The Ryan VZ-3 Vertiplane , also known by the company designation Ryan Model 92 was an American experimental vertical/short take-off (VSTOL) aircraft built by the Ryan Aeronautical Company for the United States Army .
4-443: The VZ-3 was a simple proof-of-concept experimental aircraft using blown flaps to achieve a short or near vertical take-off. It was a high-wing monoplane powered by an Avco Lycoming T53 turboshaft engine located inside the fuselage driving two large-diameter propellers mounted, one on each wing. It had a T-tail and originally a tailwheel fixed landing gear. It had wide-span double retractable trailing-edge flaps, these were extended into
8-689: A 21-flight test program for the United States Army until it crashed in 1959. It was rebuilt with an open cockpit lengthened fuselage and handed over to NASA for further trials. Following retirement the VZ-3 is on display at the United States Army Aviation Museum . Data from Jane's 1976. General characteristics Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era Related lists Lycoming T53 The Lycoming T53 , (company designation LTC-1 )
12-697: Is a turboshaft engine used on helicopters and (as a turboprop ) fixed-wing aircraft since the 1950s. It was designed at the Lycoming Turbine Engine Division in Stratford, Connecticut , by a team headed by Anselm Franz , who was the chief designer of the Junkers Jumo 004 during World War II . A much larger engine, similar in overall design, became the Lycoming T55 produced by Honeywell Aerospace . The T53 model
16-433: The propeller slipstream for takeoff. To enable control while in the hover it had a universally-jointed jet-deflection nozzle at the rear of the aircraft. It was later modified with a nose-wheel landing gear. The VZ-3 could make a near-vertical takeoff within 30 ft (9m) at a speed of 25 mph (40 km/h) and the aircraft could be put into the hover up to a height of 3,700 ft (1,100 m). The aircraft conducted
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