Fairchild M-224-1 Fledgling (US Army VZ-5FA)

The M-224-1 was one of a few VTOL prototypes tested by the US Army in the latter part of the 1950s. These were designated in the new Army-only system introduced in 1955, under the VZ- class (V: VTOL, Z: research). One or two letters identifying the manufacturer were added behind the numeral, but WITHOUT a hyphen (contrary to USAF practice):

• Hiller VZ-1E Pawnee (Model 1033)
• Vertol VZ-2V (Model 76)
• Ryan VZ-3RY Vertiplane (Model 92)
• Doak VZ-4DO Archaeopteryx (Model 16)
• Fairchild VZ-5FA Fledgling (Model M-224-1)
• Chrysler VZ-6CH Flying Jeep
• Aero-Physics (Curtiss-Wright) VZ-7AP Aerial Truck
• Piasecki VZ-8P Air Geep and Sea Geep (Model 58 59)
• Avro Canada VZ-9AV Avrocar
• Lockheed VZ-10 Hummingbird (Model CL-330) (redesignated as V-4)
• Ryan VZ-11 Vertifan (Model 177) (redesignated as V-5)
• Hawker VZ-12 Kestrel (Model P.1127) (redesignated as V-6)

Most of the names were company-given, although Pawnee, Air Geep and Hummingbird seem to have been used officially.

The Fairchild Fledgling is most certainly the least known of them all, probably because it never left the ground... Here is Part 1 of two sets of pics found on the San Diego Air & Space Museum's gallery on Flickr...

Part 2...

Re: Fairchild M-224-1 Fledgling (US Army VZ-5FA) - VZ-12 v V-6

Stargazer

You say VZ-12 was redesignated as V-6. I do not believe this to be true. The VZ-12 was a US Army proposal to use the Hawker Siddeley design as replacement of the OV-1. Two were ordered for evaluation with serials 62-4507/4508 and, had the proposal been approved, the production aircraft may have been built by Northrop. The Air Force did not like that idea and the idea was cancelled.
The V-6 designation, as XV-6A, was the use of British serialled Kestrels in a series of tests unrelated to the VZ-12 proposal. These XV-6As were serialled 64-18262/18270 and the tests took place in 1966 and later. The US Army was not involved in these tests.
The designation AV-6B was (probably informally, used for what eventually became the AV-8A for the USMC. The latter designation is,of course, in the A = Attack series.

Re: Fairchild M-224-1 Fledgling (US Army VZ-5FA) - VZ-12 v V-6

Jos Heyman said:

You say VZ-12 was redesignated as V-6. I do not believe this to be true.

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This DOD document (http://www.designation-systems.net/usmilav/original-docs/dod1962.pdf) lists VZ-12 as the "Former Designation" of XV-6A (p.19 of the PDF). On the other hand, I tend to believe Jos' research more than a DOD list which was probably compiled by someone who couldn't tell an XV-6 from an A-6 ;D .

The designation AV-6B was (probably informally) used for what eventually became the AV-8A for the USMC.

Click to expand...

AV-6B was actually an official DOD allocation.

Just noticed a typo in my initial post: the Piasecki VZ-8 was the Model 59, not 58. I fixed it and added some info.

A great picture of this ill-fated design under evaluation at NASA's FST tunnel:

Greetings All -

Another photo of the VZ-5A to add to the thread.

Enjoy the Day! Mark

Another picture to complete the set: