoff and land with vertical approach/departure profiles. Electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft, or eVTOLs , are being developed along with more autonomous flight control technologies and mobility-as-a-service (MaaS) to enable advanced air mobility (AAM), that could include on-demand air taxi services, regional air mobility, freight delivery, and personal air vehicles (PAVs). Besides

2016-563: The airflow. The craft is designed to direct the airflow downward to provide lift. Jetoptera announced a proposed line of aircraft based on what it called fluidic propulsion that employs the Coandă effect. The company claims an Oswald efficiency number of 1.45 for its boxwing design. Other claims include increased efficiency, 30% lower weight, reduced complexity, as much as 25 dBA lower (and atonal) noise, shorter wings, and scalability. Jetoptera says its approach yields thrust augmentation ratios exceeding 2.0 and 50% fuel savings when compared to

2072-627: The attempt to design, construct, and test two experimental VTOL fighters. Lockheed produced the XFV , and Convair producing the Convair XFY Pogo . Both experimental programs proceeded to flight status and completed test flights 1954–1955, when the contracts were cancelled. Similarly, the Ryan X-13 Vertijet flew a series of test flights between 1955 and 1957, but also suffered the same fate. The use of vertical fans driven by engines

2128-709: The development of the Panavia Tornado . The Yakovlev Yak-38 was a Soviet Navy VTOL aircraft intended for use aboard their light carriers, cargoships, and capital ships. It was developed from the Yakovlev Yak-36 experimental aircraft in the 1970s. Before the Soviet Union broke up, a supersonic VTOL aircraft was developed as the Yak-38's successor, the Yak-141 , which never went into production. In

2184-495: The efficiency of a fixed-wing aircraft at cruise with the VTOL capability of a helicopter to provide short haul airliner service from city centres to airports. The CL-84 Dynavert was a Canadian V/STOL turbine tilt-wing monoplane designed and manufactured by Canadair between 1964 and 1972. The Canadian government ordered three updated CL-84s for military evaluation in 1968, designated the CL-84-1. From 1972 to 1974, this version

2240-556: The heavy-lift transport helicopter Fa 223 , and designed the Fa 224 , Fa 266 , Fa 269 , Fa 283 , Fa 284 , and the Fa 336 during World War II . Only a few of the large Fa 223 Drache ("Dragon") helicopters actually were produced, but even the prototype set a new helicopter speed record of 182 kilometres per hour (113 mph) and climb record of 8.8 metres per second (1,730 ft/min) in 1940. Subsequent war models were primarily used as mountain troop transport, rescue, and crashed aircraft recovery. The helicopter had provision for

2296-988: The ill-fated Sky Car is often compiled with footage of the Gerhardt Cycleplane , various ornithopters , cyclogyros and other contraptions, and often cited as examples of early failed flight attempts, though in reality these took place 25 years after the first successful flights by the Wright Brothers . Famous movies in which the Sky Car can be briefly seen include Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines and Airplane! . VTOL Some VTOL aircraft can operate in other modes as well, such as CTOL (conventional take-off & landing), STOL (short take-off & landing), or STOVL (short take-off & vertical landing). Others, such as some helicopters, can only operate as VTOL, due to

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2352-418: The loss of propellant weight and a controlled vertical landing is possible. An important aspect of Harrier STOL operations aboard naval carriers is the "ski jump" raised forward deck, which gives the craft additional vertical momentum at takeoff. The March 1981 cover of Popular Science showed three illustrations for its "Tilt-engine V/STOL - speeds like a plane, lands like a copter" front-page feature story.;

2408-700: The mid- and late 60s. One of the test-aircraft is preserved in the Deutsches Museum in Munich, Germany, another outside Friedrichshafen Airport. The others were the VFW-Fokker VAK 191B light fighter and reconnaissance aircraft, and the Dornier Do 31 E-3 (troop) transport. The LLRV was a spacecraft simulator for the Apollo lunar lander. It was designed to mimic the flight characteristics of

2464-590: The powered rotor of a helicopter with a separate forward thrust system of an autogyro. Apart from take-off and landing the rotor may be unpowered and autorotate. Designs may also include stub wings for added lift. A cyclogyro or cyclocopter has a rotary wing whose axis and surfaces remain sideways across the airflow, as with a conventional wing. There are number of designs for achieving power lift, and some designs may use more than one. There are many experimental designs that have unique design features to achieve powered lift. A convertiplane takes off under rotor lift like

2520-516: The propeller, causing the blades to close on the downstroke and open on the upstroke, which it was hoped would induce lift . The patent was granted in October 1926. In collaboration with W. P. Kindree, Pitts constructed a 2,700 lb (1,200 kg) prototype with a 90 hp (67 kW) Curtiss OX-5 engine. A newsreel of 1928 shows the Sky Car attempting to fly; however rather than take off, it merely jumps up and down. Today, footage of

