A Photo History of Experimental VSTOL Aircraft

and Their Contributions

By

Rob Ransone, AIAA Associate Fellow

Former Chief Flight Test Engineer, VSTOL Programs
Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards AFB, California

Presented to

AIAA’s X-Planes Symposium

21-23 May 2002
The Westin Hotel, Santa Clara, California

Abstract: Photographs are shown for a number of

rotary wing, vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL), and
short takeoff and landing (STOL) aircraft, and aircraft
capable of both vertical and short field operations
(VSTOL). The concentration is on the USAF (X-
designated), US Army (VZ-designated), as well as
some X-designated aircraft purported to be prototypes
for production aircraft. Major lessons learned for both
design and operation are listed, and photos shown of
current production (and near production) aircraft
capable of vertical or short field operations and high
speed cruise. No dimensional or performance data are
provided.

The Early Rotary Wing, Jet Lift, and Lift Fan

VSTOL Research Aircraft, c. 1953-1957 Army/Bell XV-3 Winged Tilt Rotor

Army/McDonnell XV-1 Army/Lockheed Rigid Rotor/Compound

Compound Winged Helicopter
 NASA/Ryan VZ-3RY Avro Canada VZ-9V “Avrocar”
Deflected Slipstream Turboprop Ducted Fan Turboshaft

NASA/Bell Aerospace X-14 Army/GE/Ryan XV-5A

Deflected Thrust Turbojet Lift Fan (Fan-In-Wing) Turbojet

Army/Douglas/Doak VZ-4DA USAF/Lockheed Marietta XV-4B “Hummingbird”

Tilt Ducted Prop Augmented Turbojet

2
 The VTOL Tail Sitters, c.1953-1955

Hawker-Siddley P.1127 “Kestral”

Deflected Jet Thrust
Navy/Convair XFY-1
Turboprop Tail Sitter

MBB VJ-101 Jet Lift

Navy/Lockheed XFV-1
Turboprop Tail Sitter

Dornier DO-31
Jet Lift
USAF/Ryan X-13 “VertiJet”
Turbojet Tail Sitter

3
The Tilt Wing Turboprop VSTOL, C. 1955-1960

Army/Navy/Vertol VZ-2 (Model 76)

Navy/Kaman K-16B Tilt Wing Turboprop
Articulated Rotor Tilt Wing

Canadair CL-84
USAF/Hiller X-18 Tilt Wing Turboprop
Tile Wing Turboprop The Radial Lift Prop Aircraft, c. 1958-1961
(on AFFTC VTOL Test Stand)

Army/Fairchild VZ-447 Curtiss-Wright X-100

Deflected Slipstream Turboprop Radial Force Tilt Prop

4
The Tri-Service VSTOL Aircraft, c. 1958-1984 The Second Generation STOL and VSTOL
Aircraft, c. 1967-1972

Tri-Service/Vought-Hiller-Ryan XC-142A
Tilt Wing Turboprop Breguet 941/MDC-188
Deflected Slipstream Turboprop STOL

Tri-Service/Curtiss-Wright X-19 Bell XV-15

Tandem Wing Radial Force Tilt Prop Tilt Rotor VSTOL

Tri-Service/Bell Textron X-22 NASA/Boeing Quiet Short-Haul Research Aircraft

Tandem Wing Tandem Tilt Ducted Prop (QSRA/NASA 715) Upper Wing Blowing STOL
5
 Lessons Learned – Design
• Loss of engine power or stability
augmentation system must be controllable
during IFR operations
• Engine throttles have too much time lag to
control height above the ground
• Lateral-directional control augmentation
required above CL=2.0
o Spoilers are good
o Drooped ailerons are bad
• Longitudinal control augmentation
required above CL=5.0
o VTOL attitude controls
• Lateral-directional control harmony is
critical to VTOL control
• Downwash in ground effect (IGE)
o Affects lateral and longitudinal
control
o Can have either positive or
negative lift
• Multiple frequency vibration/resonance
affects mean time before failure (MTBF)
• Helicopter density altitude power and
thrust coefficients (CP and CT) work for tilt
prop VSTOL (you can ignore a tail prop)
• Specific energy coefficients can define tilt
wing STOL performance at any wing angle
(i.e., CP/CT/E)
SO WHAT?
Four current STOL and VSTOL aircraft, in production or in engineering manufacturing development, are
descendents of these early, bold ventures toward the unknown.
USMC/Boeing (McDonnell-Douglas)
AV-8 “Harrier”
Deflected Turbofanjet VSTOL
6
Lessons Learned – Operational
• Comfortable cockpit noise and temperature
are essential to prevent pilot fatigue
• Intuitive flight controls are flight safety
issues for emergencies
• Conventional power-off aircraft Vmin
criteria do not apply to VTOL or STOL
• Propeller blade stall limits vertical
descents for tilt propeller VTOL
• Ring-vortices limit rotary wing descents
• Tilt rotor forward speeds limited by
advancing blade compressibility effects
and retreating blade stall
• Noise cannot exceed 95 PNDb @ 500 feet
for civil operations near noise sensitive
communities
• Civil STOL field length = 2000 feet
• Total operating cost is the main driver for
civil VSTOL operators
• Fear of noise and danger is the major
limiting factor for VSTOL acceptance near
residential areas
USMC/Bell V-22 “Osprey”
Tilt Rotor VSTOL
 USAF/Boeing C-17 “Globemaster III” USAF/Lockheed Martin X-35 Joint Strike Fighter
Deflected Slipstream Fanjet STOL (JSF) STOVL (Short Takeoff/Vertical Landing)

VSTOL X-Planes’ Contributions

The vertical and short takeoff and landing X-Planes — government (USAF, Army, Navy, NASA),
privately-funded, domestic, and foreign — have proven their worth time and again during the past half
century:
• They have shown us WHAT to build and what NOT to build
• They have shown us HOW to use them and how NOT to use them
• They have yielded valuable data, readily available when it’s needed, to guide us in the future, and
they have provided this valuable information with minimum funding and other limited resources —
frequently kludged together from hand-me-down components and engines.

The X-Planes — A National Treasure!