General Electric X353-5 Lift-fans in the wings and a smaller fan in the nose, powered by engine exhaust gas, were used for Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL).

[3] A set of louvered vanes underneath each of the wing fans could vector the thrust fore and aft and provided yaw control.

Only the Hawker Siddeley Harrier would still be operational by the turn of the 21st century, as would technology to make possible the use of a shaft-driven fan in the Lockheed Martin F-35B.

[5] Two 12,500 lb (maximum gross weight) XV-5A were evaluated in late 1966 by fifteen test pilots (the "XV-5A Fan Club").

One was destroyed in a crash during a public flight demonstration on 27 April 1965, killing Ryan test pilot Lou Everett.

The crash investigation believed that the pilot had inadvertently tripped the conventional-to-vertical conversion switch (improperly mounted on the collective), which auto-programmed the horizontal stabilizer to force the nose down almost 45 degrees.

As a result of this accident, the conversion switch was changed to a lift-lock toggle and relocated on the main instrument panel ahead of the collective lever control.

[7] The pilot, Major David H. Tittle, was fatally injured as a result of the ejection seat propelling him out of the craft after it had hit the concrete airport surface, although it was judged that the fan actually still functioned well enough to continue controlled flight.