Ryan XV-8

The Ryan XV-8 Flexible Wing Aerial Utility Vehicle, nicknamed the Fleep for Flying Jeep, was an improved version of the earlier Ryan Flex-Wing. Both machines were built by the Ryan Aeronautical Company with NASA for the United States Air Force and the United States Army and were tested in 1961 as a short takeoff and landing patrol, reconnaissance and light utility aircraft that could carry people or freight where a more specialised aircraft was not available. The Fleep used a fabric delta-shaped Rogallo wing on a foldable frame, attached to a pod-like cockpit on a four-wheeled cargo platform, so the wing could be folded into a small package for transport. Where the Flex-Wing had four-wheel landing gear and a single vertical tail, the Fleep had tricycle gear, a larger nose section and a V tail, and a 210 horsepower Continental IO-360-A engine.