Who discovered we could get milk from cows, and what did he think he was doing at the time?
Billy Connolly (November 24 1942-)
Picture: NEWSTEAM
VertijetIn 1957, a Ryan X-13 Vertijet became the first jet to take-off and land vertically. The airplane made history when it completed a first full-cycle flight at Edwards Air Force Base, California. It took off vertically from its mobile trailer, rose into the air, nosed over into a level attitude, and flew for several minutes. It then reversed the procedure to vertical flight and slowly descended to its trailer for a safe landing. The X-13 was designed to test the idea of vertical takeoff, transition to horizontal flight, and return to vertical flight for landing by jet aircraft. Equipped with a temporary tricycle landing gear, it was flown conventionally on 10 Dec 1955 to test its overall aerodynamic characteristics. It was then fitted with a temporary "tail sitting" rig and on 28 May 1956, flown from the ground in a vertical position to test its hovering qualities. |
