Steve Ginter

Convair Xfy-1 Pogo Steve Ginter

In 1947, both the U. S. Air Force and the U. S. Navy sponsored VTOL design studies called project Hummingbird. The rapid development of increasingly powerful powerplants had reached the point where a true VTOL aircraft was in the realm of possibility. The U. S. Navy's firsthand experiences with Japan's Kamikaze taught them the vulnerability of their great mobile peacekeepers, the carrier. Because of this experience the Navy felt that the only way to protect any naval presence in enemy waters was to equip all ships with a VTOL fighter.