Vought V-521 Navy canard delta V/STOL fighter

[Mark Nankivil]

Greetings All -

A few scans of photos found in the archives but not sure which model it is. Any suggestions?

Enjoy the Day! Mark

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

Could it be

V-521 (29-12-1971) VTOL fighter/attack aircraft with three engines - one lift/cruise plus 2 lift units [Tony Buttler - American Secret Projects: Jet Fighters]

Described as a canard delta with lift/lift-cruise engines in the Vought Docavia, seems pretty likely.

 

[overscan (PaulMM)]

Presumably it was an alternative to the V-517/520 design.

 

[fightingirish]

Well, on my first sight, it looked very similarly to the "Convair Model 200 VSTOL Navy Fighter ".
But now I see a few differences, especially the aft part with that one lift/cruise engine configuration.

 

[Mark Nankivil]

Greetings All!

Some drawings to go along with the photos, thanks of course to the Vought Archives.

Enjoy the Day! Mark

 

[F-32]

Hello, does the rear engine of this design have to briefly blow over the fuselage to enter the forward flight position? Similarly, does the engine have a non-swirveling afterburner section in the back?

 

[Scott Kenny]

Hello, does the rear engine of this design have to briefly blow over the fuselage to enter the forward flight position? Similarly, does the engine have a non-swirveling afterburner section in the back?

I'd suspect that the rear engine has a big butterfly valve in the exhaust between the turbines and the afterburner, with the downward exhaust right at the bottom of it.

At least I am assuming an afterburner, since the model isn't clear but looks to be supersonic. Also, timeline puts it in competition with the XFV-12, which was intended to be supersonic. Likely would have been, from CTOL, but the thrust augmentors just didn't work at full size so it couldn't VTOL.