Vertibird

The VB-02 Vertical Take Off and Landing (VTOL) craft, codenamed Vertibird, is a U.S. military multipurpose tiltrotor aircraft primarily used by the Enclave in the post-War United States.

The New California Republic also have limited access to the Vertibirds they captured from Navarro, such as Bear Force One, which is used for high-profile events. The East Coast Brotherhood of Steel own multiple Vertibirds, taken from the Enclave while at war with them.

Background
The Vertibird has a heavily armored fuselage and can be outfitted with a variety of offensive weapons and defensive countermeasures, the most common being Gatling lasers, missile racks, and a mini nuke bed. It is unknown how a Vertibird is powered, however the Enclave required Navarro for refueling. It has a winch that can haul several tons of equipment - or a large deathclaw cage.

The Vertibird was still in the prototype phase when the Great War struck in 2077, preventing it from entering full military service which was scheduled for 2085. . As evidenced by the crashed Vertibird on the roof of the Museum of Freedom an early prototype or version of the Vertibird seems to have been in use by the United States Armed Forces just prior to the Great War, though how widespread this use was is unknown. That Vertibirds were in use is further supported by the appearance of a prototype Vertibird with winterized camouflage during the Operation Anchorage simulation dropping U.S. troops before taking off again. However, whether any Vertibirds were ever used during the Alaskan reclamation is uncertain as General Constantine Chase was known to implement his own, fictional content to the simulation.

Following the war the trial aircraft that were already produced and in the field were seized by Enclave members and loyalists and either transferred to their bases or secured in shelters. The Enclave began mass-producing the design in secret, and now the Vertibird is the general-purpose delivery vehicle of the Enclave's military forces. Capable of surgical insertions, extractions and close air support alike, the Vertibird is synonymous with the Enclave in general, and a good representative of their power as a whole.

There are two known versions of the craft used by the Enclave:
 * A transport-oriented version with a glass canopy, six legs, a large cargo bay, and seven blades on each rotor to provide extra lift. This was the variant used before the Destruction of Control Station ENCLAVE.
 * A dedicated gunship version with a more heavily armored hull, four-bladed rotors and four retractable landing struts as well as greater maneuverability. This is the variant in use by the Enclave Remnants and the Enclave operating in the Capital Wasteland. This is the variant seen after the Destruction of Control Station ENCLAVE.

Events related to the Vertibird

 * In 2241, Daisy Whitman's Vertibird crashed near the trapper town of Klamath due to a rotor malfunction; it was the first sign of the Enclave encountered by the Chosen One.
 * The Chosen One stole the Vertibird plans from the Navarro base, although it is not certain whether he gave them to the Brotherhood of Steel, the Shi, the Hubologists, or simply kept them for his own use.
 * In 2277, after the destruction of Raven Rock, several Vertibirds evacuated the base, with some destroyed in the confusion. Other Vertibirds were destroyed by Liberty Prime. If the player character possesses sufficient energy or heavy weapons, they might well destroy some too.
 * In the Fallout 3 add-on Broken Steel, the Lone Wanderer is a passenger in Pride One in the quest Who Dares Wins. It is also a unique variant, as it has a Brotherhood of Steel (BoS) symbol on both sides, which means that they have acquired a Vertibird. This is confirmed by Scribe Vallincourt, who claims to have conducted the study and modification of that particular Vertibird.
 * In the Fallout 3 add-on Operation: Anchorage, there are Vertibirds in the Anchorage simulation, despite not being scheduled to be deployed until 2085. This may be due to General Constantine Chase hijacking the programming of the simulation.
 * In 2281, NCR president Aaron Kimball visited Hoover Dam using a Vertibird named Bear Force One as transport.
 * In Fallout: New Vegas, a crashed vertibird can be found in the Mojave Wasteland.
 * In Fallout: New Vegas, there is an intact Vertibird parked in the hangar of the Remnants bunker.
 * Lily's Vertibird blade was once the propeller blade off the Vertibird that Daisy Whitman crashed near Klamath. Apparently, "Leo" showed her how to build it.
 * More crashed Vertibirds can be found on the Long 15, if the NCR is nuked at the end of Lonesome Road.
 * In Fallout 4, an unknown model of vertibird can be seen flying through the skies above Vault 111 on the day of the Great War.
 * In Fallout 4, the Sole Survivor can gain the ability to call in a vertibird with a flare and travel to a destination of their choosing.
 * In Fallout 4 there is a crashed Vertibird on the roof of the Museum of Freedom, a quest from Preston Garvey will require the Sole Survivor to retrieve a suit of T-45 power armor from the wreckage to fight off some raiders and later a Deathclaw.
 * In Fallout 4 various crashed Vertibirds can be found all throughout the Commonwealth, and will usually contain Power Armor.

