x planes

the SNECMA Coléoptère (“beetle”), circa 1959 (via)

the SNECMA Coléoptère (“beetle”), circa 1959 (via)

sunday fantasy #402: Jo Kutula (via)

1954 (via)

the SNECMA Atar Volant vertical lift turbojet (photo via)

the SNECMA Atar Volant vertical lift turbojet (photo via X-Planes of Europe, by Crécy Publishing)

the SNECMA Atar Volant vertical lift turbojet (photo via

various VTOL patents of Michel Wibault

Nathan C. Price, Lockheed Corporation
Application: October 12th 1949
(other patents here, here, here, here)

nobody died! Friday #69: McDonnell Douglas TAV-8B Harrier II, Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point, date unknown (circa 2007?) (via)

“Basically, the nose gear wouldn’t come done. The Harrier has a backup system with a nitrogen bottle to blow the gear down in this event. Well, someone significantly outranking the pilot ordered him not to blow the gear down…he elected to gather mattresses and strap them down to support the extended nose, and you have the obvious result…This has since become a legendary event in the Harrier community (rather small community) and is laughed about often. The best part was, when they jacked the plane up in the hangar and pulled the gear handle to blow them down, all 4 came down and locked in place.” (via)

the EWR VJ 101C experimental German jet fighter VTOL tiltjet aircraft, circa 1965

(images via The X-Planes of Europe, Tony Buttler with Jean-Louis Delezenne, Hikoki Publications)

the EWR VJ 101C experimental German jet fighter VTOL tiltjet aircraft, circa 1962 (via)

the Heinkel VJ 101A6 tiltjet concept - designed to meet the requirements of West Germany’s Bundesministerium der Verteidigung (BMVg, “Ministry of Defense”) for a high-altitude supersonic fighter-interceptor in 1957.

(via, other concepts can be viewed via the AIAA V/STOL archives)