The best VSTOL combat aircraft design?

[uk 75]

At first glance this is obvious. Either the Harrier or the F35B. But what about unbuilt designs like the P1216? or prototypes like the Vak 141 or Mirage IIIV?
My candidate would be the P1179

https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/hawker-siddeley-p1179.3287/post-450456

 

[Deleted member 2278]

Well since you mention combat aircraft, only one has seen actual combat so..... Harrier FTW.

No doubt someone will be along to tell me the F-35 has seen combat to which my response is: if you say so.

 

[Archibald]

Convair 200 & Yak-41. They were probably the best that could be done with the (flawed) lift-jet concept. Hawker P.1216 is probably better than both, however.
France and Germany never managed to build a decent VSTOL: the Mirage III-V was a nightmare.

 

[Keyboard Commando]

I quite like the McDonnell Douglas 279, no lift jets with all the performance of the Convair 200.

 

[GTX]

No doubt someone will be along to tell me the F-35 has seen combat to which my response is: if you say so.

Marine Corps F-35 flies first combat mission in Afghanistan

The successful strike occurred Thursday morning in Afghanistan.

www.marinecorpstimes.com

 

[Deleted member 2278]

No doubt someone will be along to tell me the F-35 has seen combat to which my response is: if you say so.

Marine Corps F-35 flies first combat mission in Afghanistan

The successful strike occurred Thursday morning in Afghanistan.

www.marinecorpstimes.com

Yeah, well done. Doesn't really stand up to comparison for me. Hardly as intensive as the Falklands, the Balkans, Iraq or Afghanistan (the 1st decade). Nor is it decades of service from the German plains to Belize.

If you truly believe that their combat service compares though then good luck to you. I'm still waiting to be impressed, decades in now.

 

[GTX]

I didn't say it was the best, though I believe it will prove to be.

 

[GTX]

Well since you mention combat aircraft, only one has seen actual combat so..... Harrier FTW.

Technically the Yak-38 did conduct some combat in Afghanistan though is was a very restricted trial:

View: https://youtu.be/yWPxe5J2Pn8

 

[Fluff]

Well since you mention combat aircraft, only one has seen actual combat so..... Harrier FTW.

Technically the Yak-38 did conduct some combat in Afghanistan though is was a very restricted trial:

View: https://youtu.be/yWPxe5J2Pn8

Within 15 minutes of Kabul airport, presumably....

 

[TomcatViP]

No doubt someone will be along to tell me the F-35 has seen combat to which my response is: if you say so.

Marine Corps F-35 flies first combat mission in Afghanistan

The successful strike occurred Thursday morning in Afghanistan.

www.marinecorpstimes.com

Yeah, well done. Doesn't really stand up to comparison for me. Hardly as intensive as the Falklands, the Balkans, Iraq or Afghanistan (the 1st decade). Nor is it decades of service from the German plains to Belize.

If you truly believe that their combat service compares though then good luck to you. I'm still waiting to be impressed, decades in now.

Israel did use them in anger. Given that their theater of operation involves the best what Russian have designed so far, I am pretty sure it does qualify.

 

[zen]

Hmmm...tough criteria really V/STOL.
Accepting certain limitations a number of designs would perform quite well.
Even the P.1154.

 

[riggerrob]

Even helicopters can carry a heavier load during rolling take-offs. Slower than 40 knots, each rotor blade works alone, but when you accelerate faster than 40 knots, all the blades start working together as a single disc. Translational lift reduces fuel burn by 40 percent.

 

[Pioneer]

I'd have to go the Convair Model 200, which sensibly could have given rise to the conventional take off and landing Model 201.

Regards
Pioneer