The Aérospatiale

Aérospatiale

Aérospatiale was a French aerospace manufacturer that built both civilian and military aircraft, rockets and satellites. It was originally known as Société Nationale Industrielle Aérospatiale...

 N 500 Cadet was a single-seat VTOL

VTOL

A vertical take-off and landing aircraft is one that can hover, take off and land vertically. This classification includes fixed-wing aircraft as well as helicopters and other aircraft with powered rotors, such as cyclogyros/cyclocopters and tiltrotors...

 research aircraft built by Nord

Nord Aviation

Nord-Aviation was a state-owned French aircraft manufacturer. It was created on October 1, 1954 upon the acquisition of SFECMAS by SNCAN...

 in 1967.

Design and development

A model kit presenting the concept was first shown at the Paris Air Show

Paris Air Show

The Paris Air Show is the world's oldest and largest air show. Established in 1909, it is currently held every odd year at Le Bourget Airport in north Paris, France...

 at Le Bourget in 1965. The aircraft was driven by two ducted fan

Ducted fan

A ducted fan is a propulsion arrangement whereby a fan, which is a type of propeller, is mounted within a cylindrical shroud or duct. The duct reduces losses in thrust from the tip vortices of the fan, and varying the cross-section of the duct allows the designer to advantageously affect the...

s, with three blades per fan, mounted on short wings that were able to pivot between providing vertical and horizontal thrust.

Two prototypes were constructed, one making its first (tethered) flight in July 1968

1968 in aviation

This is a list of aviation-related events from 1968:- Events :* In the 1968 White Paper on Defence, the British Labour government announces that the Royal Navys aircraft carrier force will be phased out as soon as the United Kingdom has completed its withdrawal from Malaysia, Singapore, and the...

.

Specifications (N500)

See also