What Went Wrong With Germany's Insane Hover Transport?
6,680,437
Published 2020-04-25
Watch More Mustard Videos & Support The Channel: nebula.tv/mustard
Instagram: www.instagram.com/mustardchannel/
TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@mustardchannel
Facebook: www.facebook.com/Mustard-109952378202335
Twitter: twitter.com/MustardVideos
Website: www.mustardchannel.com/
Vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) refers to aircraft that can take-off, hover, and land vertically. To this day, the Dornier Do-31 remains the largest VTOL jet to take to the skies and the world’s only VTOL jet lift transport.
Throughout the 1960’s, several countries launched ambitious programs to develop VTOL jets. The promise of freeing jets from needing runways to operate offered huge military advantages. In the opening hours of a conflict, runways were going to be the first targets, potentially rendering entire air forces inoperable. But VTOL jets could operate without runways, using small forward operating bases to stage operations.
Although Britain led the way with the development of the Harrier Jump Jet, Germany set out to build something even more ambitious, the world’s first vertical jet lift transport. The Do 31 would combine the speed and range of a jet with the versatility of a helicopter. A plane that could deliver supplies and personnel to remote forward operating bases and support forces out in the field.
The Do 31 utilized two vectored-thrust turbofans and eight lift jets in wing-tip pods. Together the 10 jets could generate an incredible 66,000 pounds of thrust to facilitate vertical or short take-off and landing operations. In forward flight, the lift jets would be shut off and the Do 31 would fly like a conventional plane. The aircraft could reach speeds of over 700km an hour and carry 36 fully equipped troops or nearly six tons of cargo. An
unprecedented combination of speed, range and lifting capacity.
As development of the Do-31 progressed, some even saw the potential for vertical jet lift technology to revolutionize civil aviation. VTOL airliners would operate from helipads, maybe even directly from building rooftops. But developing the world’s first VTOL jet transport would be fraught with enormous technical challenges, and as the Cold War evolved, VTOL capable jets became less of a strategic priority. Despite numerous test flights and proof of concept, the project was ultimately cancelled in 1970.
Select footage courtesy the AP Archive:
AP Archive website: www.aparchive.com/ YouTube: youtube.com/c/aparchive and youtube.com/c/britishmovietone
Like the aviation industry posters found in this video? Visit The Aviation Ancestry Database, containing over 80,000 high-quality examples: www.aviationancestry.co.uk/
Special thanks to Nick Arehart for helping clean up our audio:
twitter.com/airhrt_
Thanks for watching!
All Comments (21)
-
He never left us... *sheds tear*
-
He doesn’t upload often, but when he does... we remember how it is always worth the wait!
-
"Dammit, we can't get that plane to lift off the ground. We must be missing an important detail." "Hummingbirds have a long pointy beak. Maybe that's what gives them their unique abilities." "You heard him. But a long pointy beak on that plane!"
-
War: ends Germany:" well, back to building wonder waffles
-
Man quality over quantity is way better than quantity over quality. your videos are really worth the wait keep up the good work!
-
I can’t be the only one who leaves these videos with a distinct feeling of “dammit, that would have been so cool!”
-
Germany: makes warplanes again Everyone else: Sweats
-
World: Ok Germany, how have you changed your behavior? Germany: And for my next Wunderwaffen I present a VTOL air force!
-
So you want a jet or a helicopter? Germans: Y E S
-
"A plane that would revolutionize something". We all know where this story is going.
-
The actual deadly blow to the Do-31 was the heat of the lift-engines: Dornier found it impossible to keep the plane from severely damaging the runway, making it unable to run more than an few handful of flights before an airfield was as much in need for repairs as if it were bombed.
-
Everytime mustard say it will revolutionized transport, we all know that project is gonna fail. 😂
-
This aircraft was in the Man in the High Castle.
-
I am German but I didn’t even know these things exist... Thank you, exceptional quality as always!
-
3:03 "During the cold war, Norway was under Finnish occupation" ;)
-
Your 3D renders are always so good, and a signature of your style. Thank you for existing!
-
The engineer's must have a hard time getting over fact that years of hard work is dumped into bin after the project gets cancelled. Can feel the disappointment myself being an engineer.
-
Anyone else get really excited when mustard posts
-
Paris Airshow 1969 - I was there and saw the Do 31 in action. Also saw the first public display by Concorde. But the most exciting thing of the day was an incredible display by an RAF Lightning, after which everything else was a bit dull.
-
Germany: "I'm four dimensions ahead of you!"
