Welcome to Vertipedia!
Vertipedia is a product of the Vertical Flight Society. With data on 859 aircraft, 612 historical milestones, 472 people, and 392 organizations, Vertipedia is your "one-stop shop" for all things vertical lift.
On August 26 in the history of vertical flight:
1954 - World's speed record by Sikorsky S-59 (1954)
2014 - First Transformative Vertical Flight Concepts Workshop held
2016 - First vertical flight of a human carrying solar-powered vehicle (Gamera-S)
Featured aircraft
Our latest featured aircraft for August is the Cierva W.11 Air Horse .
The aircraft was designed to provide viable heavy load lifting capability for commercial operations. It employed 3 main rotors all rotating in the same direction. Torque offset was provided by thrust components from the 3 rotors through built-in shaft tilt. The aircraft had a semi-monoquoque structure, a single engine, and a long-stroke undercarriage (5ft) to cope with high rates of descent. A description of the aircraft and its characteristics can be found in the following references,
Source: "The Cierva W-11 Air Horse", J. Gordon Leishman, VERTIFLITE Spring 2003, Page 52
Source: "Discussing the Helicopter", FLIGHT Staff, FLIGHT, December 2nd 1948, Pages 665-668
Vertipedia Notes
Vertipedia notes are brief descriptions of how and why Vertipedia works the way it does. Check back often for the latest note, or view the complete list.
Aircraft and Type resource searches
For each aircraft and Type there is an automated search of available resources (documents, etc.). In most cases these automated searches produce a range of useful results. In some case the results may include many that are not relevant. This is because the aircraft or Type designation includes a common word (e.g. Model). It is difficult to define an algorithm that will counter this issue. The user can always use the configurable search from the menu bar for better results.
Explore Vertipedia
Vertipedia makes it easy for you to find a range of information on vertical flight, including:
- Targeted searches of documents provided by the Vertical Flight Society, as well as public sources from across the internet
- Important milestones that have helped shape the history of vertical flight
- People who have played a role in vertical flight
- Vertical flight aircraft, such as helicopters, tilt rotors and tilt wings, jet-lift VTOL, and more.
