Fairchild VZ-5
| Fairchild VZ-5 | |
|---|---|
 Fairchild VZ-5 |
|
| Type: | VTOL - experimental aircraft |
| Design country: | |
| Manufacturer: |
Fairchild Corporation |
| First flight: |
November 18, 1959 |
| Number of pieces: |
1 |
The Fairchild VZ-5FA (factory designation M-224-1) was an experimental V / STOL aircraft made by the American manufacturer Fairchild Corporation in the late 1950s. The technical principle used to generate lift is known as the deflected slipstream . Only one example was built for the US Army with the USAF / Army serial number 56-6940.
history
The Fairchild VZ-5 was one of a series of experimental aircraft designed to investigate various aspects and solutions for VTOL aircraft. The VZ-5 was an all-metal high-wing aircraft with a fixed nose wheel landing gear . The fuselage had an open cockpit for a pilot and a rear-mounted T-tail . The unusual aspect of the aircraft was that it had a General Electric YT-58-GE-2 shaft turbine in the rear of the fuselage that powered the four propellers, two on the leading edge of each wing. It also had two small four-bladed tail rotors mounted above the horizontal stabilizer for control. The wing had conventional trailing edge flaps and ailerons, but these reached over half the wing depth and could be lowered to the full span. During vertical take-off, the propeller jet hit the flaps that reached just above the ground and generated a downward-directed flow component. The VZ-5 was flown in tethered flight on a test bench on November 18, 1959 for the first time. The few other flights carried out until the end of 1959 only took place in a tied flight condition.
Technical specifications
- Crew: 1
- Length: 10.26 m
- Wingspan: 9.98 m
- Height: 5.13 m
- Wing area: 17.74 m²
- Empty weight: 1,534 kg
- Gross weight: 1,803 kg (for VTOL)
- Engine: 1 × General Electric YT-58 -GE-2 shaft turbine with 1032 PS (764 kW)
- Top speed: 296 km / h (estimate)
Comparable aircraft types
The Ryan VZ-3 , flown for the first time shortly before the VZ-5, used the same principle to generate lift for the vertical take-off. The Robertson X-1 became known as the only other aircraft with a deflected slipstream wing, but in 1957 it also only performed tied flights.
Web links
literature
- Steve Markman, Bill Holder: Straight Up - A History of Vertical Flight , A Schiffer Military History Book, 2000, ISBN 0-7643-1204-9 , p. 119.
- Fairchild VZ-5 . In: AERO - The illustrated collection of aviation (airplanes from A – Z), Marshall Cavendish, 1984, p. 2042
- John Andrade, US Military Aircraft Designations and Serials since 1909, Midland Counties Publications, 1979, ISBN 0-904597-22-9 , p. 176
- The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985), 1985, Orbis Publishing