Aircrafttotal Encyclopedia


The X-13 in flight at Edwards Air Force Base
Role	Experimental VTOL jet aircraft
Manufacturer	Ryan Aeronautical
First flight	December 10, 1955
Retired	September 30, 1957
Status	on display (2)
Primary user	United States Air Force
Number built	2

The Ryan X-13 Vertijet (company designation Model 69) is an experimental tail-sitting vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) jet aircraft built by Ryan Aeronautical and flown in the United States in the 1950s. The main objective of the project was to demonstrate the ability of a pure jet to vertically take off, hover, transition to horizontal forward flight, and vertically land.

Development

Just after World War II, Ryan engineers wondered whether the Ryan/U.S. Navy FR-1 Fireball, which had a thrust-to-weight ratio of 1:1 at low fuel quantities, would take off vertically. The United States Navy's Bureau of Aeronautics in 1947 awarded Ryan a contract, originally under the designation F3R, to investigate the development of a vertically launched jet fighter. This was part of a program to evaluate the feasibility of submarine-based aircraft. Ryan conducted remote controlled VTOL tethered rig tests from 1947 to 1950 and a flying rig in 1951. Ryan was awarded an Air Force contract in 1953 to develop an actual flying jet-powered VTOL aircraft, which was given the designation X-13. The aircraft was designed using calculations on a REAC 100, and two prototypes were ultimately built.

Surviving aircraft

Only two X-13 aircraft were built and both are on public display:

Serial number 54-1619 is on display at the Gillespie Field Annex of the San Diego Air & Space Museum. It is on loan from the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.
Serial number 54-1620 which was the Vertijet which made the full-cycle flight on April 11, 1957 was transferred to the National Museum of the United States Air Force, Dayton, Ohio, in May 1959. It is on display in the museum's Research and Development Hangar.

Ryan Aeronautical Company

Ryan Aeronautical Company
Ryan X-13 Vertijet

General Info

Crew: one pilot
Length: 23 ft 5 in (7.14 m)
Wingspan: 21 ft 0 in (6.40 m)
Height: 15 ft 2 in (4.62 m)
Wing area: 191 sq ft (17.8 m²)

Powerplant

Empty weight: 5,334 lb (2,424 kg) Gross weight: 6,730 lb (3,059 kg) Max takeoff weight: (3,272 kg) Powerplant: 1 × Rolls-Royce Avon RA.28 turbojet, 10,000 lbf (44 kN) thrust

Performance

Maximum speed: (560 km/h, 300 kn)
Range: 192 mi (307 km, 167 nmi)
Service ceiling: 20,000 ft (6,100 m)
Wing loading: 35.2 lb/sq ft (172 kg/m²)
Thrust/weight: 1.48

Armament

- Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

Special Links Ryan Aeronautical Company

Links to Youtube & Others

The X-13 was built to prove the concept that a jet could take off vertically, transition to horizontal flight, and return to vertical flight for landing.

Ryan Aeronautical
Ryan X-13 Vertijet

The X-13 was a curious aircraft that came into being at a time where aircraft design was going through a rapid evolution in the first decade ...

Youtube Link

The second X-13 -- on display at the museum -- made history in April 1957, when it completed the first full-cycle flight at Edwards Air Force Base,

Ryan Aeronautical Company
Ryan X-13 Vertijet
First flight December 10, 1955
Retired September 30, 1957

Ryan Aeronautical
Ryan X-13 Vertijet