MAC Forum

Here are some of the VTOL aircraft made by Mercury and Solido of the The Convair XFY-1 "Pogo"
These toys were very rare, fragile and often are found with out the landing gears
The Mercury


and the much nicer Solido {sorry no better photo}


I have read test pilots accounts that discuss the near impossible transition to a vertical landing, even though it was done. The aircraft pilot seat rotates to help somewhat but the pilot was basically blind. Not many VTOL aircraft were succussful, Lockheed's XVF-1 Salmon never made a vertical landing at all, as I recall.
The Harrier solved the problem, the Russian Yak-38 "Forger" one did also. Of course the Bell Tiltrotor went about it in another way.

Oh...you do this just to make the rest of us swoon with envy! A BOX of Solido Pogos!!
The Pogo was the only vehicle with an Allison T-50 engine "plumbed" for VTOL - which in itself was a nightmare! The Lockheed VTOL had a conventional engine and couldn't be run on the vertical.
Pogo take off were easy - advance the throttle. Landings were another matter and if the highly trained test pilots had a hard time of it, Ensign USN pilots on a carrier deck, at night, in a storm with a rolling deck - wouldn't be able to do it at all!
These machines caught the imagination of the public at the time and were forever in the mass media. In many ways they also look like many of the Space Ship images from the time - the path to the future was clear! I've included a vintage box top from the Lindberg kit in 1/48 scale.
I was lucky enough to see the Pogo at the Garber Facility in DC some years ago. It's quite a big thing, and with it's carrier truck - huge!
Like many aeronautical experiments, it was a successful failure.

To think a TV guided landing system with today's imaging technology might've made these more practical...

TV? ...all they need is what they already have - a radar ranger for altitude! Let the computer back it down foot by foot!

Yeah, but it all seemed to make pilots very uneasy, especially fixed wing pilots.
Recall the numerous accidents with the first Harriers in training, when that air speed dropped to low double digits for transitions, the pilots got uncomfortable, start over controlling, cross controlling etc and BAMM, that was that.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mgo2hOYhFW4
Not sure why this one crashed but I would imagine pilot error played a role like most of them. Good thing Zero Zero ejection was possible.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8y8zvi95YRw

My favorite was the four-motor Breguet tilt wing that flew for American and Eastern in the 60s. There is a rare tin toy of this one though I have forgotten the details.

There are tin plate examples of the 1950s Fairey Rotodyne and a Doak ducted fan helicopter from the 60s.

There is currently a Twin-rotor Tilt Wing in the Matchbox Sky-Buster line up. I do not have any examples, though, as they are always in garish fantasy schemes, appropriate for a fantasy aircraft (the toy is not an Osprey) I suppose.

Here is the Breguet 941 Tilt wing VTOL airliner toy. It's NOT in my collection. Sure enough it is a BANDAI brand toy.

Oooo...! Nice toy! That looks like the LTV XC-142, with some mods. Another one, albeit with two engines, was the Hiller X-18.