The Williams V-Jet II was designed and built by

Burt Rutan Elbert Leander "Burt" Rutan (; born June 17, 1943) is a retired American aerospace engineer and entrepreneur noted for his originality in designing light, strong, unusual-looking, and energy-efficient air and space craft. He designed the recor ...

Scaled Composites Scaled Composites (often called simply Scaled) is an American aerospace company founded by Burt Rutan and currently owned by Northrop Grumman. It is located at the Mojave Air and Space Port in Mojave, California, United States. Founded to deve ...

for

Williams International Williams International is an American manufacturer of small gas turbine engines based in Pontiac, Michigan, United States. It produces jet engines for cruise missiles and small jet aircraft. History Dr. Sam B. Williams worked at Chrysler on t ...

as a test bed and demonstrator aircraft for Williams' new FJX-1

turbofan The turbofan or fanjet is a type of airbreathing jet engine that is widely used in aircraft propulsion. The word "turbofan" is a portmanteau of "turbine" and "fan": the ''turbo'' portion refers to a gas turbine engine which achieves mechanic ...

engine.

Development

Williams International had been building small turbofan engines for cruise missile applications since the 1950s, and had successfully entered the

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

market in the late 1980s with the FJ44 engine. In 1992,

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil List of government space agencies, space program ...

initiated a program, Advanced General Aviation Transport Experiments (AGATE) to partner with manufacturers and help develop technologies that would revitalize the sagging general aviation industry. In 1996, Williams joined AGATE's General Aviation Propulsion (GAP) program to develop a fuel-efficient turbofan engine that would be even smaller than the FJ44. The result was the FJX-2 engine, which produced thrust. Williams then contracted with

to design and build the V-Jet II, considered a

Very Light Jet A very light jet (VLJ), entry-level jet or personal jet, previously known as a microjet, is a category of small business jets seating four to eight people. VLJs are considered the lightest business jets and are approved for single-pilot operati ...

(VLJ), to use as a testbed and technology demonstrator to showcase the new engine. At Scaled, the aircraft was known as the Model 271. The aircraft and engine were debuted at the 1997

Oshkosh Airshow EAA AirVenture Oshkosh (formerly the EAA Annual Convention and Fly-In), or just Oshkosh, is an annual air show and gathering of aviation enthusiasts held each summer at Wittman Regional Airport and adjacent Pioneer Airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsi ...

. Scaled's test pilot

Doug Shane Douglas Bennett Shane is President of The Spaceship Company, as well as an American test pilot who has trained as a commercial astronaut. He was a member of the Scaled Composites astronaut team and one of the test pilots for SpaceShipOne, the ex ...

received the Iven C. Kincheloe Award from the

Society of Experimental Test Pilots The Society of Experimental Test Pilots is an international organization that seeks to promote air safety and contributes to aeronautical advancement by promoting sound aeronautical design and development; interchanging ideas, thoughts and suggest ...

for his flight test work on the plane. The V-Jet II was an all-composite structure with a forward-swept wing, a V-tail, each fin of which was mounted on the nacelle of one of the two engines. The overall design was quite reminiscent of the LearAvia Lear Fan, although much smaller. Williams had not intended to produce the aircraft, but it attracted a lot of attention, and

Eclipse Aviation The Eclipse Aviation Corporation was the Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States-based manufacturer of the Eclipse 500 very light jet (VLJ), and also at one time proposed developing the Eclipse 400 single-engined jet. The company was founded ...

was founded in 1998 to further develop and produce the aircraft. The airframe was significantly redesigned as an all-metal structure sporting a T-tail, and the name

Eclipse 500 The Eclipse 500 (model EA500) is a very light jet (VLJ) originally produced by Eclipse Aviation of Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States. The company was founded in 1998 to develop the 1997 Williams V-Jet II demonstrator. The prototype firs ...

. The prototype flew with a pair of EJ-22 engines, a variant of the FJX-2. However, performance was not satisfactory, and the design was changed to use two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW610F engines, which had been specifically designed by Pratt for the Eclipse. The prototype and only V-Jet II aircraft was obtained by

along with the program, and was donated to the

Experimental Aircraft Association The Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) is an international organization of aviation enthusiasts based in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, United States. Since its inception, it has grown internationally with over 200,000 members and nearly 1,000 chapt ...

AirVenture museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin in 2001.

Specifications (V-Jet II)

References

;Notes ;Bibliography
EAA Museum page on prototypeEclipse Aviation website
{{Scaled Composites Rutan aircraft Scaled Composites 1990s United States experimental aircraft V-tail aircraft Eclipse aircraft Twinjets Forward-swept-wing aircraft Mid-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1997