Solido XFV1 Lockheed Vertical

We'll switch gears here for a second and cover another one of my forgotten toys. I pulled this out of a storage bin last week thought it time to present here on the blog. The XV1 (or more correctly "XV-1") was an experimantal vertical take-off plane which sat on its tail. Only two were built by Lockheed resulting from a proposal by the U.S. Navy in 1948 for aircraft which could take off vertically from platforms on the aft end of ships. The plane itself never took off vertically because the program ended while waiting for a more powerful engine. A temporary set of fixed landing gear allowed it to take off from runways in a more conventional mode.

Here's yet another example of a toy company producing a toy for which there were only one or two actual planes built. Over the years we've covered a bunch of toy planes by several companies which fell into this category. Solido's offering is a very small plane being 1/150 scale and measuring 2 3/8" (6.03cm) H x 2" (5.08cm) wingspan. Enjoy! Opa Fritz and Oma Bettina

Courtesy Wikipedia

Courtesy Wikipedia