Hook to Hook Flight

The Ryan X-13 Vertijet, long rumored and unofficially described, made its official bow at a Pentagon showing last week. Its vertical takeoff, transition to horizontal flight and vertical landing--demonstrated by a movie--were an uncanny spectacle.

In the movie the Vertijet made its entrance riding horizontally on a low, flat trailer encrusted with mechanism. Test Pilot Peter F. Girard climbed into the cockpit, a mechanic closed the canopy over his head, and the X-13's Rolls-Royce Avon engine began its whining roar.

Then the bed of the trailer reared slowly upward like the body of a dump truck, carrying the X-13 to a vertical position. It was now hanging by an undernose hook from a short length of cable strung between two movable arms at the top of the vertical trailer bed. Its engine roared louder, and slowly the Vertijet rose, standing on an invisible column of hot racing gases. Its hook now free from the cable, it rose higher. Then it curved gracefully into normal, horizontal flying position and roared away out of sight.

When the X-13 returned from a brief horizontal joy ride, it slowed down and tilted its nose upward. Then it backed down toward earth, standing on its column of gas, and walked steadily toward the platform. A man was waiting at the top of the platform to help Pilot Girard during the critical operation of engaging the hook. He watched the X-13 approach until its hook was above the cable. Then he pressed a control that raised the supporting arms, slipping the cable under the hook. That was the end of the flight. The platform was cranked down to the horizontal. Pilot Girard opened the canopy and climbed out.

Besides showing pictures of the Vertijet's performance, Ryan told a few details about its construction. During vertical hovering, when no airstream is passing over the control surfaces, the X-13 is controlled by deflecting the exhaust of the jet engine and by varying its thrust by throttle adjustments. The pilot does not have to take off vertically while sitting on the back of his neck with his feet in the air. His seat pivots enough to keep him in a reasonable sitting position. Ryan officials say that the X-13 has proved remarkably easy to fly. Pilot Girard, who has been working on vertical flight for nearly five years, agrees. Even the critical transition from vertical to horizontal is no problem, he says. "You just tip her forward. It's not much of a trick; any helicopter pilot could do it."

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