Advertisements

Aviation / Aerospace

CONVAIR XFY Pogo

Experimental Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) Fighter Prototype [ 1954 ]

The CONVAIR XFY Pogo was a study in the viability of a VTOL fighter aircraft - only three were built and only one ever flown.

Authored By: Staff Writer | Last Edited: 11/02/2017 | Content ©www.MilitaryFactory.com | The following text is exclusive to this site.

GO TO SPECIFICATIONS [+]

Advertisements

Both the CONVAIR XFY "Pogo" and Lockheed XFV were developed to a 1950 United States Navy (USN) requirement intended to test the viability of a "tail-sitting" shipborne fighter for arming and protecting convoys and for providing a quick-reaction point defense capability to warships in general. The aircraft were described as tail-sitters due to their vertical stance when at rest, taking-off or landing. In this fashion, the aircraft held a small, compact footprint on the space-strapped decks of USN ships then in service and could be called into action in short order. Several programs attempted the same end-goal during this post-World War 2 period and included the French-originated SNECMA "Coleopter". In the end, the CONVAIR work netted three aircraft with only one flyable example. Similarly, the Lockheed submission could claim just one flyable example between its two prototypes completed.

The CONVAIR submission was designated "XFY-1" and was also known as the "Model 5". As in the Lockheed entry, the CONVAIR aircraft utilized a conventional propulsion package, held equal-span tailfins (both ventrally and dorsally with all four wing tips capped by small castor wheels), and seated a sole pilot over the nose. As designed, the XFY featured a unique pivoting system for the pilot's ejection seat allowing the whole unit to tilt 45-degrees when the aircraft sat in the vertical position and level out when the aircraft switched to horizontal flight. The ventral tailfin was also made jettisonable in the event an emergency landing was required of the aircraft. Unlike the XFV, the XFY was given a modified delta-planform for its wing mainplanes.

The USN ordered three prototypes from CONVAIR in March of 1951.

Power to the design would initially come from an Allison YT-40-A engine of 5,850 horsepower and a ch a later switch would be made to the still-in-development XT40-A-16 of 6,966 horsepower output. This was the same plan for the competing Lockheed XFV. The XFY's engine fit would be used to drive 2 x three-bladed propeller units in contra-rotating fashion at the nose.©MilitaryFactory.com

Advertisements

The XFY was also slated to carry a similar armament load to its rival - 4 x 20mm cannons fitted to two wingtip pods or 48 x 2.75" aerial rockets in their place. The wingtip pods allowed for the weapon's firing clearance of the large, broad spinning propeller blades.

A prototype example completed its first tethered flight on April 19th, 1954 and managed a first flight (a vertical take-off and landing action) on August 1st, 1954 (the Lockheed submission was "first-to-fly" on June 16th of that year). On November 2nd, 1954, the aircraft completed its first vertical take-off to horizontal flight transition - something not accomplished by the Lockheed entry.

The sole flyable XFY example managed 60 hours in the air before the VTOL program was cancelled by the USN. The major deficiencies in the CONVAIR design were a lack of an effective air braking measure when attempting to transition to vertical landing and the inherently difficult -and dangerous - landing action altogether which itself required a steady and experienced hand "at the stick". Beyond these factors, the aircraft's estimated performance would never match that of the newest enemy fighter jets coming online. As such the final flight of the XFY occurred during November of 1956 ending several years of useful testing.

Like the Lockheed XFV, the CONVAIR XFY was saved from the scrap heap and currently (2016) resides in storage at the National Air and Space Museum in Maryland. Reported performance specifications included a maximum speed of 475 miles per hour, a range out to 500 miles, a service ceiling of 37,500 feet, and a rate-of-climb of 9,980 feet-per-minute.©MilitaryFactory.com

Note: The above text is EXCLUSIVE to the site www.MilitaryFactory.com. It is the product of many hours of research and work made possible with the help of contributors, veterans, insiders, and topic specialists. If you happen upon this text anywhere else on the internet or in print, please let us know at MilitaryFactory AT gmail DOT com so that we may take appropriate action against the offender / offending site and continue to protect this original work.

Specifications

Service Year

1954

Origin

United States

Status

CANCELLED
Development Ended.

Crew

1

Production

3
UNITS

CONVAIR - USA

(View other Aviaton-Related Manufacturers)

United States (cancelled)

(OPERATORS list includes past, present, and future operators when applicable)

✓ Air-to-Air Combat, Fighter
General ability to actively engage other aircraft of similar form and function, typically through guns, missiles, and/or aerial rockets.

✓ X-Plane (Developmental, Prototype, Technology Demonstrator)
Aircraft developed for the role of prototyping, technology demonstration, or research / data collection.

