First developed by Canadian aeronautics company Avro Aircraft
Limited in the midst of the Cold War. . . . . . The flying saucer-shaped VZ-9
Avro car was originally intended as a supersonic fighter bomber. It was
designed to utilize a phenomenon known as the Coandă effect to provide lift and
thrust from a center-mounted turbo-rotor.
The project was eventually taken over by the U. S. military . . . with
the Air Force seeking a craft that could hover below enemy radar before
launching to supersonic speeds . . . and the Army desiring an all-terrain troop
transport that could lift off and land vertically. Several test vehicles were
built, but the project was abandoned as the Avro car could never reach speeds
beyond 35 miles per hour without losing control. Designed by Charles H. Zimmerman, the Vought V-173 was part of the
U. S. Navy's “flying flapjack” program
during World War.
2. The U. S. Navy was
seeking a ship-launched fighter with short takeoff and landing capabilities to
counter Japanese submarines and kamikazes. The entire body of the plane
provided lift and its massive 16 and a half foot counter-rotating propellers
allowed it to hover nearly in place. The stubby XF-85 Goblin was a jet fighter
aircraft intended to be dropped from the bomb bay . . . of the Northrop XB-35
and B-36 bombers that were under development. Existing fighters could not match
the range of these new bombers . . . so the Air Force sought to create an
interceptor that could be carried by the bombers and launched when needed. The
project was canceled due to the Goblin's poor performance against larger jet
fighters and its difficulties re-docking with the mother ship bomber. The
Grumman X-29 was one of the most unusual aircraft designs in history. . .
serving as a testing platform for multiple advanced technologies including
forward-swept wings, canard control surfaces and new composite materials. This
combination of features made the X-29 inherently unstable, requiring a
computerized flight control system that made 40 corrections per second. The
X-29 demonstrated extreme maneuverability, and it became the first
forward-swept wing aircraft to achieve supersonic speed at level flight. Never destined for production, the program
was concluded in 1992, with its successful tech being passed to future
aircraft. At a time when supersonic fighter designs required long takeoff rolls
and high speed landings that prevented operation from the decks of aircraft
carriers. . . the U. S. Navy
commissioned Convair to create a supersonic seaplane interceptor. A
delta-winged fighter with a floating watertight hull and retractable hydro-skis
. . . the F2Y Sea Dart was designed to take off and land in open water near
carrier groups and sea bases. Several Sea Dart prototypes were created in the
1950s, with one design becoming the first and only seaplane to break the sound
barrier.
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