VTOL

The P-111 Kingfisher, an example of a VTOL.

A vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft is a classification of aircraft meaning that take-off and landing vertically without relying on a runway. In the Resistance universe, VTOL aircraft were widely used in the 1930s to the 1950s.

History

The VTOL aircraft was first conceived and patented by Serb-American inventor Nikola Tesla in 1928. Further development on the VTOL was put on hold until 1935 when President Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration demanded a new, nimble aircraft with a high payload capacity. This led to the development of the UH-17 Atlas, based on Tesla's blueprints. However, the UH-17 was originally plagued by a number of incidents blamed on poorly-loaded cargoes, but actually caused by the VTOL descending into its own rotor wash; this problem was not properly fixed until 1937.

The success of the UH-17 led to the later development of the U.S. Army U/AV-17 Hawk, and the British Army P-1117 Kingfisher, two successful VTOL transports in use by 1951.

Gallery

Pre-beta concept art by Resistance: Fall of Man mechanical designer John Wu.

Two studies of a large transport VTOL designed during the pre-beta stage but not used in game.

The blueprint of a VTOL, as seen on a viral website for the release of Resistance: Fall of Man.

Behind the scenes

Insomniac Games had researched technological advances in the early 20th century in which they learned about tiltrotor aircraft technology and came to the conclusion that humans could have made VTOLs a widespread vehicle in the 1950s. Ted Price considered the VTOLs in Resistance a prominent element in its setting.

External link

• VTOL on Wikipedia.