1966 - Do 31 - VTOL Experimental Jet Transport
This programme goes back to the year 1959. In 1962, the Federal Ministry of Defence awarded Dornier a design contract for the Do 31 V/STOL transport aircraft.
Under this experimental programme, the production programme covered a small and a large hovering rig for studying design principles, an airframe for structural testing, and a systems test stand for hydraulic and electric systems. The two test aircraft Do 31 E-1 (without lift engines) and E-3 were successfully tested between 1967 and 1971.
The Do 31 E-1 was equipped with two Rolls Royce Pegasus 5-2 lift/thrust engines rated at 7000 kg of thrust each which provided power for cruising flight as well as lift during take-off and landing via vectored nozzles. To support the cruise engines in hover flight, a total of eight Rolls Royce RB-162-4D, rated at 2000 kg of thrust each, were installed in nacelles at the wing ends. By tilting the cruise engine nozzles, the Do 31 was accelerated to the speed of approximately 250 km/h required for aerodynamic horizontal flight, and the eight lift producing engines were stopped again after 20 seconds. The Do 31, which established several FAI world records during its ferry flight to the 1969 Paris Air Show, was the first and so-far only vertical take-off jet transport built in the world.
Technical Data
| Length | 20,9 m |
| Height | 8,5 m |
| Wing span | 18,1 m |
| Wing area | 57,0 m² |
| Propulsion | |
| Rolls Royce Pegasus 5-2 | 2 x 7000 kg |
| Rolls Royce RB-162-4D | 8 x 2000 kg |
| Empty weight | 13868 kg |
| Max. take-off weight | 27500 kg |
| Maximum speed | 750 km/h |
| Cruise speed | 700 km/h |
| Climb speed | 19,2 m/s |
| Service ceiling | 10700 m |
| Range | 1800 km |
