-~+~- VTOL Aircraft, the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. -~+~-



What is VTOL? And what the heck does it stand for?

VTOL is an abbreviation for Vertical Take-Off and Landing aircraft.

This classification includes fixed-wing aircraft that can hover and take off and land vertically, helicopters, and other aircraft with powered rotors, such as tiltrotors. It should be noted that autogyros, balloons, airships and rockets are not normally considered VTOL. Some VTOL aircraft can operate in other modes as well, such as CTOL (Conventional Take-off and Landing), STOL (Short Take-Off and Landing), and/or STOVL (Short Take-Off and Vertical Landing) mode. Others, such as some helicopters, can only operate by VTOL, due to the aircraft lacking landing gear that can handle horizontal motion. VTOL is a subset of V/STOL.

This collection, what�s it all about?

This is a collection of all the types of VTOL aircraft in Google Earth, many are visible but sadly some are not. Due to the rarity of some of the aircraft I was not able to add some to the collection as I couldn�t physically locate any related locations (any help would be greatly appreciated).

I placed this collection into the transport forum because although most VTOL aircraft seem to be military it�s wrong to classify them all as military. Hope you enjoy the collection!

What types of VTOL aircraft ?
Currently there are two types of practical VTOL aircraft in military service:

Using a tiltrotor � the Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey
Using directed jet thrust � the Harrier Jump Jet family.

What are the aircraft like?

When thinking of VTOL aircraft the three categories came to mind,

The Good

The VTOL Aircraft that have worked and have been used in service with military or civil operators for instance the Harrier or the Bell/Agusta BA609.

The Famous Harrier Jump Jet family (Hawker Siddeley Harrier/ BAE Sea Harrier/AV-8B Harrier II/BAE Harrier II) Although there are many variants of the Harrier family, the basic layout of the aircraft has not changed since 1957/58. This section outlines the common features of all aircraft in the Harrier family, from the original P.1127 through to today's Harrier II+.

The P.1127 was originally designed not only as a research aircraft to explore V/STOL flight but also as a tactical strike fighter to be used in support of land forces. It was this objective, in addition to its novel take-off and landing method, that has shaped the design.

The most critical area of concern has always been weight. Despite the continuous growth in the thrust of the Pegasus engine, no member of the Harrier family has enjoyed an excess of thrust. It is a happy coincidence that many of the design requirements of a ground attack fighter have mirrored the need for weight minimisation, such as the small wing and single-seat cockpit.



The Bad

The Many prototypes that failed, were under powered, didn�t work or crashed with tragic results such as the XC-142 prototype which crashed killing three crewmembers.

The VZ-9-AV Avrocar (official designation but often listed as VZ-9) was a Canadian VTOL aircraft developed by Avro Aircraft Ltd. as part of a secret U.S. military project carried out in the early years of the Cold War. The Avrocar intended to exploit the Coandă effect to provide lift and thrust from a single "turborotor" blowing exhaust out the rim of the disk-shaped aircraft to provide anticipated VTOL-like performance. In the air, it would have resembled a flying saucer. Two prototypes were built as "proof-of-concept" test vehicles for a more advanced USAF fighter and also for a U.S. Army tactical combat aircraft requirement. In flight testing, the Avrocar proved to have unresolved thrust and stability problems that limited it to a degraded, low-performance flight envelope; subsequently, the project was cancelled in 1961.



The Ugly

The plain ugly, aircraft that may fly, handle and operate well but would never win a beauty contest.

The Short SC.1 was the first British fixed-wing vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft. The SC.1 was designed to study the problems with VTOL flight and the transition to and from forward flight.



How many can I see on Google Earth?

Why not Download the file and take a look , Many are outside see the list below ( Up to date from 15 Nov 2008 )

>>>>> BAE Harrier II 52�37'34.93"N 0�36'33.30"W
>>>>> BAE Sea Harrier 51� 9'18.81"N 0�14'3.26"W
>>>>> Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey 39�59'29.39"N 75�34'42.53"W
>>>>> Boeing X-32 38�16'32.60"N 76�27'45.44"W
>>>>> Convair XFY Pogo? 37�25'19.29"N 122� 3'25.62"W
>>>>> Dornier Do 31 48� 5'4.80"N 11�17'47.92"E
>>>>> Hawker Siddeley Harrier 51�59'52.82"N 0�44'33.41"W
>>>>> Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II 32�46'52.41"N 97�26'44.33"W
>>>>> Ryan XV-5 Vertifan 31�19'24.10"N 85�42'56.77"W
>>>>> Yakovlev Yak-141 Freestyle 55�34'29.32"N 38� 8'18.80"E
>>>>> Yakovlev Yak-38 "Forger" 45�13'4.85"N 33�23'19.70"E

another great and informative post again Josie, Thanks

all the best

carmedic

Chears Carmedic

Nicely done Josie ( I moved it over to the Mod side )

Good move Delta, and another great post Josie

Thanks Delta and BeadieJay

Very nice JosieNorden,

Another very informative and well put together post for, The Collection List, when it is next updated.

All the very best

ploppy

Great post

More will be added if I can find them

best regards

MM

Yakovlev Yak-38



@ 47�14'25.03"N 38�51'9.47"E

All the best

MM

Another Yak 38



@ 55�49'55.84"N 38�11'5.04"E

best regards

MM