UK V/STOL Transport Aircraft Concepts of the 20th Century

The United Kingdom's aerospace industry played a central role in the development of Vertical and/or Short Take-Off and Landing (V/STOL) aircraft during the twentieth century. In the years since 1945 a range of gas turbine powerplant concepts were developed by the UK industry, and these were used to underpin a wide variety of transport aircraft project studies, as well as in active development and test programmes. This paper, the fourteenth in a series looking at international V/STOL concepts in the twentieth century, covers the full range of these transport aircraft projects, with a view to identifying lessons learned that may be useful for future V/STOL transport development. The propulsion concepts developed or studied by the UK spanned the full range of possible systems, from the well-known Pegasus vectored thrust engine to dedicated lift jet engines, and every possible combination in between. Despite this diversity in propulsion concepts, the range of V/STOL transport aircraft studies undertaken by a number of UK aircraft design teams can be summarised under three categories – military transports, civil transports and special transports. The first two categories can be readily compared to conventional take-off and landing transports, while the third category largely consists of types that were only possible through the use of specialised V/STOL propulsion concepts, but which were intended for roles ultimately filled by helicopters.