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List Of VTOL Aircraft
This is a list of fixed-wing aircraft capable of vertical take-off and landing arranged under manufacturer. The list excludes helicopters, including compound helicopters and gyrocopters, because they are assumed to have this capability. For more detail on subtypes of VTOL, see List of tiltrotor aircraft. A * AeroVironment SkyTote (tailsitter) * AgustaWestland AW609 (tiltrotor) * Armstrong Whitworth AW.171 (ducted fan) * Avro Canada VZ-9 Avrocar (ducted fan) B * BAE Harrier II (vectored thrust) * BAE Sea Harrier (vectored thrust) * Bell 65 ATV ( Tiltjet) * Bell/Agusta BA609 (tiltrotor), presently known as AgustaWestland AW609 * Bell Boeing Quad TiltRotor (proposal) * Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey (tiltrotor) * Bell Eagle Eye (tiltrotor UAV) * Bell V-280 Valor (tiltrotor) * Bell X-14 (vectored thrust) * Bell X-22 (ducted fan) * Bell XV-3 (first tiltrotor) * Bell XV-15 (tiltrotor) * Bensen B-10 (ducted fan) * Boeing/McDonnell Douglas AV-8 Harrier (vectored thrust) * Boein ...
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VTOL
A vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft is one that can take off and land vertically without relying on a runway. This classification can include a variety of types of aircraft including helicopters as well as thrust-vectoring fixed-wing aircraft and other hybrid aircraft with powered rotors such as cyclogyros/cyclocopters and gyrodynes. 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 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 con ...
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Bell Eagle Eye
The Bell Helicopter Eagle Eye, Model 918, was an American tiltrotor unmanned aerial vehicle that was offered as one of the competitors in the United States Navy's VT-UAV (Vertical Takeoff - Unmanned Aerial Vehicle) program. Development The Eagle Eye program began in 1993 with the TR911X 7/8th scale prototype. The composite airframe was originally designed and built for Bell by the California research company ''Scaled Composites''. The two demonstrator aircraft were powered by an Allison 250-C20 turboshaft engine mounted in the center fuselage, with a transmission system driving a tilting rotor at the end of each wing. The aircraft had its maiden flight on March 6, 1998, and then entered a flight test program. Phase 1 (land-based operations testing) was completed in April 1998. Phase 2 (sea-based testing) started shortly after that. The first prototype was destroyed in an accident, but the second successfully completed the test program. These successes led to the entry into ...
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Boulton Paul P
Boulton may refer to: * Boulton (surname) * Boulton, Derby, England See also * Boulton Paul Aircraft Ltd, aircraft manufacturer * Boulton and Watt Boulton & Watt was an early British engineering and manufacturing firm in the business of designing and making marine and stationary steam engines. Founded in the English West Midlands around Birmingham in 1775 as a partnership between the Eng ..., partnership between Matthew Boulton and James Watt * Bolton (other) * * {{disambig ...
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Boeing X-50
The Boeing X-50A Dragonfly, formerly known as the Canard Rotor/Wing Demonstrator, was a VTOL rotor wing experimental unmanned aerial vehicle that was developed by Boeing and DARPA to demonstrate the principle that a helicopter's rotor could be stopped in flight and act as a fixed wing, enabling it to transition between fixed-wing and rotary-wing flight. The X-50A built upon the work of the Sikorsky S-72 X-Wing program of the 1980s by designing the vehicle as a multi-mode aircraft from the ground up. The X-50A was one of two projects funded by DARPA in its "Heliplane" program. Neither of the two prototype aircraft ever successfully transitioned to full forward flight. DARPA withdrew funding for the X-50 program in late 2006 due to inherent design flaws. Development Boeing initially proposed using the CRW configuration to fill a requirement for a VTOL aircraft suitable for escorting the V-22 tiltrotor. The X-50A was a joint program between Boeing and DARPA, with each paying for ...
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Boeing X-32
The Boeing X-32 is a concept demonstrator aircraft that was designed for the Joint Strike Fighter competition. It lost to the Lockheed Martin X-35 demonstrator, which was further developed into the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II. Development Background In 1993, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) launched the Common Affordable Lightweight Fighter project (CALF). The project's purpose was to develop a stealth-enabled design to replace all of United States Department of Defense lighter weight fighter and attack aircraft, including the F-16 Fighting Falcon, McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet, and vertical/short takeoff / vertical landing (V/STOL) AV-8B Harrier II. Around the same time the Joint Advanced Strike Technology (JAST) project was started. In 1994, the U.S. Congress ordered the two to be merged into the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program. Many companies took part in the first phase of this project, which involved drafting concept aircraft designs f ...
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Tiltwing
A tiltwing aircraft features a wing that is horizontal for conventional forward flight and rotates up for vertical takeoff and landing. It is similar to the tiltrotor design where only the propeller and engine rotate. Tiltwing aircraft are typically fully capable of VTOL operations.Markman, Steve and Bill Holder. "Tilt-Wing VTOL Systems". ''Straight Up: A History of Vertical Flight''. Schiffer Publishing, 2000. . The tiltwing design offers certain advantages in vertical flight relative to a tiltrotor. Because the slipstream from the rotor strikes the wing on its smallest dimension, the tiltwing is able to apply more of its engine power to lifting the aircraft. For comparison, the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor loses about 10% of its thrust to interference from the wings. Another advantage of tiltwing aircraft is the ease of transition between VTOL and horizontal flight modes. A tiltrotor must first fly forwards like a helicopter, building airspeed until wing lift is sufficient to all ...
