Trifan powered VSTOL aircraft

In an aircraft the combination of a fuselage, a fixed wing mounted on said fuselage and having a leading edge, upper and lower surfaces and a trailing edge, gas generator engines submerged in said fuselage, nacelles mounted on the upper surface of said wing at each side of said fuselage, a turbine tip fan operable in each nacelle, a turbine tip fan operably mounted in said fuselage ahead of said wing leading edge and delivering vertically downwardly directed thrust, gas flow ducts connecting said engines to said nacelles to deliver gas for driving said turbine tip fans and connected to said fuselage mounted turbine tip fan for driving said turbine tip fan, said nacelles having air inlets faired into said wing upper surface for producing high induced lift through supercirculation of ambient air over said wing upper surface, and flow vectoring means at each nacelle to direct the thrust of the fan flow selectively for vertical and horizontal flight.

An aircraft comprising a fuselage;

• a fixed wing on said fuselage;
• and means for discharging downwardly directed airstreams from three locations on the aircraft and with sufficient force to exceed the weight of the aircraft for vertical flight thereof, said airstream discharge means for one of said locations being a fan rotating about an upright axis and being in the fuselage ahead of the center of gravity and the other two airstream discharge means being fans rotating about generally horizontal axes and being disposed externally of and at the sides of the fuselage generally to the rear of the wing, the three locations forming the apexes of a triangle and the center of gravity for the aircraft being within the triangle, whereby a stable tripod is developed for supporting the aircraft, and a pair of gas generating turbine engines carried within said fuselage and connected to each of said airstream discharge means.

In an aircraft having a fuselage and a fixed wing on said fuselage having leading and trailing edges and with an upper surface;

• the improvement of a nacelle structure on the wing at each side of said fuselage, each nacelle having an ambient air inlet, a portion of which is flush with said wing upper surface, powered fan means in each nacelle to induce air flow and generate high lift through the circulation of the ambient air over said wing upper surface, each of said wing nacelles being provided with an adjustable exhaust nozzle located adjacent said wing trailing edge, other powered fan means in said fuselage spaced ahead of said wing leading edge, adjustable flow directing means adjacent said other powered fan means, said adjustable exhaust nozzles and adjustable flow directing means being movable between positions for powering the aircraft in generally vertically directed flight and positions for generally horizontal flight, and pilot control means connected to said exhaust nozzles and said adjustable flow directing means to effect adjustments thereof, said pilot control means in said generally horizontal flight of the aircraft effecting closure of said ajustable flow direct-means at said other powered fan means and stoppage of said latter fan.