Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 July 2016
It is a privilege and a pleasure to have this opportunity to talk to you about progress in vertical and short take-off and landing (V/STOL) aircraft technology. I must admit at the outset to some trepidation in accepting the invitation of the Society to speak on a subject that was successfully pioneered in the United Kingdom and brought to its current operational state largely because of the enduring faith of the Harrier team. However, I hope that the more modest progress that has been made on a variety of STOL and VTOL concepts will also be of interest to you; at the very least, this talk will identify some of the blind alleys to be avoided and, with a little luck, point out some new directions for future research. I will confine myself largely to the V/STOL technology with which I have been involved over the 1970–1980 period at Ames Research Center.