The VG-70 was put up for public display at the 1946 Paris Air Show and its formal ground testing began the following year which led to a first flight recorded on June 23rd, 1948. The aircraft performed admirably well despite the low output power produced by the Jumo engine and became just the second French-originated, jet-powered aircraft to fly. Despite the promising nature of the VG-70, its flying career was extremely short - limited to just five flights in all - as the project was formally ended during 1949. Attention had turned to an all-new jet-powered design utilizing the lessons learned in the development of the VG-70 for this development became something of an aerodynamic and mechanical dead-end - the airframe held little modification flexibility in terms of taking on newer, larger engine installations that offered increased output power.
It was intended that a related design, the VG-71, carry a Rolls-Royce "Derwent" turbojet engine of 3,500 lb thrust output but this would have forced an entire revision of the VG-70 fuselage - a project not worth the commitment in time and funding. The VG-80 was to carry a Rolls-Royce "Nene" but this initiative also fell to naught - leading to the VG-90, a jet-powered, carrier-based interceptor development.
The VG-70 managed a maximum speed of 497 miles per hour during testing. It featured a Maximum Take-Off Weight (MTOW) of 7,275 lb and sported a length of 9.7 meters, a wingspan of 8.5 meters and a height of 2.3 meters.
Other performance specs listed on this page are estimates.
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