Ryan XV-5A Vertifan VTOL Jet Crash Accident, October 5, 1966 Ryan Aeronautics

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Silent. Pilot Tittle killed while testing the Ryan XV-5 Vertifan VTOL jet as a vehicle for rescuing downed pilots. '...A suspended "horse collar" survivor sling was ingested into a wing fan. The pilot, Major David H. Tittle, was fatally injured as a result of the ejection seat propelling him out of the craft after it had hit the concrete airport surface...'

Originally a public domain film, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and one-pass brightness-contrast-color correction & mild video noise reduction applied.

The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryan_XV-5_Vertifan

Wikipedia license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

The Ryan XV-5 Vertifan was a jet-powered V/STOL experimental aircraft in the 1960s. The United States Army (US Army) commissioned the Ryan VZ-11-RY (re-designated XV-5A in 1962) in 1961, along with the Lockheed VZ-10 Hummingbird (re-designated XV-4 in 1962). It successfully proved the concept of ducted lift fans, but the project was cancelled after multiple fatal crashes unrelated to the lift system...

The XV-5 was powered by two 2,658 lbf (11.8 kN) thrust General Electric J85-GE-5 turbojets. General Electric X353-5 Lift-fans in the wings and a smaller fan in the nose, powered by engine exhaust gas, were used for Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL). The 62.5 in (1.59 m) diameter lift fan in each wing had a hinged cover on the upper wing surface which was opened for VTOL. The 36 in (0.91 m) nose fan provided adequate pitch control but produced adverse handling characteristics. The fans provided vertical lift of approximately 16,000 lbf (71.2 kN), nearly three times the thrust of the engines as turbojets.

A set of louvered vanes underneath each of the wing fans could vector the thrust fore and aft and provided yaw control. The engine power setting determined the lift from the fans, as fan RPM was determined by the exhaust output from the J85 engines and the load on the fan. Roll control was by differential actuation of the wing-fan exit louvers.

Aircraft performance was subsonic, with delta wings superficially similar to those on the Douglas A-4 Skyhawk. The Vertifan had an unusual intake position above the two-seat side-by-side seating cockpit, and a T-tail.

The XV-5A was finished in Army green and the XV-5B was painted in white NASA colors. The fans did not generate as much thrust as was hoped, and the vertical-horizontal flight transition was difficult and abrupt. The XV-5 would be one of the last manned aircraft designed and built by Ryan, which mainly manufactured drones after the mid 1960s.

The XV-5 was one of many dozens of aircraft which attempted to produce a successful vertical takeoff aircraft, but the lift fan system was heavy and occupied considerable internal volume. Only the Hawker Siddeley Harrier would still be operational by the turn of the 21st century, as would technology to make possible the use of a shaft-driven fan in the Lockheed Martin F-35B...

Tests and promotional materials proposed a rescue version that could winch a person into a compartment behind the pilots. The second aircraft was extensively damaged on 5 October 1966 during trials as a rescue aircraft, when a suspended "horse collar" survivor sling was ingested into a wing fan. The pilot, Major David H. Tittle, was fatally injured as a result of the ejection seat propelling him out of the craft after it had hit the concrete airport surface, although it was judged that the fan actually still functioned well enough to continue controlled flight. The second aircraft was rebuilt as the modified XV-5B, with tests continuing until 1971. An XV-5B can be seen on display at the United States Army Aviation Museum, Fort Rucker, Alabama.

Although the program was cancelled, the ducted fan concept had been judged successful and several follow up programs were proposed. The ducted fans were considered very quiet for their time, and were capable of operating from standard surface materials. Other VTOL aircraft often require protective mats to avoid damaging ground surfaces with their exhaust. This is not a problem with the much cooler exhaust from ducted fans...