Farnborough Airshow 1958, the Fairey Rotodyne was the star attraction, with its “tip-jet” powered rotors, transitioning from an helicopter vertical takeoff and hover to autogiro flight, exceeding helicopter speeds. In 1962, the last time it was held annually, the Hawker P.1127, the VTOL precursor to the Harrier jump jet, made its debut, like the corporate de Havilland DH.125 Jet Dragon, the de Havilland Trident and Vickers VC10 airliners. From 1966, foreign aircraft were allowed if that they had British major components, like the Rolls-Royce-powered Aermacchi MB-326 trainer and Fokker F27 turboprop airliner, as the Red Arrows, the RAF aerobatic display team, debuted
Short SC.1 Short SC.1 The Short SC.1 was the first British fixed-wing vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) jet aircraft developed by Short Brothers. It was powered by an arrangement of five Rolls-Royce RB108 turbojets, four of which were used for vertical flight and one for conventional horizontal flight. The SC.1 had the distinction of being the first British fixed-wing VTOL aircraft and the first one to transition between vertical and horizontal flight modes; it was also the first VTOL-capable aircraft that was furnished with a fly-by-wire control system. The SC.1 was designed and produced in response to a Ministry of Supply (MoS)