Length

32.2 ft
(9.80 m)

Width/Span

27.6 ft
(8.40 m)

Height

22.9 ft
(6.98 m)

Empty Wgt

11,155 lb
(5,060 kg)

MTOW

16,248 lb
(7,370 kg)

Wgt Diff

+5,093 lb
(+2,310 kg)

(Showcased structural values pertain to the CONVAIR XFY-1 production variant)

Installed: 1 x Allison YT40-A-14 turboprop engine developing 5,100 horsepower while driving 2 x Three-bladed contra-rotating propellers.

Max Speed

475 mph
(765 kph | 413 kts)

Ceiling

37,533 ft
(11,440 m | 7 mi)

Range

500 mi
(805 km | 1,491 nm)

Rate-of-Climb

9,985 ft/min
(3,043 m/min)

♦ MACH Regime (Sonic)

Sub

Trans

Super

Hyper

HiHyper

ReEntry

♦

(Showcased performance specifications pertain to the CONVAIR XFY-1 production variant. Performance specifications showcased above are subject to environmental factors as well as aircraft configuration. Estimates are made when Real Data not available. Compare this aircraft entry against any other in our database or View aircraft by powerplant type)

PROPOSED (STANDARD):
4 x 20mm cannons

PROPOSED (OPTIONAL):
48 x 70mm Mk 4 FFARs (Folding-Fin Aerial Rockets)

Supported Types

Graphical image of an aircraft automatic cannon

Graphical image of aircraft aerial rockets

(Not all ordnance types may be represented in the showcase above)

Hardpoint Mountings: 0

XFY - Base Product Designation

XFY-1 - Prototype Designation

"Pogo" - Product Name

Military lapel ribbon for Operation Allied Force

Military lapel ribbon for the Arab-Israeli War

Military lapel ribbon for the Battle of Britain

Military lapel ribbon for the Battle of Midway

Military lapel ribbon for the Berlin Airlift

Military lapel ribbon for the Cuban Missile Crisis

Military lapel ribbon for pioneering aircraft

Military lapel ribbon for the Falklands War

Military lapel ribbon for the French-Indochina War

Military lapel ribbon for the Golden Age of Flight

Military lapel ribbon for the 1991 Gulf War

Military lapel ribbon for the Indo-Pak Wars

Military lapel ribbon for the Iran-Iraq War

Military lapel ribbon for the Korean War

Military lapel ribbon for the 1982 Lebanon War

Military lapel ribbon for the Malayan Emergency

Military lapel ribbon representing modern aircraft

Military lapel ribbon for the attack on Pearl Harbor

Military lapel ribbon for the Six Day War

Military lapel ribbon for the Soviet-Afghan War

Military lapel ribbon for the Spanish Civil War

Military lapel ribbon for the Suez Crisis

Military lapel ribbon for the Ukranian-Russian War

Military lapel ribbon for the Vietnam War

Military lapel ribbon for Warsaw Pact of the Cold War-era

Military lapel ribbon for the WASP (WW2)

Military lapel ribbon for the World War 1

Military lapel ribbon for the World War 2

Military lapel ribbon for the Yom Kippur War

Military lapel ribbon for experimental x-plane aircraft

Ribbon graphics not necessarily indicative of actual historical campaign ribbons. Ribbons are clickable to their respective aerial campaigns / operations / aviation periods.

Images Gallery

1 / 2

Image from the Public Domain.

2 / 2

Image from the Public Domain.

❮ ❯

Advertisements

Disclaimer | Privacy Policy | Cookies

2023 Military Pay Chart Military Ranks DoD Dictionary Conversion Calculators Military Alphabet Code Military Map Symbols

The "Military Factory" name and MilitaryFactory.com logo are registered ® U.S. trademarks protected by all applicable domestic and international intellectual property laws. All written content, illustrations, and photography are unique to this website (unless where indicated) and not for reuse/reproduction in any form. Material presented throughout this website is for historical and entertainment value only and should not to be construed as usable for hardware restoration, maintenance, or general operation. We do not sell any of the items showcased on this site. Please direct all other inquiries to militaryfactory AT gmail.com. No A.I. was used in the generation of this content; site is 100% curated by humans.

Part of a network of sites that includes GlobalFirepower, a data-driven property used in ranking the top military powers of the world, WDMMA.org (World Directory of Modern Military Aircraft), WDMMW.org (World Directory of Modern Military Warships), SR71blackbird.org, detailing the history of the world's most iconic spyplane, and MilitaryRibbons.info, cataloguing military medals and ribbons.

View day-by-day actions of the American Civil War with CivilWarTimeline.net. View day-by-day actions of World War II with SecondWorldWarHistory.com.

©2023 www.MilitaryFactory.com • All Rights Reserved • Content ©2003-2023 (20yrs)