The XV-8 Flexible Wing Aerial Utility Vehicle (nicknamed Fleep, short for "Flying Jeep") was an aircraft built by Ryan Aeronautical Company in collaboration with NASA for the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Army and tested as a STOL patrol and reconnaissance utility aircraft in 1961. The wing was a fabric delta-shaped Rogallo wing with a foldable frame with inflatable leading edge and the wing was attached to a podlike cockpit on a tri-gear platform; Two tail configurations: vertical fin and V-tail. It folded into a relatively small package for transport.

Specifications

References

See also

• Paresev aircraft
• Ultralight trike aircraft
• A Ryan engineer memoir on the Fleep
• History of hang gliding
• Francis Rogallo's airfoil
• John W. Dickenson