1950s INSANE VTOL Jet Fighter - Lockheed CL-346

This lockheed concept jet can not only fly at Mach 2.2, but land vertically using 1950s engine technology. It would have been able to fly longer ranges, intercept enemy bombers and even deliver an atomic payload.

But it never made it off the drawing board and was considered too advanced for its time,

This is the story of the never-built, mysterious, CL-346.

One of the challenges that air forces around the globe faced during world war two, was that there needed to be an airstrip long enough to launch aircraft and close enough to enemy targets. Capturing islands was a priority, as they could hold as many aircraft as needed, or act as refueling stops from the mainland. But some places in the world there was no land to build long runways. Thus in turn the military built aircraft carriers that could at launch aircraft at sea - but there were limitations to aircraft design. the solution?

A vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft is one that can hover, take off, and land vertically. Generally speaking, VTOL aircraft capable of rolling takeoffs like normal planes, use it wherever possible, since it typically significantly increases takeoff weight, range or payload compared to pure VTOL.

There are several advantages to using VTOL. One being space for takeoffs. The US navy was particularly interested in aircraft capable of vertical takeoff and landing aboard platforms mounted on the afterdecks of conventional ships. These planes would also be stationed at military bases that didn't have runways, or be located on city rooftops themselves.

The military of the 1950s was very keen to exploit these advantages, coming up with a program to develop the next generation VTOL fighter.

The jet would need to vertical take off and land at 2000 feet above sea level, at exactly 90 degrees
Delivery nuclear weapons of at least 1000 pounds, visually dropping it like a bomber.
Or alternatively, load four sidewinder missiles for anti-bomber duties
Fly at least over mach 1 at sea level, and over mach 2 at 35,000 feet.
Fly to a top altitude of 60,000 feet
And capable of supersonic flight at high altitude, and subsonic slow flight under 300 feet. Obviously, considering the last two specifications this would be a given but its interesting that the air force took the time to list it.
Have a range to fly 2132 nautical miles, 3948 kilometers, and then return to base. Or be able to fly at least 3600 nautical miles, 6667 km, fully loaded with no return.

This jet, called the CL-346.

It was a high wing monoplane with a low-horizontal tail service. It would have two General Electric J79-X207 engines mounted in its wingtip nacelles. The engines would have allowed normal supersonic flight, which i'll get to in a minute, but be able to rotate to allow vertical landing.

Engineers estimated that this rotation from vertical to horizontal flight would have taken around 30 seconds, allowing for the plane to rapidly responcd to nearby threats, or critical missions. The cockpit was also designed to slop slightly downward to give it good lines of sight for landing approaches.

At sea level, the C-346 would have had a top speed of Mach 1, or 1225.04 kph, and then a very fast Mach 2.2, 2450.09 kph, at 35,000 feet. It could also exceed the goal of a high altitude performace of 60,000 by an extra 5000 feet, to a total of 65,000 or 19.8 km above sea level.

The Lockheed VTOL creation also had an impressive combat performance, able to climb as quickly at 55,000 feet per minute, or 16 kilometers, to a range of 600 nautical miles. When not in combat, the planes fuel tanks allowed it to cruise to 3600 nautical miles, or 6667 kilometers, right on the target for the study.

When on the gorund, it didn't actually move on its own power but actually had a small triangle ground handling cart to move it from the hanger to the take off pad. This was seen as a fair comprimise as technically at any point the plane could just take off anyway, so why have the weight to drive it forward.

But the engineers at Lockheed were not done yet, and would actually go on to create several more varients of this VTOL plane, in an effort to improve on their concept

So why was the CL-346 or any of its brothers or sisters, never built?

The study concluded that it would indeed be possible to build this aircraft, and the ARDC passed on its findings to the air force. Today we know that the Air Force, and Navy, were working with several other candidates to produce a vertical take off aircraft like Bell, who was working on the Bell D-188A.

VTOL fighter designs would bounce around, with the german EWR VJ 101 getting really close in the 1960s with a prototype built, then the Mirage 8 and the Hawker Siddeley P.1154 which would finally result in the Harrier Jump Jet we know today. The only modern aircraft of equivalence is the Lockheed Martin F-35, which I guess we could say can trace its roots back to its grandfather, the humble CL-346.

