EWR VJ 101
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The EWR VJ 101 was an experimental West German jet-powered, VTOL aircraft. VJ stood for "Vertikal Jäger" (V/STOL Fighter). It was planned to be the basis for a successor to the F-104G Starfighter but was cancelled.
Both Heinkel and Messerschmitt developed designs to meet the requirements. By 1959 the two companies had created a joint venture company, called EWR, to build the VJ 101 C, which combined the characteristics of the Heinkel and Messerschmitt designs.
In addition to the two pairs of engines in nacelles at the wing-tips, two further lift jets were installed in the fuselage to supplement the main engines in hovering flight.
Length: 17.30 metres
Span: 6.61 metres
Maximum take-off weight: 6100 kg
Four main engines plus two Rolls-Royce RB 145 lift-engines
Three views of the VJ101 at the German Museum of Munich
Two prototypes were built: X-1 and X-2. On 10 April 1963 the X-1 made its first hovering flight. The first transition from the hovering flight to the horizontal flight on 20 September 1963. The VJ 101C X-1 flew 40 aerodynamic flights, 24 hover flights and 14 full transitions. During these tests the sound barrier was broken, for the first time by a vertical take-off aircraft, but on 14 September 1964 a defect in the autopilot caused a crash.
The second prototype X2 with a new autopilot made a successful transition on 22 October 1965. The tests were subsequently continued with X-2, which in contrast to X-1 had afterburners. However the project was cancelled in 1968. The proposed VJ 101 D Mach 2 interceptor was never built. VJ 101 C X 2 hangs today in the Deutsches Museum in Munich.
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