The VZ-5 was designed by Fairchild Aircraft for research use by the United States Army.

The VZ-5 prototype was built as part of a series of experimental aircraft designed to study various designs for VTOL aircraft and solve problems related to vertical and short takeoff.

The unusual aspect of the aircraft was that it had one General Electric turboshaft in the rear fuselage driving four propellers, two each mounted in nacelles on the leading edge of each wing.

For a vertical takeoff two-thirds of the wing chord acted as a flap in the slipstream of the four propellers.

[1] The VZ-5 was first flown tethered on 18 November 1959 but only had limited testing before the project was abandoned.