The "Almost" VTOL Fighter: Meet the Dassault Balzac V

At Melun-Villaroche on October 12, 1962, René Bigand made the first stationary flight. The aircraft was attached by nylon cables fixed to the front lifting point and the main landing gear. A second tethered flight was made on the same day and a third on the 15th. On October 18, the first low-level free flight was made, and on the 25th, during its third free flight, the aircraft remained in hovering flight, for more than two minutes. On March 18, 1963, for its 17th sortie, it made its first transition accelerating from vertical flight to horizontal flight and on the 29th the first complete cycle: vertical take-off, horizontal flight and vertical landing.

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Imagine a VTOL Rafale. 🤔😊