{"id":8670928,"date":"2026-08-02T10:26:52","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T08:26:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/?p=8670928"},"modified":"2026-08-02T10:27:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T08:27:14","slug":"rolls-royce-flying-bedstead-thrust-measuring-rig-vtol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/it\/rolls-royce-flying-bedstead-thrust-measuring-rig-vtol\/","title":{"rendered":"The Flying Bedstead That Taught Britain to Hover"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\r\n<p>It looked like a four-poster bed welded out of scaffolding, and it flew by balancing on a column of jet blast. When the Rolls-Royce Thrust Measuring Rig lurched into the air at Hucknall in 1954, it became the first jet-lift aircraft to fly anywhere in the world &mdash; and it looked so absurd that the engineers who built it simply called it the Flying Bedstead.<\/p>\r\n<p>Behind the comedy was a serious problem nobody had solved: could a jet aircraft hover on its own thrust and be controlled while doing it? The Bedstead answered yes, and in doing so it lit the fuse for every British vertical-takeoff aircraft that followed, right up to the Harrier.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f5f5f5;padding:20px 24px;margin:24px 0;border-radius:8px\">\r\n<p style=\"margin:0 0 10px;font-weight:700;font-size:18px;color:#333\">Informazioni rapide<\/p>\r\n<ul style=\"margin:0;padding-left:18px;line-height:1.8\">\r\n<li><strong>Aeromobili:<\/strong> Rolls-Royce Thrust Measuring Rig (TMR), the &ldquo;Flying Bedstead&rdquo;<\/li>\r\n<li><strong>Claim to fame:<\/strong> the first jet-lift aircraft to fly anywhere in the world<\/li>\r\n<li><strong>Primo volo libero:<\/strong> 3 August 1954, pilot Ronald T. Shepherd<\/li>\r\n<li><strong>Energia:<\/strong> two Rolls-Royce Nene turbojets, exhaust turned 90&deg; downward<\/li>\r\n<li><strong>Control:<\/strong> compressor air bled to &ldquo;puffer&rdquo; nozzles at the extremities<\/li>\r\n<li><strong>Destino:<\/strong> two rigs built; the second crashed in 1957, killing its pilot<\/li>\r\n<li><strong>Eredit\u00e0:<\/strong> led to the Short SC.1 and, ultimately, the Harrier<\/li>\r\n<\/ul><\/div>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Two engines and a lot of nerve<\/h2>\r\n<p>The rig was brutally logical. Two Rolls-Royce Nene turbojets were mounted horizontally, facing away from each other, their exhausts bent through 90 degrees to blast straight down through the machine&rsquo;s centre of gravity. To keep the whole contraption from tipping over, engineers bled about a tenth of the engines&rsquo; compressed air out to small &ldquo;puffer&rdquo; nozzles at the extremities &mdash; jets of air that pushed the frame level, like a tightrope walker&rsquo;s pole made of compressed gas.<\/p>\r\n<p>On 3 August 1954, Rolls-Royce chief test pilot Ronald Shepherd made the first free flight. The rig rose, hovered, edged sideways and backwards, and set back down &mdash; unremarkable moves for a helicopter, revolutionary for a jet.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/f8W2SI4c93s\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0;border-radius:8px\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #1565c0;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;border-radius:0 8px 8px 0;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;It was difficult to believe that this top-heavy machine weighing over 3 tons, poised on the jet thrust, was being balanced by the four air nozzles.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Rolls-Royce test pilot report<\/strong> &mdash; Aeronautical Research Council, R&M 3336<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Rock steady &mdash; most of the time<\/h2>\r\n<p>With its autostabiliser working, pilots found the Bedstead uncannily calm in the hover. But it was not tame. The hardest part was controlling height, because the big Nene engines were slow to respond to the throttle, so a pilot chasing altitude could easily get behind the machine. Roll control, too, was marginal.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img data-opt-id=1854503642  fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:Qwf7.c965\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/08\/rolls-royce-thrust-measuring-rig-detail.jpg\" alt=\"The Rolls-Royce Thrust Measuring Rig, the Flying Bedstead\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block;border-radius:6px\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">The Flying Bedstead: two Nene engines, four legs, and a cage of steel tube. The surviving rig, XJ314, is preserved at London&rsquo;s Science Museum. Photo: Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #1565c0;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;border-radius:0 8px 8px 0;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7;display:flex;gap:20px;align-items:flex-start\"><div><em>&ldquo;The Bedstead suffers from poor response and power in roll.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Rolls-Royce test pilot report<\/strong> &mdash; Aeronautical Research Council, R&M 3336<\/div><\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The crash and the cost<\/h2>\r\n<p>Two rigs were built, and pioneering flight research is rarely bloodless. The second machine crashed in 1957 during a tethered hover, killing its pilot, and Rolls-Royce&rsquo;s own flying with the type came to an end. But the data had already been gathered, and the central question &mdash; can a jet hover under control? &mdash; had been answered beyond doubt.