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Boeing-Vertol VZ-2
The Vertol VZ-2 (or Model 76) was a research aircraft built in the United States in 1957 to investigate the tiltwing approach to vertical take-off and landing. Design and development The aircraft had a fuselage of tubular framework (originally uncovered) and accommodation for its pilot in a helicopter-like bubble canopy. The T-tail incorporated small ducted fans to act as thrusters for greater control at low speeds. Ground tests began in April 1957 and on 13 August, the VZ-2 took off for the first time in hover mode only. On 23 July 1958, the aircraft made its first full transition from vertical flight to horizontal flight. By the time the test program ended in 1965, the VZ-2 had made some 450 flights, including 34 full transitions. The aircraft has been preserved by the National Air and Space Museum in storage at the Paul E. Garber Preservation, Restoration, and Storage Facility. Specifications See also References * * {{US Army VTOL Z-02, Vertol Tiltwing aircr ...
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AV-8 Harrier II
The McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing) AV-8B Harrier II is a single-engine ground-attack aircraft that constitutes the second generation of the Harrier family, capable of vertical or short takeoff and landing (V/STOL). The aircraft is primarily employed on light attack or multi-role missions, ranging from close air support of ground troops to armed reconnaissance. The AV-8B is used by the United States Marine Corps (USMC), the Spanish Navy, and the Italian Navy. A variant of the AV-8B, the British Aerospace Harrier II, was developed for the British military, while another, the TAV-8B, is a dedicated two-seat trainer. The project that eventually led to the AV-8B's creation started in the early 1970s as a cooperative effort between the United States and United Kingdom, aimed at addressing the operational inadequacies of the first-generation Hawker Siddeley Harrier. Early efforts centered on a larger, more powerful Pegasus engine to dramatically improve the capabilities of th ...
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Bensen B-10
The Bensen B-10 Propcopter was an unconventional VTOL aircraft developed by Igor Bensen Igor Vasilevich Bensen (russian: И́горь Васи́льевич Бенсен; April 1, 1917 – February 10, 2000) was a Russian-American engineer. He founded Bensen Aircraft, a US company which produced a successful line of gyrogliders ... in the United States in the late 1950s. The pilot sat astride a beam that had an engine mounted at either end of it, each driving a rotor to provide lift. Each of these rotors was surrounded by a system of four pivotable vanes to direct its downwash, and linked to a control stick for the pilot, this provided control of the craft. Only a single prototype (registered ''N56U'') was built. Specifications See also References1000aircraftphotos.com B-10 Prop-Copter VTOL aircraft * * {{Bensen aircraft 1950s United States experimental aircraft VTOL aircraft B-10 Aircraft first flown in 1958 ...
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Bell XV-15
The Bell XV-15 is an American tiltrotor VTOL aircraft. It was the second successful experimental tiltrotor aircraft and the first to demonstrate the concept's high speed performance relative to conventional helicopters. Development Early VTOL rotor aircraft The idea of building VTOL aircraft using helicopter-like rotors at the wingtips originated in the 1930s. The first design resembling modern tiltrotors was patented by George Lehberger in May 1930, but he did not develop the concept further. In World War II, a German prototype called the Focke-Achgelis Fa 269 was developed starting in 1942, but it never flew. Two prototypes that made it to flight were the one-seat Transcendental Model 1-G and two-seat Transcendental Model 2, both powered by single reciprocating engines. Development started on the Model 1-G in 1947, and it flew in 1954. The Model 1-G flew until a crash in Chesapeake Bay on 20 July 1955, destroying the prototype aircraft but not seriously injuring the pilot. ...
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Bell XV-3
The Bell XV-3 (Bell 200) is an American tiltrotor aircraft developed by Bell Helicopter for a joint research program between the United States Air Force and the United States Army in order to explore convertiplane technologies. The XV-3 featured an engine mounted in the fuselage with driveshafts transferring power to two-bladed rotor assemblies mounted on the wingtips. The wingtip rotor assemblies were mounted to tilt 90 degrees from vertical to horizontal, designed to allow the XV-3 to take off and land like a helicopter but fly at faster airspeeds, similar to a conventional fixed-wing aircraft. The XV-3 was first flown on 11 August 1955. Although it was limited in performance, the aircraft successfully demonstrated the tiltrotor concept, accomplishing 110 transitions from helicopter to airplane mode between December 1958 and July 1962. The XV-3 program ended when the remaining aircraft was severely damaged in a wind tunnel accident on 20 May 1966. The data and experience from ...
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Ducted Fan
In aeronautics, a ducted fan is a thrust-generating mechanical fan or propeller mounted within a cylindrical duct or shroud. Other terms include ducted propeller or shrouded propeller. When used in vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) applications it is also known as a shrouded rotor.Kotwani, Kailash;Ducted Fan or Shrouded Rotor Aerodynamics and its Application in Miniature VTOL Aerial Vehicles, 2009. (retrieved 22 March 2022). Ducted fans are used for propulsion or direct lift in many types of vehicle including aeroplanes, airships, hovercraft, and powered lift VTOL aircraft. The high-bypass turbofan engines used on many modern airliners is an example of a very successful and popular use of ducted fan design. The duct increases thrust efficiency by up to 90% in some cases, in comparison to a similar-sized propeller in free air. Ducted fans are quieter, and offer good opportunities for thrust vectoring. The shroud offers good protection to ground personnel from accidentally ...
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