Convair XFY-1 Pogo: an experimental aircraft through its surviving records

Explore the Convair Model 5 / XFY-1 Pogo through a structured digital archive of contemporary specifications, wind-tunnel reports, engineering memoranda, selected factory drawings, tethered-test planning correspondence, flight-test plans and photographs. The indexed material traces design and development work across 1951–1955, with an earlier proposal drawing whose date is partly unclear.

The research value lies in following the documentary connections: compare a system requirement in the Navy detail specification with a surviving installation drawing, then follow the aerodynamic questions through Convair's engineering memoranda and test planning. Modern Sicuro Publishing research supplements are kept separate from the original records.

Video: Flight Test — Convair XFY-1 Pogo & Lockheed XFV-1

What this collection is, and what it is not

This is a historical documentary collection, not a complete aircraft drawing set, a construction package, a simplified hobby or RC guide, or a current operational manual. Drawing coverage is partial and assumes technical literacy. Surviving scans include faint text, dense engineering sheets, handwritten plots and missing material. A complete individual sheet does not imply a complete system or drawing series.

Original archival documents: principal manifest

• SD-482-0-1 — Detail Specification for Model XFY-1 Airplane, 10 September 1952. Prototype requirements, configuration, weights and performance requirements, structure, propulsion, controls, fuel, oil, hydraulics, electrical equipment, cockpit and military-configuration provisions. The index records 72 scanned pages; several referenced appendices are absent.
• CVAL 90, 5 July 1951 — Low Speed Tests of a 1/10 Scale Wind Tunnel Model of the Model 5 with Running Propellers. Preliminary powered-model stability and control investigations. Original photograph pages are absent; the supplied source scan also contains unrelated R3Y-1 pressure-data pages, which are not XFY-1 content.
• CVAL 96, Parts 1 and 2, 18 January 1952 — Low-Speed Wind Tunnel Tests of a .15 Scale Powered Model of the XFY-1 Airplane. Report text, model descriptions and data figures covering level flight, transition and hover. These are two files forming one report, not two independent titles; listed photographs are missing.
• CVAL 107, 1 November 1952 — tests of the .15-scale powered model with 57° wing leading-edge sweepback. Surviving introductory and results-text material with model descriptions; extensive data figures, indexes and photographs are absent.
• CVAL 107A, 31 March 1953 — additional tests addressing modified elevons, leading-edge stall-control devices and vertical-tail changes. Partial report.
• CVAL 107B, 14 May 1954 — additional powered-model tests addressing maximum lift, trim devices, hover slipstream and duct pressure recovery. Partial report.
• XFY-1 Aero Memo File, 14 February 1951–21 February 1955 — 609-page compilation covering aerodynamic studies, propeller investigations, performance estimates, wind-tunnel analysis, landing and take-off studies, tethered-flight roll problems and flight-evaluation status. Memos A-5-16, A-5-27, A-5-52 and A-5-53 are missing.
• XFY-1 Tethered Flight Tests at Moffett Field — Correspondence, December 1952–1954 — 251-page planning and correspondence file covering objectives, estimates, facilities, hoist and counter-balance arrangements, instrumentation and support. This is not the missing tethered-test results report.
• XFY-1 Flight Test Plans, BuNo 138649, January–July 1955 — 62-page compilation of experimental flight planning, configurations, instrumentation and procedures, with cockpit mock-up inspection material and instrument-panel layouts. Plans are not equivalent to completed-flight results.
• XFY-1 Various Photos — 23 scanned pages covering models, tunnel work, tethered-test arrangements, ground handling and a plaque presentation. Many prints are undated or have limited captions.

Selected factory engineering drawings

The master index identifies drawing reproductions RD-6858–RD-6865 and RD-6868–RD-6888. Coverage comprises:

• Early swept-wing Pogo proposal three-view SD-50-0031, distinct from the as-built delta configuration.
• Body structure 5-70001; wing structural diagram 5-01201; wing panel installation 5-10000; outer-panel structure 5-19001.
• Primary controls 5-40001; secondary controls 5-40002; flight-controls routing 5-40930, sheet 1 only.
• Power plant installation 5-27000, sheets 1 and 2; demountable power plant assembly 5-22000.
• Electrical general arrangement 5-60000 and cockpit console arrangement 5-06063.
• Fuel installation 5-20500 and fuel-system diagram 5-20501; engine-oil installation 5-27600 and oil-system diagram 5-20601.
• Upper and lower stabilizer structures 5-14002 and 5-14003; empennage installation 5-10001; alighting gear installation 5-51001.
• Hydraulic tubing layouts 5-08206, 5-08207, 5-08209 and 5-08210, with only sheet 1 of the latter; hydraulic schematic 5-80001.
• Power plant test-unit support 5-02600 and test stand 5-00010, sheets 1 and 2.

Indexing and documentary limitations

The master index records document numbers, titles, dates, issuers, scan lengths, held material, missing sections, system coverage and filenames. Its notes help distinguish surviving evidence from references to documents not present. Specification guarantees, design estimates, proposed equipment, test plans and measured test results must not be treated as interchangeable.

Important gaps include substantial portions of CVAL 107/107A/107B, photograph sections of CVAL 90 and CVAL 96, selected specification appendices, four Aero Memos and second sheets of two drawing sets. Scan legibility varies; OCR is an aid, not a substitute for reading the source image. The mixed CVAL 90 source file prevents its total scan length from being advertised as exclusively Pogo material.

Sicuro Publishing Reports

Modern research summaries and analytical drafts are editorial supplements, not original Convair, Navy or NACA documents. They provide reading routes and directions for further analysis, rather than approved engineering conclusions. Version numbers identify supplied revisions and do not by themselves establish accuracy or separate finished titles.

Verified against archival sources

This designation is reserved for individual reports whose claims and references have been checked against the original archival documents. No supplied report is represented in this listing as having completed that verification.

Not yet verified — research drafts

Convair XFY-1 Pogo — Summary by Area provides a source-tagged guide to programme history, configuration, aerodynamics, systems, tethered-test planning and flight-test records, with an explicit list of open questions. Its citations provide a route for verification, not an independent guarantee of accuracy.

The supplied A-to-Z Research Module, Complete Systems Map, Advanced Systems Analysis files, Comprehensive Master Edition files through v14, Master Technical Report-B and Deep Dive contain overlapping research and revision material. Their unsupported technical figures, procedural passages and conflicting claims remain subject to correction. They must not be relied on for operation, maintenance, inspection or repair. These drafts are not advertised as separate verified technical authorities.

An evolving research collection

The collection is intended to develop as additional source material is indexed and editorial reports are corrected. The present offer is defined by the current manifest and its stated gaps; no particular future document, update quantity or completion date is promised.

Format and delivery

Digital PDF archive with a CSV master index; no physical books or drawings are shipped. Historical scans retain their original documentary character. PDF viewing and enlargement are recommended for dense drawings and plots. Where files are supplied in compressed archives, download all parts to one folder and extract them before opening the PDFs.

Historical and technical-use notice

For historical research and reference only. This collection is not current approved airworthiness, manufacturing, flight, maintenance or repair data. Do not derive operational limits, inspection intervals, repair dimensions or procedures from unverified editorial reports.

Legal Notice

This digital compilation, structure, indexing and presentation are © Sicuro Publishing. Rights in individual source documents remain with their respective holders. Online Aviation Library and Sicuro Publishing are independent publishers; inclusion does not imply manufacturer, government or institutional endorsement.

Export Notice

Historical markings and documentary status must be read in their original context. Age, archival availability or a modern report label does not itself establish unrestricted reproduction or distribution.