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Ek67g9b4Ssg\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0;border-radius:8px\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">What the Bedstead started<\/h2>\r\n<p>The Bedstead&rsquo;s reaction-control idea &mdash; puffer jets at the wingtips, nose and tail to steer an aircraft too slow for its normal controls to bite &mdash; became the key to everything that followed. It fed directly into the Short SC.1, Britain&rsquo;s first fixed-wing VTOL aircraft, which used a battery of lift engines to rise and a separate engine to fly forward.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img data-opt-id=696227027  fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:Qwf7.c965\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/08\/short-sc1-first-british-vtol.jpg\" alt=\"Short SC.1, Britain&rsquo;s first VTOL aircraft\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block;border-radius:6px\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">The Short SC.1, Britain&rsquo;s first fixed-wing VTOL aircraft, inherited the Bedstead&rsquo;s reaction-control philosophy. Photo: Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n<p>The SC.1 proved that a machine could transition from hovering to winged flight and back. But carrying a stack of engines just for take-off was a dead end. The breakthrough came when Hawker fitted a single vectored-thrust engine to the P.1127, the aircraft that matured into the <a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/it\/aerei\/harrier-aereo-a-decollo-verticale\/\">Harrier<\/a> &mdash; the world&rsquo;s first operational jump jet, and still the most famous. Every one of them kept the Bedstead&rsquo;s puffer jets for control in the hover.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/l5tXRMxuWic\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0;border-radius:8px\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n<p>Not bad for a flying bedframe.<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"font-style:italic;color:#777;font-size:14px;margin-top:24px\">Sources: Wikipedia; Rolls-Royce \/ Aeronautical Research Council R&amp;M 3336; Science Museum Group; The Engineer; Dunsfold Airfield History Society.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f0f4ff;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:16px 20px;margin:32px 0 8px;border-radius:0 8px 8px 0\">\r\n<p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600;color:#333\">Post correlati<\/p>\r\n<p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/rockwell-xfv-12-vtol-fighter-that-couldnt-hover\/\">The VTOL Fighter That Couldn&rsquo;t Lift Itself<\/a><\/p>\r\n<p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/yakovlev-yak-38-forger-soviet-vtol\/\">Il jet sovietico a decollo verticale che riusciva a malapena a saltare<\/a><\/p>\r\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It looked like a four-poster bed welded out of scaffolding, and it flew by balancing on a column of jet blast. When the Rolls-Royce Thrust Measuring Rig lurched into the air at Hucknall in 1954, it became the first jet-lift aircraft to fly anywhere in the world &mdash; and it looked so absurd that the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":27,"featured_media":8670949,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[666,664],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8670928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history-and-legends","category-military-aviation"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Flying Bedstead: The Rig That Taught Britain to Hover<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Rolls-Royce Flying Bedstead was the first jet-lift aircraft ever to fly. It cracked vertical flight and led straight to the Harrier jump jet.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/rolls-royce-flying-bedstead-thrust-measuring-rig-vtol\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"it_IT\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Flying Bedstead: The Rig That Taught Britain to Hover\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Rolls-Royce Flying Bedstead was the first jet-lift aircraft ever to fly. It cracked vertical flight and led straight to the Harrier jump jet.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/rolls-royce-flying-bedstead-thrust-measuring-rig-vtol\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Afterburner - MiGFlug&#039;s Magazine\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MiGFlug\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-02T08:26:52+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-02T08:27:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:Qwf7.c965\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/08\/rolls-royce-flying-bedstead-science-museum.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"837\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Connor Kerr\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@migflug\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@migflug\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Connor Kerr\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/rolls-royce-flying-bedstead-thrust-measuring-rig-vtol\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/rolls-royce-flying-bedstead-thrust-measuring-rig-vtol\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Connor Kerr\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bc7f2d09b1d7111c45fdb1335b8f2cf9\"},\"headline\":\"The Flying Bedstead That Taught Britain to Hover\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-02T08:26:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-08-02T08:27:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/rolls-royce-flying-bedstead-thrust-measuring-rig-vtol\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":744,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/rolls-royce-flying-bedstead-thrust-measuring-rig-vtol\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\/\\/migflug.com\\/jetflights\\/wp-content\\/uploads\\/sites\\/4\\/2026\\/08\\/rolls-royce-flying-bedstead-science-museum.