Triebflugel.

This is coolbert:

Here with additional info on that German aircraft design from the World War Two [WW2] era, the Triebflugel.

A vertical take off and landing aircraft of the most unusual design.

A TAIL SITTER AIRCRAFT that just looks odd, ungainly, and to those that have even the most rudimentary and basic knowledge of aircraft flight, unconditionally unstable [?].

Would have never took off? Could never fly? Would have been uncontrollable under all circumstances?

This was my initial and intuitive reaction.

In particular, those three winds ROTATING AROUND THE FUSELAGE WOULD HAVE CREATED EXCESSIVE AND UNMANAGEABLE TORQUE? Torque that would cause the fuselage to rotate in the direction counter to the movement of the wings?

"Torque effect . . . the creation of torque as the engine turns the rotor creates a torque effect that causes the body of the [aircraft] to turn in the opposite direction"

Torque rendering the craft unconditionally unstable?

NO!

Here from a French web site [translated for you] dedicated to the Triebflugel!

"No torque was transmitted to the fuselage by the wings as those they were propelled by three ramjet mounted at the ends."

Torque would have been transmitted to the fuselage if the engines powering the wings were located inside the aircraft? Those ramjets on the wingtips meant that torque as generally understood was not present with the Triebflugel?

"The apparatus was a vertical takeoff fighter based on the tail back [tail sitter] and got his buoyancy [lift] of three wings rotating around the fuselage."

There is perceived advantage to the "tail sitter" design? Allows for a combat aircraft to be deployed without being "tied down" to an airbase. Allows any parcel of land big enough for a vertical landing to be used as a base of operations, fuel, ammo, ground crew servicing the aircraft in situ!

Artists conceptions ONLY exist of the Triebflugel. The aircraft never got beyond the stage of the drawing board and basic wind tunnel testing!

"The great advantage of this design was a plane can take off vertically with a high rate of climb . . . The aircraft could take off and from any free area, even in the city."

The American military did experiment with the tail sitter design. Called the Pogo. Actually did fly but was found to be difficult to handle, especially when LANDING! With the Pogo, a pair of "three-bladed contra-rotating propellers" was incorporated into the design, to compensate for TORQUE! But in the case of the Pogo, the engine was mounted inside the fuselage, necessitating anti-torque measures to be taken.

Tail sitter aircraft JUST DO NOT LOOK RIGHT! As I have said before, if it looks odd and your intuition tells you IT WILL NOT WORK, IT PROBABLY WILL NOT WORK?

Here, too, a web site with photos of American rocket enthusiasts also intrigued with the Triebflugel design! ACTUALLY HOOKED SOME AMATEUR ROCKET ENGINES UP TO A WINGED APPARATUS RESEMBLING THE TRIEBFLUGEL AND SIMULATED A VERTICAL TAKE-OFF!

coolbert.