French STOLV- Mirage III-5

[Arsenal VG-33]

Good short film (under 8 min.) of French experiments with the verticle take-off and landing concept (1962-65). There is good on board footage as well statrting at 5:45. I believe it still holds the record for speed for an aircraft of this kind, though I could be corrected on this.


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRwjADnTb5w

More information here:

Dassault Balzac V - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Matt308]

Very cool. But I bet that without external tanks the range was about 150mi given all the direct thrust mechanics necessary for VTOL capability.

 

[parsifal]

The wiki article says it only had an endurance of 15 mins, but a max speed of 686 knots. By comparison the AV-8B has an endurance of about an hour, and a combat range of 300nm. its max speed is about 660 knots. The Sea Harrier had a max speed of 635 knots, but a combat range of 540 nm (probably to it adopting STOVL profiles rather than VTOL)

 

[Arsenal VG-33]

I do believe that massive fuel consumption is precisely the reason why this French VTOL program was brought to a halt. I also wonder if this may also be due to the fact that delta winged aircraft are not very compatable with this type of take-off and landing, owing to the engineering complexities involved. What I find most interesting with this aircraft is it's forward landing gear, which bears a resemblance to those planes used on aircraft carriers.

 

[vikingBerserker]

Great info Arsenal!

 

[Graeme]

I do believe that massive fuel consumption is precisely the reason why this French VTOL program was brought to a halt.

Hi Arsenal. And cost. By 1963 it was realised that for one IIIV they could purchase six Mirage IIIE strike/interceptors or emergent Anglo-French Jaguars.

One author holds a theory that if the RB.189 lift jet (mock-up at left of photo) had been developed sooner the IIIV would have gone into production. It would have required only four of these jets for vertical flight. As it was the attainment of the necessary near 20:1 thrust/weight technology wasn't achieved until thee late '60s.

What I find most interesting with this aircraft is it's forward landing gear, which bears a resemblance to those planes used on aircraft carriers.

The Balzac undercarriage was designed to absorb a rate of descent of up to 3.6 metres per second and 3.35 metres per second for the IIIV which has been described as "unnecessarily robust" as vertical landing trials revealed impact speeds of between 0.76-2.2 metres per second. The extreme high nose attitude of Balzac was designed to assist in forward transition. The recoil of the suspension was demonstrated in 1963 on the Balzac using a platform and cable arrangement that winched the aircraft down thereby compressing the undercarriage. With the engines wound up, releasing the cable resulted in a quick vertical ascent aided by the 'uncoiling' of the undercarriage.

The nose gear of Balzac folded backwards. Forwards for the IIIV as this assisted in making space for an internal weapons bay forward of the lift engines.

(Trivia for the day-The "V" in IIIV stands for Vertical, not the Roman numeral for 5).

 

[PJay]

Better than this French 'thing'. Google Image Result for http://www.aviastar.org/pictures/france/snecma_coleoptere.jpg