"You go first."
"No, you!"
Captain Ron Shepherd drew the short straw... The TMR (also known as the Flying Bedstead) was initially flown in 1953. It was a machine designed to test the feasibility of jet powered lift for STOL and VTOL aircraft. Powered by two horizontally mounted Nene turbojets with nozzles facing downwards and the pilot sitting above them, the flights took place within a gantry designed to limit its motion in case of emergency. After months of testing, a redesign was done, resulting in much more stability and controllability.
In August of 1954, it was finally allowed free flight. Due to fuel capacity of 190 gallons, flights were limited to 6 minutes. In 1955 a second unit was built, it was destroyed in a 1957 crash which killed its pilot. The TMR program was discontinued.
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| Vertical Flight Society |
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