EWR VJ 101

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Image:EWR VJ101.JPG Image:Aircraft VJ101C LH.jpg Image:Aircraft VJ101C RH.jpg Image:Aircraft VJ101C top.jpg

The EWR VJ 101 was an experimental West German jet fighter VTOL aircraft. VJ stood for "Vertikal Jäger", or Vertical Fighter. It was to be the basis for a successor to the F-104G Starfighter, but was cancelled in 1968 after a five year test program. The VJ 101 was one of the first V/STOL designs to have the potential for eventual Mach 2 flight; others include the Mirage IIIV, Hawker P.1154 and the much later F-35 Lightning II.

1 History
- 1.1 Flight testing
2 Specifications (VJ 101C X-2)
3 External links

[edit] History

Both Heinkel and Messerschmitt developed designs to meet the requirements and by 1959, the two companies had created a joint venture company, called EWR, to build the VJ 101 C, which combined the characteristics of the Heinkel and Messerschmitt designs. The VJ 101 is similar in appearance to the Bell XF-109, both with rotating engines in nacelles at the wingtips. In addition to the wingtip engines, two further lift jets were installed in the fuselage to supplement the main engines in hovering flight.

[edit] Flight testing

Two prototypes were built: X-1 and X-2. On 10 April 1963 the X-1 made its first hovering flight. The first transition from the hovering flight to the horizontal flight on 20 September 1963. The VJ 101C X-1 flew 40 aerodynamic flights, 24 hover flights and 14 full transitions. During these tests the sound barrier was broken, for the first time by a vertical take-off aircraft, but on 14 September 1964 a defect in the autopilot caused a crash. On July 29 1964 the VJ 101 C flew at Mach 1.04 without use of an afterburner. [1].

The second prototype X2 with a new autopilot made a successful transition on 22 October 1965. The tests were subsequently continued with X-2, which in contrast to X-1 had afterburners. However the project was cancelled in 1968. The proposed VJ 101 D Mach 2 interceptor was never built. VJ 101 C X 2 hangs today in the Deutsches Museum in Munich.