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"History &amp; Legends\",\"Military Aviation\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/rolls-royce-flying-bedstead-thrust-measuring-rig-vtol\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/rolls-royce-flying-bedstead-thrust-measuring-rig-vtol\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/rolls-royce-flying-bedstead-thrust-measuring-rig-vtol\\\/\",\"name\":\"Flying Bedstead: The Rig That Taught Britain to Hover\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/rolls-royce-flying-bedstead-thrust-measuring-rig-vtol\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/rolls-royce-flying-bedstead-thrust-measuring-rig-vtol\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\/\\/migflug.com\\/jetflights\\/wp-content\\/uploads\\/sites\\/4\\/2026\\/08\\/rolls-royce-flying-bedstead-science-museum.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-02T08:26:52+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-08-02T08:27:14+00:00\",\"description\":\"The Rolls-Royce Flying Bedstead was the first jet-lift aircraft ever to fly. It cracked vertical flight and led straight to the Harrier jump jet.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/rolls-royce-flying-bedstead-thrust-measuring-rig-vtol\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/rolls-royce-flying-bedstead-thrust-measuring-rig-vtol\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/rolls-royce-flying-bedstead-thrust-measuring-rig-vtol\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\/\\/migflug.com\\/jetflights\\/wp-content\\/uploads\\/sites\\/4\\/2026\\/08\\/rolls-royce-flying-bedstead-science-museum.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\/\\/migflug.com\\/jetflights\\/wp-content\\/uploads\\/sites\\/4\\/2026\\/08\\/rolls-royce-flying-bedstead-science-museum.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":837},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/rolls-royce-flying-bedstead-thrust-measuring-rig-vtol\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Startseite\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Flying Bedstead That Taught Britain to Hover\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/\",\"name\":\"Afterburner - MiGFlug's Magazine\",\"description\":\"for those interested in flying military jets and aviation related  topics\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"MiGFlug GmbH\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\/\\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\\/cb:0e0_.b970\\/w:897\\/h:278\\/q:mauto\\/ig:avif\\/https:\\/\\/migflug.com\\/jetflights\\/wp-content\\/uploads\\/sites\\/4\\/2026\\/06\\/MIGFLUG_LOGO-no-background.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\/\\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\\/cb:0e0_.b970\\/w:897\\/h:278\\/q:mauto\\/ig:avif\\/https:\\/\\/migflug.com\\/jetflights\\/wp-content\\/uploads\\/sites\\/4\\/2026\\/06\\/MIGFLUG_LOGO-no-background.png\",\"width\":897,\"height\":278,\"caption\":\"MiGFlug GmbH\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/MiGFlug\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/x.com\\\/migflug\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/migflug\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/user\\\/MiGFlug\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.linkedin.com\\\/company\\\/migflug.com\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.pinterest.ch\\\/migflug\\\/\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/bc7f2d09b1d7111c45fdb1335b8f2cf9\",\"name\":\"Connor Kerr\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ed6d7365eb237a1c91b800bf8dfeb14b8e30a3712ed7fec9e18a70088fc423a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ed6d7365eb237a1c91b800bf8dfeb14b8e30a3712ed7fec9e18a70088fc423a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ed6d7365eb237a1c91b800bf8dfeb14b8e30a3712ed7fec9e18a70088fc423a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Connor Kerr\"},\"description\":\"Connor Kerr writes MiGFlug\u2019s long-form features \u2014 aviation history, how-it-works explainers and the stories behind the headlines.\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/migflug.com\\\/jetflights\\\/it\\\/author\\\/connorkerr\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Flying Bedstead: The Rig That Taught Britain to Hover","description":"The Rolls-Royce Flying Bedstead was the first jet-lift aircraft ever to fly. It cracked vertical flight and led straight to the Harrier jump jet.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/rolls-royce-flying-bedstead-thrust-measuring-rig-vtol\/","og_locale":"it_IT","og_type":"article","og_title":"Flying Bedstead: The Rig That Taught Britain to Hover","og_description":"The Rolls-Royce Flying Bedstead was the first jet-lift aircraft ever to fly. It cracked vertical flight and led straight to the Harrier jump jet.","og_url":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/rolls-royce-flying-bedstead-thrust-measuring-rig-vtol\/","og_site_name":"Afterburner - MiGFlug's Magazine","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MiGFlug\/","article_published_time":"2026-08-02T08:26:52+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-08-02T08:27:14+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":837,"url":"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:Qwf7.c965\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/08\/rolls-royce-flying-bedstead-science-museum.