What is the full designator and name of the plane that can hover then fly?
by 
laura kornis
ANSWERS: 3
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The first plane able to hover and do a vertical landing is the Harrier Jet made by the British Air Force.
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Today there are four different aircraft capable of this feat: The US Joint Strike Fighter now designated the F/A-35. The U.S. Marine Corp/Royal Navy variant will be able to do this and much more and will be one of the easiest to fly as it's VSTOL capablities will be entirely fly-by-wire. About 2 years ago during competition trials the chosen aircraft did what no other VTOL aircraft has ever done; went from hover to level flight; to supersonic flight; back to sub-sonic; back to hover and then land. Although plagued with many devleopment problems the V-22A Osprey seems headed for operational use. Although it is a turbo-prop aircraft, it's ability to perform both like a larger helicopter and a fixed wing transport makes it ideal for many types of future missions. Today the current Western frontline VTOL aircraft is the AV-8B Harrier now flown by the US Marine Corps; RAF and Royal Navy. The F/A-35 is scheduted to replace the Harrier as it comes into squadron service. The Russians also have a VTOL combat aircraft; The Yakolev Yak-36 Forger and from about 1970 was deployed on Russian aircraft carriers and other vessels.
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The Yak-36 was actually the VTOL technology demonstrator that led to the operational Yak-38 "Forger". It became the Soviet Union's first and only operational VTOL combat aircraft. The first VTOL aircraft on record that successfully utilized VTOL technology was the Hawker P-1127 Kestrel in 1965.
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