The Williams X-Jet, created by

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 ...

, was a small, single-person, light-weight, Vertical Take Off and Landing (

VTOL A vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft is one that can take off and land vertically without relying on a runway. This classification can include a variety of types of aircraft including helicopters as well as thrust-vectoring fixed-wi ...

) aircraft powered by a modified

Williams F107 The Williams F107 (company designation WR19) is a small turbofan engine made by Williams International. The F107 was designed to propel cruise missiles. It has been used as the powerplant for the AGM-86 ALCM, and BGM-109 Tomahawk, as well as the ...

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 ...

aircraft engine — designated WR-19-7 — after some minor modifications. The vehicle was nicknamed "The Flying Pulpit" for its shape. It was designed to carry one operator and to be controlled by leaning in the direction of desired travel and by modulating engine output power. It could move in any direction, accelerate rapidly, hover and rotate on its axis, stay aloft for up to 45 minutes and travel at speeds up to 60 miles per hour (97 km/h). It was evaluated by the

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in the 1980s, but was deemed inferior to the capabilities of

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

s and small, unmanned aircraft, and so the development of the X-Jet was discontinued. Other VTOL systems developed by Williams International included a jet-powered flying belt, developed in 1969, which was powered by a Williams WR19 turbofan, and X-Jet's predecessor, the WASP I (Williams Aerial Systems Platform), which was developed in the 1970s and was powered by the more powerful WR19-9 BRP5, rated at 670 lbf (2.98 kN) thrust and a specific fuel consumption of 0.47 lb/lbf·h (13.31 g/kN·s). was issued for the Williams X-Jet. Technical information and drawings are available at the

United States Patent and Trademark Office The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is an agency in the U.S. Department of Commerce that serves as the national patent office and trademark registration authority for the United States. The USPTO's headquarters are in Alex ...

. The WASP II uses a slightly modified and derated version of the WR-19-A7D, yielding 600 lbf thrust from its micro turbofan engine and is designated WR19-7, rated at 570 lbf thrust, after minor modifications and said derating. Modifications to the WR-19-A7D included accessories — replacement of pyro starter with electric/air start — and exhaust system modifications. No internal modifications to the counter-rotating micro turbofans were performed. The first manned, untethered flight was conducted in April 1980. Ray Le Grande is one of the WASP II operators trained by Williams International to fly the X-Jet.

Specifications (X-Jet)

Notes

References

* Display information at

Museum of Flight The Museum of Flight is a private non-profit air and space museum in the Seattle metropolitan area. It is located at the southern end of King County International Airport (Boeing Field) in the city of Tukwila, immediately south of Seattle. ...

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.
Guardian article

nationalmuseum.af.mil
* ''The History of North American Small Gas Turbine Aircraft Engines'', by Richard A. Leyes II and William A. Fleming ({{ISBN, 1-56347-332-1 Copyright 1999) 1970s United States experimental aircraft VTOL aircraft X-Jet

Specifications (X-Jet)

See also

Notes

References