In 1954, ANYTHING Is Possible! (Convair XFY-1 Pogo VTOL Video)
Friday, November 18, 2011 at 10:32PM
This short video from November 1954 shows the Convair XFY-1 Pogo making the transition from a tailsitting VTOL concept to a forward flying big-prop-beast! (ok, big props) Bottom line: this is a must see video!
Stop and think about this... it's 1954 (57 years ago) and an airplane successfully takes off from a tailsitting position, then speeds around in fast forward flight, then comes back and points the nose to the heavens and lands back vertically on its tail again. This is amazing! I'm not sure, but the success seen here with the Pogo might have had more to do with the skills of test pilot James Skeets Coleman than anything else.
I guess I've been captivated by the tailsitting concepts since I was a kid. The Convair Pogo and the Ryan X-13 Vertijet (video here, CoolPix here) are my two faves from the way-back days. And even tho we never really found a way to solve all the challenging tailsitter issues that arose back in the we-can-do-anything 1950's, I have to wonder if a military tailsitter deserves another look in our modern day of computer assisted flying. The simplicity of the thrust always moving 'nose to tail' regardless of flight mode seems to make a lot of sense. Maybe I'll whip up a little concept drawing on that idea before long, you know, cuz I've got nothing else to do...
The amazing 1950's era Convair XFY-1 Pogo VTOL aircraft in forward flight
Reader Comments (2)
Yes please do whip something up. I might have to build an RC version of your idea =) I love thinking about VTOL or STOVL aircraft design.
Cheers,
Will
Me too! 8-)