October 1954: The flying bedstead

Also known as the vertical flight research rig or the Thrust Measurement Rig (TMR) - the zany contraption first appeared in these pages 64 years ago this week, having made its maiden, free flight on August 3rd 1954. The same issue featured a vignette on Lockheed’s XFV-1, a vertically launched fighter aircraft developed for the US Navy. According to our predecessors, technology had only just matured to the point where VTOL flight was becoming a reality, powered primarily by the advent of the jet engine.

“The prospect of launching an aircraft vertically using only the engines provided for its level flight requirements, has been brought much nearer reality in recent years by the rapid evolution of the gas turbine,” The Engineer wrote. “Since the Whittle ‘W.1’ engine of less than 1,000lb thrust, the specific thrust has been raised from about 1.5lb per pound weight to that of nearly 4lb per pound weight in the latest turbo-jet engine in the 10,000/15,000lb thrust category. These increases have also been achieved without diametral growth. An aircraft with two such engines mounted in the fuselage, could therefore be designed with sufficient thrust to accelerate vertically from rest.”