From: "The Enlightenment"

"B2431" wrote in message

One "VTOL" suacer that got to the preliminary designe stage was this
Focke Wulf "VTOL" http://www.luft46.com/fw/fwvtol.html

I have no doubt that the device would work and is superior to the tilt
rotor concept and its troublesome gear boxes. It seems to have ducted a gas
turbines' exhaust to power a large contra rotating ducted propellor in the
center of the "saucer" with the tubine then being deflected to provide
forward propulsion.

Indeed if built today it would be excedingly usefull as unlike a helicopter
or
tilt rotor it could manouever along side a skysraper or land in tight spots
free of the dangers of rotor impact.

And do what? The drawing shows a vehicle that would carry a crew of one and
NO payload.

It has one crew member. It could no doubt carry a warload or cargo in the
ring shaped fueselage or adated for more crew or passengers.


Look at the fuselage, other that very small spaces everything would have to be
structural, puffer and drive ducts or fuel tanks. In any event the Nazi version
would have required technology not available until the 1960s like computers
and turbinoshaft engines with enough power to be able to divert some bleed air
for forward thrust and control.

Next time you are in the Ft. Eustis VA area go look at the saucer shaped
aircraft (Avro?) they have. It could carry 2 men, hover all of 2 or 3 feet
off the ground and manoeuver rather nicely. Other than low hover it could not
fly and wobbled a lot.

snip

Most ducted fan lift concepts have worked and seem to have provided
forward speeds twice that of helicopters.

Name one.

snip

Two vehicles using ducted fans are being built now in the USA and Israel.

http://www.moller.com/
http://www.urbanaero.com/Urban_Main.htm

You have GOT to be kidding. In over 30 years of sucking money from investors
and promising to produce a working prototype " soon" the only thing Moller has
produced other than a bunch of hot air was an unmanned hover in ground effect.

I am not familiar with the other machine you cite, but more power to them.

Dan, U.S. Air Force, retired