Kestrel XS 691 (XV6A 64-18265) status?

I did not know that, thanks! Guess I need to go there one day to complete my photo collection of ‘Senkrechtstarters’.

And while we’re at it: here’s the VFW VAK 191B, which is also at Schleissheim:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]244837[/ATTACH]

There’s another VAK 191B at Bremen.

Two of the Dorniers are still around actually. Three were built with the second one being a non-flier that did not survive. Both the fliers have been preserved, E1 that only flew with the two Pegasus engines is at the Dornier museum at Friedrichshafen:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]244835[/ATTACH]
E3, the aircraft that had all the engines installed and performed all the vertical takeoffs, landings and transitions is at the Deutsches Museum Flugwerft Schleissheim:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]244836[/ATTACH]
And while we’re at it: here’s the VFW VAK 191B, which is also at Schleissheim:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]244837[/ATTACH]
And the EWR VJ 101C X2 at the Deutsches Museum Munich:
[ATTACH=CONFIG]244838[/ATTACH]

The German Air Force appeared greatly interested in V/STOL commissioning several Dornier Do.31 V/STOL Transports and the VAK-191 V/STOL Fighter.

Roger Ssmith.

I know that the Germans built only two Dornier 31 VSTOL transport aircraft and then dropped the project, but was unaware of the VAK-191. The Do.31 employed two Pegasus engines for its forward thrust and eight Rolls-Royce RB162 engines for its vertical lift. I believe one of the Dorniers still exists in a German museum.

The German Air Force appeared greatly interested in V/STOL commissioning several Dornier Do.31 V/STOL Transports and the VAK-191 V/STOL Fighter.

Roger Ssmith.

to Andy Marden – thank you, aso found my picture, dunno how to post

There was German money in there too and the aircraft were supposed to be divided up equally between the three nations (USA, UK and Germany) at the end of the trials. .

I posted a message about this but somehow it got lost…
Anyway, I speculated that because of having the new and improved Harriers, the UK didn’t really need the old Kestrels.
Germany was a big supporter of VTOL warplanes showing interest in the American “Zero launch” system and seriously considering a VTOL fighter and they also had a requirement for a VTOL transport to support VTOL fighter deployments. But as you note, somewhere along the line they lost interest in the concept.

?

Thanks guys, very interesting thread.

Because they were largely US funded.
That’s why they have USAF serials….64-18265.

I recently saw 64-18264 at Pima…

There was German money in there too and the aircraft were supposed to be divided up equally between the three nations (USA, UK and Germany) at the end of the trials. But, by the time the evaluation started, the Germans had lost interest and only sent a token group of six personnel to participate. At the end of the trials, they were uninterested in the airframes, but were definitely interested in the Pegasus engine, so they did a trade with the Americans to swop airframes for engines. By this time, we were down to 8 Kestrels, having lost XS696 early on. The UK, for whatever reason, took the hit on the lost aircraft, so only took two, leaving the USA with its three plus the German share, totaling six in all.
My ambition is to get over to Pima one of these days and have a photograph taken with XS 690. It has been mostly restored, except for the nose cone, which got lost somewhere, so the museum substituted a Harrier nose cone. It doesn’t look the same as the original, but better than nothing.

Interesting – thanks, JB.

Out of idle curiosity from an interested onlooker – why/how did so many of the examples end up in the USA?

Because they were largely US funded.
That’s why they have USAF serials….64-18265.

I recently saw 64-18264 at Pima, they have a nice Harrier squadron there with two USMC aircraft (single and two-seat) plus two ex-RAF, in addition to the Kestral.
I would think that must be one of the world’s most complete collections of the series.

Out of idle curiosity from an interested onlooker – why/how did so many of the examples end up in the USA?

I saw one of these in the car park at Quackertown, Pennsylvania in 1987 – but no marks & no idea which one.

That was XS694

I saw one of these in the car park at Quackertown, Pennsylvania in 1987 – but no marks & no idea which one.

Is good that the machine at Cosford is in its authentic colour scheme.

Which is more than we thought 30 years ago, when it was thought only three survived in the States (XS690 and XS694 being the resurectees, ‘690 having been reported as ‘dumped in the river’ and ‘694 as ‘scrapped following ground loop’ – I’d love to know where ‘694 was before it turned up at Kissimmee)

There is still a bit of mystery about what happened to XS691, USAF records show it transfered to a non USAF organisation, and there is a possibility it maybe went to NASA for spares.

http://www.air-britain.com/sampleaeromil.pdf

AFAIK XS691/64-18265 was broken up at Edwards in 1970.
Andy Marden

Andy, thank you for the information. What a shame to have done that to an historic aircraft, but at least five of them survive in museums, in restored condition.

AFAIK XS691/64-18265 was broken up at Edwards in 1970.
Andy Marden