Few projects in the annals of Cold War military experiments evoke the same sense of intrigue as the Avro Canada VZ-9AV Avrocar. Put forth in the 1950s by the Canadian firm AVRO Aircraft Limited, this flying disc-inspired vehicle was intended to be a VTOL aircraft unlike anything ever seen. Yet, for all its futuristic trappings and starry-eyed ambition, the Avrocar would turn out to be a lesson in technological hubris.
The Avrocar was originally funded by the Canadian government, which was seeking to create a supersonic, VTOL fighter-bomber. When the cost of the project started running out of hand, Canada canceled the project and AVRO offered the design to the U.S. military. Both the U.S. Army and Air Force expressed interest in the Avrocar, but the two services had different specifications. The Army had wanted it for a subsonic, all-terrain troop transport and reconnaissance craft, while the Air Force wanted a VTOL that was capable of hovering below enemy radar and accelerating to supersonic speeds.
“Research data originally indicated that a circular wing might satisfy both the Army’s and Air Force’s requirements,” according to the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. These plans immediately resulted in two prototypes being built, the VZ-9AV Avrocar. One prototype was dispatched to the Ames Research Center of NASA for wind tunnel testing and was found to suffer from severe aerodynamic instabilities. The other underwent flight testing that bore out these results. Powered, the Avrocar managed a top speed of 35 mph; unmanned, it became uncontrollable at heights greater than three feet, the so-called “hubcapping” effect.
Even so, the project was permitted to continue in the hope of developing a model that was suitable for the Army. In December 1961, the Avrocar program was canceled because it could not achieve stable flight or high speeds. “The aircraft suffered from uncontrollable rolling motions during flight tests above three feet,” said the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. This instability combined with its limited speed made the Avrocar effectively useless for military purposes.
Though its impact is beyond immediate failure, the Avrocar in a certain sense pioneered some outstanding VTOL aircraft developed afterward, like the AV-8B Harrier II, V-22 Osprey, and F-35B, very central to modern military operations. “Military historians credit nascent VTOL technology from the Avrocar for laying the groundwork for these advancements.”
One of the Avrocar prototypes is showcased today in the National Museum of the United States Air Force at Dayton, Ohio, while another one is stored in the United States Army Transportation Museum at Fort Eustis, Virginia. These displays are representatives of such an ambitious, perhaps mistaken, Cold War idea for military innovation.
Although the Avrocar project is considered a technological dead end, it still is one of the fascinating facets of aviation history. Its story speaks to the difficulties and uncertainties in advancing the frontiers of what is possible.
Ultimately, the Avrocar is a testimonial of a different era when almost blurred were the lines between science fiction and military ambitions. Although it failed in its high-flung ambitions, it has left a mark for VTOL technologies in the future to give it a credible place in the annals of aviation history.