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In 1928, Nikola Tesla received patents for an apparatus for aerial transportation. It is one of the earliest example of VTOL aircraft. In the late 1950s and early 1960s almost all fighter aircraft designed included some VTOL features. This was a response to the worrying possibility that a first-strike against airfields by nuclear armed bombers would leave a country open to attack by following bombers. The "solution" was to use VTOL fighters that could be moved to open fields around the countryside, making them immune to widespread destruction.

In reality the costs of VTOL performance were huge, and while it turned out to be fairly easy to move the plane, moving the support equipment and fuel was not so easy. By the mid-1960s interest in VTOL had faded, perhaps due much to the widespread introduction of ICBMs as the main nuclear delivery system.

Currently there are believed to be two types of practical VTOL aircraft in operation:

• Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey "tilt-rotor" and the
• British Aerospace HarrierSee also BAE Sea Harrier The Hawker Siddeley Harrier and the AV-8A are the first generation of the Harrier series, a successful close-support and reconnaissance fighter aircraft with V/STOL capabilities. The Harrier continues to serve today as the Harrier "Jump jet" (or its updated American counterpart, the BoeingThe Boeing Company ( NYSE:BA) is a leading American aircraft and aerospace manufacturer, headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, with its largest production facilities near Seattle, Washington. It is also a defense contractor. It is listed on the New York Sto AV-8B Harrier II)

An early VTOL prototype was the so-called " flying bedstead".

The Harrier is often flown in STOVLSTOVL is an acronym for S hort T ake O ff and V ertical L anding. This is the ability of some aircraft to take off from a short runway, and land vertically (i. with no runway). The most famous example is probably the Hawker Harrier Jump Jet, which though mode which enables it to carry a higher fuel or weapon load over a given distance. It was developed from the Hawker P.1127 and Kestrel. The Indian and Spanish Navies operate Sea Harriers, mainly from aircraft carrierUSS John C. Stennis (left), and HMS Illustrious (right), showing the difference in size between a supercarrier and a typical aircraft carrier. An aircraft carrier is a warship whose main role is to deploy and recover aircraft. Aircraft carriers thus allows.

The United States Marine Corps uses a license-built derivative of the Harrier. NASAThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA (established 1958) is the government agency responsible for the United States of America's space program and long-term general aerospace research. A civilian organization, it conducts (or oversees) re has flown other VTOL craft such as the XV-15 research craft, as have the Soviet Navy and Luftwaffe. Sikorsky tested an aircraft dubbed the X-Wing, which took off in the manner of a helicopter. The rotors would become stationary in mid-flight, and function as wings, providing lift in addition to the static wings.

The Soviet Yak-38 Forger was the Soviet Navy's VTOL aircraft for their light carriers, cargoships, and capital ships. It was developed from the Yak-36 Freehand experimental aircraft. Before the Soviet Union collapsed, the only supersonic VTOL aircraft was developed as the Yak-38's successor, the Yak-141, which never went into production.

The Moller Skycar is a prototype personal VTOL aircraft -- literally, a "flying car".

Aircraft designed to operate in extraterrestrial environments often utilize VTOL. An example of this type of aircraft is the LLRV. Spacecraft typically operate in environments where runways or even a suitably flat surface for skids is nonexistent.