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Connor Kerr","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@migflug","twitter_site":"@migflug","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Connor Kerr","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/rolls-royce-flying-bedstead-thrust-measuring-rig-vtol\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/rolls-royce-flying-bedstead-thrust-measuring-rig-vtol\/"},"author":{"name":"Connor Kerr","@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/#\/schema\/person\/bc7f2d09b1d7111c45fdb1335b8f2cf9"},"headline":"The Flying Bedstead That Taught Britain to Hover","datePublished":"2026-08-02T08:26:52+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-02T08:27:14+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/rolls-royce-flying-bedstead-thrust-measuring-rig-vtol\/"},"wordCount":744,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/rolls-royce-flying-bedstead-thrust-measuring-rig-vtol\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:Qwf7.c965\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/08\/rolls-royce-flying-bedstead-science-museum.jpg","articleSection":["History &amp; Legends","Military Aviation"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/rolls-royce-flying-bedstead-thrust-measuring-rig-vtol\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/rolls-royce-flying-bedstead-thrust-measuring-rig-vtol\/","url":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/rolls-royce-flying-bedstead-thrust-measuring-rig-vtol\/","name":"Flying Bedstead: The Rig That Taught Britain to Hover","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/rolls-royce-flying-bedstead-thrust-measuring-rig-vtol\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/rolls-royce-flying-bedstead-thrust-measuring-rig-vtol\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:Qwf7.c965\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/08\/rolls-royce-flying-bedstead-science-museum.jpg","datePublished":"2026-08-02T08:26:52+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-02T08:27:14+00:00","description":"The Rolls-Royce Flying Bedstead was the first jet-lift aircraft ever to fly. It cracked vertical flight and led straight to the Harrier jump jet.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/rolls-royce-flying-bedstead-thrust-measuring-rig-vtol\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/rolls-royce-flying-bedstead-thrust-measuring-rig-vtol\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/rolls-royce-flying-bedstead-thrust-measuring-rig-vtol\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:Qwf7.c965\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/08\/rolls-royce-flying-bedstead-science-museum.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:Qwf7.c965\/w:auto\/h:auto\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/08\/rolls-royce-flying-bedstead-science-museum.jpg","width":1280,"height":837},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/rolls-royce-flying-bedstead-thrust-measuring-rig-vtol\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Startseite","item":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Flying Bedstead That Taught Britain to Hover"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/#website","url":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/","name":"Afterburner - La rivista di MiGFlug","description":"Per chi \u00e8 interessato a pilotare aerei militari e argomenti correlati all&#039;aviazione.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/#organization","name":"MiGFlug GmbH","url":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:897\/h:278\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/MIGFLUG_LOGO-no-background.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ml5psubhxdln.i.optimole.com\/cb:0e0_.b970\/w:897\/h:278\/q:mauto\/ig:avif\/https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/06\/MIGFLUG_LOGO-no-background.png","width":897,"height":278,"caption":"MiGFlug GmbH"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MiGFlug\/","https:\/\/x.com\/migflug","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/migflug\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/MiGFlug","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/migflug.com\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.ch\/migflug\/"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/#\/schema\/person\/bc7f2d09b1d7111c45fdb1335b8f2cf9","name":"Connor Kerr","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ed6d7365eb237a1c91b800bf8dfeb14b8e30a3712ed7fec9e18a70088fc423a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ed6d7365eb237a1c91b800bf8dfeb14b8e30a3712ed7fec9e18a70088fc423a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ed6d7365eb237a1c91b800bf8dfeb14b8e30a3712ed7fec9e18a70088fc423a9?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Connor Kerr"},"description":"Connor Kerr scrive gli articoli di approfondimento di MiGFlug: storia dell&#039;aviazione, spiegazioni sul funzionamento dei sistemi e le storie che si celano dietro i titoli dei giornali.","url":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/it\/author\/connorkerr\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8670928","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/27"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8670928"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8670928\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8671312,"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8670928\/revisions\/8671312"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8670949"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8670928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8670928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/jetflights\/it\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8670928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}