Convair XFY-1 Pogo - VTOL - Fighter Aircraft.

Video from the channel yds250 about Convair, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 4:15. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.

The video is a documentary excerpt featuring the testimony of test pilot James "Skeets" Coleman about the Convair XFY-1 Pogo, an experimental 1950s fighter that took off and landed vertically, resting on its tail.

Coleman recalls that no one volunteered because the engine, the aircraft and the concept were all experimental. On the first flight with transition, in front of about 3,000 people, the Pogo climbed to 4,000 feet in horizontal flight and behaved like a conventional aircraft.

The hard part was the return: the aircraft was so fast it left the chase plane behind, and to land Coleman had to look over his shoulder and watch the descent speed. The Pogo never became an operational fighter; the video ends with the Ryan X-13.