2576-768: The ubiquitous helicopters, there are currently two types of VTOL aircraft in military service: tiltrotor aircraft, such as the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey , and thrust-vectoring airplanes, such as the Harrier family and new F-35B Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter (JSF). In the civilian sector currently only helicopters are in general use (some other types of commercial VTOL aircraft have been proposed and are under development as of 2017 ). Generally speaking, VTOL aircraft capable of STOVL use it wherever possible, since it typically significantly increases takeoff weight, range or payload compared to pure VTOL. The idea of vertical flight has been around for thousands of years, and sketches for

2632-494: Was Bussmann, a transmission specialist formerly of BMW. The Convertiplano was built using the fuselage and wings of a Supermarine Spitfire Mk 15, which was believed to be one delivered to Argentina as a sales example. Britain refused to supply the Armstrong Siddeley Double Mamba engine originally selected and the design was altered to accept a mid-mounted 2200 hp Wright engine instead as used in

2688-579: Was a prototype VTOL 6x General Electric J85 Turbojet engined nuclear capable strike fighter concept designed by Alexander Kartveli that had 3x ducted fans in the centre of its fuselage and tail as a possible contender for the TFX Program . Another design was the A400 AVS that used variable geometry wings but was found too complicated, however it led to the development of the AFVG which in turn helped

2744-658: Was born in Bremen on 8 October 1890, Focke studied at Leibniz University Hannover , where he became friends with Georg Wulf in 1911. In 1914, he and Wulf both reported for military service and Focke was deferred due to heart problems, but was eventually drafted into an infantry regiment. After serving on the Eastern front, he was transferred to the Imperial German Army Air Service . Focke graduated in 1920 as Dipl-Ing with distinction. His first job

2800-614: Was demonstrated and evaluated in the United States aboard the aircraft carriers USS Guam and USS Guadalcanal , and at various other centres. These trials involved military pilots from the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada. During testing, two of the CL-84s crashed due to mechanical failures, but no loss of life occurred as a result of these accidents. No production contracts resulted. Although tiltrotors such as

2856-574: Was investigated in the 1950s. The US built an aircraft where the jet exhaust drove the fans , while British projects not built included fans driven by mechanical drives from the jet engines. NASA has flown other VTOL craft such as the Bell XV-15 research craft (1977), as have the Soviet Navy and Luftwaffe . Sikorsky tested an aircraft dubbed the X-Wing , which took off in the manner of

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2912-637: Was merged with the Albatros Flugzeugwerke company. Focke-Wulf constructed Juan de la Cierva 's C.19 and C.30 autogyros under license from 1933, and Focke was inspired by it to design the world's first practical helicopter, the Focke-Wulf Fw 61 , which first flew on 26 June 1936 by Hanna Reitsch . In the Deutschlandhalle arena in 1938, it also became the first practical helicopter to be flown indoors. In 1936 Focke

2968-661: Was ousted from the Focke-Wulf company by shareholder pressure. Though the ostensible reason was that he was considered "politically unreliable" by the Nazi regime, there is reason to believe it was so that Focke-Wulf's manufacturing capacity could be used to produce Bf 109 aircraft. The company was taken over by AEG , but soon after this the Air Ministry, which had been impressed by the Fw 61 helicopter, suggested that Focke establish

3024-416: Was similar in design to the Cessna CH-1 , with a 225 hp Continental E225 engine in the nose and the rotor mast running vertically between the front seats. An open structure tubular steel tail boom carried a pair of tail surfaces and a small tail rotor. The BF-2 was developed from this and first flew on 1 January 1959, and performed an extended flight-testing campaign until it was damaged in an accident. It

3080-431: Was the last scheduled test for the Grasshopper rig; next up will be low altitude tests of the Falcon 9 Reusable (F9R) development vehicle in Texas followed by high altitude testing in New Mexico. On November 23, 2015, Blue Origin 's New Shepard booster rocket made the first successful vertical landing following an uncrewed suborbital test flight that reached space. On December 21, 2015, SpaceX Falcon 9 first stage made

3136-438: Was with the Francke Company of Bremen as a designer of water-gas systems. In 1923, with Wulf and Dr. Werner Naumann, Focke co-founded Focke-Wulf-Flugzeugbau GmbH. In 1927 Wulf died while test flying the Focke-Wulf F 19 canard monoplane. In 1930 Focke was offered a chair at the Danzig Institute of Technology, an honour which he declined. In 1931 the city of Bremen awarded him the title of Professor. The same year, Focke-Wulf

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