[riliryrimaddyvia]

It's really incredible how people actually are able to preserve blueprints of such forgotten projects

[tripsquared_greenworks]

The 50s were a cool time to be apart of aviation

[jetgraphy]

Q&A questions
1. Why did you / your team start making videos?
2. Where do you find these forgotten concepts?
3. Would you post other content, like trip reports, spotting at airport or other aviation-related stuff?
4. How long does it take often to make one video?

[emaheiwa]

I wish Lockheed had more support. They had the coolest designs

[kolinmartz]

This channel really reminds me of another one of my favorite channels. Mustard.

[UncleManuel]

EWR VJ-101 was the first thing that came to my mind. German aviation industry had some awesome prototypes back then. Let's not forget the ambitious Dornier Do-31... 😉

[SirFawzar]

I can see that the animation quality has increased significantly (especially the tail-sitter takeoff one), nice job Nick 👍🏽

[Davdandcars]

Just the design is stunning enough but learning about the whole history behind it make it so much better for only being a scrapped concept. I wish it made into production!

[SkyWKing]

"It's too advanced for its time" is another way of saying "engines of this era suck". These designs are cool but impractical. The engineers were given the impossible job of designing aircraft with extreme specifications but limited to use bad engines.

It's just simple physics. VTOL is just converting the chemical energy from fuel into the gravitational potential energy of the aircraft. You need a very efficient and lightweight engine to do that. The engines of that era simply don't have the efficiency and thrust-to-weight ratio to make practical VTOL aircraft with meaningful payload and range.

[fasold]

As far as I can see, the CL-346-31 was only a project. The small mockup looks quite similar to the German EWR VJ 101 VTOL fighter of 1959. But contrary to the CL-346-31 it actually flew!

[jankeck]

In the beginning you mention that the reason for 1950's VTOL aircraft developments was mainly the "shortage of suitable airport sites", and the need for "long enough runways". You fail to mention that after WW2 with cold war nuclear doctrines, airstrips were considered one of the first targets for a nuclear first strike, in order to prevent a retaliation strike or to prevent intercepting. Thats the main reason for these developments: the vulnerability of airstrips, not the lack thereof. That called for a more decentralized interceptor fleet scattered around the countryside in hidden locations. Check out the starfighter zero lenght launch system, that was a similar project altough utilizing an already existing aircraft.

[aelux]

I love the Harrier Jump Jet. Watching that thing as a brit just gave you a sense of what people in years past thought the future would be. Truly a brilliant aircraft.

[ChasingDifferentAdventures]

The reason it didn't "Take Off" was due to fuel lines being kinked, hydraulic lines as well, which for many years had issues in initial production of current Osprey plane copter hybrid. It took many Revisions before it was corrected ✈🐱‍🏍🛩🚀 👦🏻👍🏻 Thanks for sharing a detailed historical aspect of American, and Lockheed Avionics & Aerospace History

[ArcXDZ]

It's just incredible that bill actually managed to preserve this for the future generations..respect

[matchrocket]

Well done. Thank you for bringing this forgotten project back to life with those wonderful graphics. When I was young back in the early 1960s I lived on Long Island NY. As you might know Grumman and Fairchild aircraft manufacturers were located there back then. A few houses down the street from me a family from Britain moved in. Soon after that another British family moved in nearby. Later in life I wondered if their fathers had been brought over to work on VTOL aircraft as the British were the leaders in that kind of research at the time.

[riliryrimaddyvia]

Maybe you should do a video on the forgotten YF 23?

[Wall_Tmbok]

I have missed the premier, gonna blame my phone for not vibrating of youtube notifications

[jayyydizzzle]

That archive of designs sounds like a great resource 👍

[cesarojeda]

Great vídeo, as always!!! Lockheed actually bought the design patents of the Yak 141 after the Soviet Union fall in the early 90' and then design the F35!!!!

[michaela]

This reminds me of Mustard’s videos. Very well done.