Today, our life is so full of all sorts of wonders of technological progress - smartphones offering communication-Internet photo-video anywhere in the world, recycling plastic into containers-clothes-machines-whatever, and many, many others - and we sometimes forget about revolutionary inventions of the 50-60-70s of the twentieth century.
For example - jetpacks, which appeared in comics in the twenties, migrated to films and cartoons - the twentieth century is simply full of them, everywhere except real life. Will it really remain just a fantasy, or is it …
Williams International has been developing a small, lightweight vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft since the mid-1970s. Among the developers, it is known as the "Flying Tribune". Officially, the project was codenamed WASP -Williams Aerial Systems Platform.
WASP - 1.
The contract for the development of this device was signed with the American military departments in 1972 and provided for the completion of the previously closed Jet Flying Belt project. The technical requirements for the device being developed were as follows: the tasks of the apparatus were missions related to tracking and technical support (communication, cover, correction of actions); the device should be extremely easy to learn and pilot, the fuel should be publicly available.
Since 1973, tests of the first generation of WASP began, on the basis of which a grand of one and a half million dollars was received, to create an improved version, which appeared in 1980 and was carefully studied by the military.
Control system WASP.
Known as the Williams X-Jet, it was powered by a modified Williams F107 turbofan aircraft engine. The X-Jet was operated by one person, leaning in the direction of the desired movement and adjusting the power. It could move in any direction, quickly accelerate, hover and rotate around its axis, staying at an altitude of up to 45 minutes and moving at speeds up to 100 km / h.
Promotional video:
The characteristics of the apparatus are as follows: the crew consisted of one pilot, height twenty centimeters, empty / full weight 182/250 kg, thrust-to-weight ratio 1.11, maximum flight altitude - three km.
WASP - 2.
But these are calculations, in fact, instead of 45 minutes, the device flew a little more than 5, the speed developed not a hundred, but seventy-five km / h, in height there was a failure at all - only about three hundred meters. After being evaluated by the US Army in the 1980s, the WASP-2 was deemed less promising than helicopters and small unmanned aerial vehicles.
One instance of the Williams X-Jet is currently on display at the National Aviation Hall of Fame, located at the National Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio.