Even getting into the Pogo's cockpit was hazardous. Photo presumably taken on 4 November 1954 when James 'Skeets' Coleman gave a flight demo for members of the press at then NAAS Brown Field. 138649 was the only XFY to fly. Serial worn on the other side of the tailfin. Photo by: Rudy Arnold / Smithsonian Institution

This bizarre experimental design was intended to lead to a VTOL ship-based convoy escort fighter but not surprisingly proved difficult to fly. Powered by a very unreliable Allison YT40-A-6 turboprop consisting of two T38s coupled together, it made a first untethered flight and transition to the horizontal in 8.54 - the first successful VTOL flight in history in an aircraft that was not a helicopter or an autogiro. Three were built but this was the only one to fly. Now stored for the NASM

The Pogo was tested from April 1954 to November 1956, but technical problems couldn't be overcome before aviation progress passed it by. It was displayed at Naval Air Station Norfolk,VA until 1973 when it was transferred to the National Air and Space Museum. Photographed here in the museum's Paul E. Garber Storage Facility.

This was the second of three XFY-1 Pogo VTOL aircraft to be ordered - and the only example to fly. Currently stored at the NASM Paul E. Garber facility in Maryland.