Avro Canada VZ-9AV Avrocar

Avro Canada VZ-9 Avrocar

CountryUSA
RoleExperimental VTOL vehicle
First flight12 November 1959
Built2

The Avro Canada VZ-9 Avrocar was a VTOL aircraft developed by Avro Canada as part of a secret U.S. military project carried out in the early years of the Cold War. The Avrocar intended to exploit the Coandă effect to provide lift and thrust from a single “turborotor” blowing exhaust out the rim of the disk-shaped aircraft. In the air, it would have resembled a flying saucer. Originally designed as a fighter-like aircraft capable of very high speeds and altitudes, the project was repeatedly scaled back over time and the U.S. Air Force eventually abandoned it. Development was then taken up by the U.S. Army for a tactical combat aircraft requirement, a sort of high-performance helicopter. In flight testing, the Avrocar proved to have unresolved thrust and stability problems that limited it to a degraded, low-performance flight envelope; subsequently, the project was cancelled in September 1961.

Source: Avro Canada VZ-9 Avrocar on Wikipedia

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Views : 2454

Bell UH-13H Sioux

Bell H-13 Sioux

CountryUSA
RoleLight observation helicopter
First flight8 December 1945
Built2400+

The Bell H-13 Sioux was a single-engine single-rotor light helicopter built by Bell Helicopter. Westland Aircraft manufactured the Sioux under license for the British military as the Sioux AH.1 and HT.2.

Source: Bell H-13 Sioux on Wikipedia

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Views : 5453

Doak 16 VZ-4DA

Doak VZ-4

CountryUSA
RoleVTOL research convertiplane
First flight25 February 1958
Built1

The Doak VZ-4 (or Doak Model 16) was an American prototype Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) aircraft built in the 1950s for service in the United States Army. Only a single prototype was built, and the U.S. Army withdrew it from active trials in 1963.

Source: Doak VZ-4 on Wikipedia

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Views : 2427

Scaled Composites Model 348

Scaled Composites Model 348

CountryUSA
RoleFlying Spaceplane Carrier
First flightDecember 21, 2008
Built1

The Scaled Composites Model 348 White Knight Two (WK2) is a quadjet cargo aircraft that is used to lift the SpaceShipTwo spacecraft to release altitude. It was developed by Scaled Composites from 2007 to 2010 as the first stage of Tier 1b, a two-stage to suborbital-space manned launch system. WK2 is based on the successful mothership to SpaceShipOne, White Knight, which itself is based on Proteus. With an “open architecture” design and explicit plans for multi-purpose use, the aircraft could also operate as a zero-g aircraft for passenger training or microgravity science flights, handle missions in high-altitude testing more generally, or be used to launch payloads other than SpaceShipTwo. A study of use of the aircraft as a forest fire water bomber has also been mentioned, one that would utilize a large carbon composite water tank that could be quickly replenished to make repeat runs over fires.

Source: Scaled Composites Model 348 on Wikipedia

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Views : 1422

Northrop X-4 Bantam

Northrop X-4 Bantam

CountryUSA
RoleTailless aircraft prototype
First flight15 December 1948
Built2

The Northrop X-4 Bantam was a prototype small twinjet aircraft manufactured by Northrop Corporation in 1948. It had no horizontal tail surfaces, depending instead on combined elevator and aileron control surfaces (called elevons) for control in pitch and roll attitudes, almost exactly in the manner of the similar-format, rocket-powered Messerschmitt Me 163 of Nazi Germany’s Luftwaffe. Some aerodynamicists had proposed that eliminating the horizontal tail would also do away with stability problems at fast speeds (called shock stall) resulting from the interaction of supersonic shock waves from the wings and the horizontal stabilizers. The idea had merit, but the flight control systems of that time prevented the X-4 from any success.

Source: Northrop X-4 Bantam on Wikipedia

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Views : 2063

Bristol 170 Freighter

Bristol Freighter

CountryUK
RoleCargo aircraft
First flight2 December 1945
Built214

The Bristol Type 170 Freighter was a British twin-engine aircraft designed and built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company as both a freighter and airliner. Its best known use was as an air ferry to carry cars and their passengers over relatively short distances. A passenger-only version was also produced, known as the Wayfarer. The Freighter was developed during the Second World War, having attracted official attention from the British Air Ministry, which sought the development of a rugged vehicle capable of carrying various cargoes, including a 3-ton truck. Various changes to the design were made to accommodate their requirements, but being completed too late to participate in the conflict, the majority of sales of the Freighter were to commercial operators. In response to customer demand, an enlarged version to maximise vehicle-carrying capacity, known as the Bristol Superfreighter, was developed.

Source: Bristol Freighter on Wikipedia

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Views : 2697

Lockheed Electra 12A

Lockheed Electra 12

CountryUSA
RoleCivil and military utility aircraft
First flightJune 27, 1936
Built130

The Lockheed Model 12 Electra Junior, more commonly known as the Lockheed 12 or L-12, is an eight-seat, six-passenger all-metal twin-engine transport aircraft of the late 1930s designed for use by small airlines, companies, and wealthy private individuals. A scaled-down version of the Lockheed Model 10 Electra, the Lockheed 12 was not popular as an airliner but was widely used as a corporate and government transport. Several were also used for testing new aviation technologies.

Source: Lockheed Electra 12 on Wikipedia

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Views : 2437

Bell X-5

Bell X-5

CountryUSA
RoleResearch aircraft
First flight20 June 1951
Built2

The Bell X-5 was the first aircraft capable of changing the sweep of its wings in flight. It was inspired by the untested wartime P.1101 design of the German Messerschmitt company. In contrast with the German design, which could only have its wing sweepback angle adjusted on the ground, the Bell engineers devised a system of electric motors to adjust the sweep in flight.

Source: Bell X-5 on Wikipedia

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Views : 1468

Ryan X-13 Vertijet

Ryan X-13 Vertijet

CountryUSA
RoleExperimental VTOL jet aircraft
First flightDecember 10, 1955
Built2

The Ryan X-13 Vertijet (company designation Model 69) was an experimental vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) jet aircraft flown in the United States in the 1950s. The main objective of the project was to demonstrate the ability of a pure jet to vertically takeoff, hover, transition to horizontal forward flight, and vertically land.

Source: Ryan X-13 Vertijet on Wikipedia

Ryan X-13 Vertijet Walk Around
PhotographersVladimir Yakubov
LocalisationNational Museum of the USAF
Photos96
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Views : 1115

North American X-15A2

North American X-15

CountryUSA
RoleConcept demonstrator aircraft
First flight24 October 2000
Built2

The North American X-15 was a hypersonic rocket-powered aircraft operated by the United States Air Force and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration as part of the X-plane series of experimental aircraft. The X-15 set speed and altitude records in the 1960s, reaching the edge of outer space and returning with valuable data used in aircraft and spacecraft design. The X-15’s official world record for the highest speed ever recorded by a manned, powered aircraft, set in October 1967 when William J. Knight flew Mach 6.72 at 102,100 feet (31,120 m), a speed of 4,520 miles per hour (7,274 km/h; 2,021 m/s), has remained unbroken as of January 2019.

Source: North American X-15 on Wikipedia

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Views : 2471