West Coast Operations
Vertibird range was at least 175 miles distance between the Enclave Oil Rig and California. Accessible were Klamath, New Reno and Vault 13. According to the Shi, Vertibirds flew over San Francisco on the way from Navarro to the Enclave Oil Rig.

Advantages
The Vertibird's VTOL flight mechanics allow it to approach landing zones with the speed of a fixed-wing aircraft and transition into a hovering mode of flight, by tilting its rotors vertically upwards 90 degrees. Given this extreme amount of maneuverability, the VB-02 is regarded as a formidable force in the Fallout universe.

Disadvantages
While the design of a Vertibird is convenient, its dual rotor-blades serve as a flight hazard, for if the aircraft were to suffer a single rotary malfunction at a substantial altitude, the VB-02's airframe and distribution of down-wash would cause the aircraft to fall on its side in a dramatic and likely fatal crash.

Combat
Vertibirds are mostly support craft, but they will attack in a few circumstances. They are a significant threat for a wide array of reasons, but the biggest is that they pack an enormous amount of firepower on an extremely well-armored chassis. Their weapons include a nose-mounted Gatling laser, a minigun on the left side of the vertibird for passengers, a pair of missile launchers, and a bomb rack for mini nukes. All of these weapons are threatening; the missile launcher deals heavy damage and can knock an opponent back, the Gatling laser can deal a lot of damage from afar, the minigun is used to mow down large amounts of infantry, and the mini nukes, used in airstrikes against heavy targets and emplaced defenses, can instantly kill a hostile.

Fortunately, the Vertibirds the player character faces are usually set for a specific assignment - either dropping Enclave troops off, or flying racetrack circles and providing fire support. Vertibirds on insertion/extraction duty are not capable of attacking, but their dropping off troops can be problematic, as Enclave soldiers are one of the toughest hostile factions in the Capital Wasteland.

Vertibirds tasked with fire support are the biggest threat, as they eliminate engaging hostile forces to back up Enclave troops on the ground. These Vertibirds often perform bombing runs, and make several passes to eliminate any resistance in the area. Vertibirds on these support flights may open fire with their missile launchers or Gatling lasers, though they do not use them as much as their mini nukes.

Vertibirds can sometimes be encountered on the ground. One noteworthy instance is on the steps of the Capitol Building in the Capital Wasteland. In these cases, upon finding one of the parked Vertibirds, there should be a cage containing a deathclaw inside. When engaged in combat, the Enclave officer nearest to the cage will often let the deathclaw loose.

Destruction
In Fallout 3, Vertibirds can be destroyed with heavy ordnance, however they cannot be targeted in V.A.T.S. The resulting explosion will scatter a great deal of debris, which will be visible to the player character. A Vertibird explosion is significantly more powerful than that of a car or truck and will kill or seriously injure anyone nearby. The explosion can also kill disembarking Enclave troops, however this can be unreliable due to bugs.

In Fallout 4 Vertibirds can be destroyed by all ranged weapons, with heavy weapons dealing more damage, and can be targeted in V.A.T.S. When a Vertibird is airborne and takes enough damage it starts spinning on its Y axis, similar to how helicopters spin when they lose their tail rotor, and crashes into the ground. The Vertibird usually breaks up into 4 large pieces upon crashing.

Brotherhood of Steel

 * The East Coast Brotherhood of Steel has multiple Vertibirds, which they can launch and retrieve from their airship, The Prydwen.

New California Republic Army

 * The NCR holds a presidential transport named Bear Force One. They also own a fleet of cargo vertibirds, as seen by wreckage on the Long 15 if it is destroyed.

Enclave

 * As the main producer of the pre-War design, the Enclave hold the world's largest fleet of VB-02's.

Gunners

 * In Fallout 4 the Gunners faction posses at least one Vertibird and will use it to attack the player at random near their positions on the southern part of the map.

Commonwealth Minutemen

 * After With Our Powers Combined, Preston Garvey inform The Sole Survivor that the Minutemen captured a Brotherhood of Steel Vertibird, and by trial and error learned to fly it.

Appearances
Vertibirds appear in Fallout 2, Fallout 3, Fallout: New Vegas and Fallout 4.

Design background

 * The name "Vertibird" is the trademark for a toy helicopter playset popular in the 70s.
 * Many design aspects of this aircraft appear to be inspired by the hovering insect, the dragonfly. For example, the six legged landing gear and twin bulges in the forward fuselage.
 * The technical concept of wingtip-mounted, tilting engine-pods with rotors featuring a diameter between a classic aircraft propeller and a helicopter's main rotor has been used in several real-world-designs like the experimental aircrafts Bell XV-3, Curtiss-Wright X-19 or Bell X-22.
 * A prominent tilt-rotor aircraft in current military service is the Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey which is operated by both the United States Marine Corps and the United States Air Force.

Vertibird Designation
The designation "VB-02" would, in real-world US military usage, indicate that it is a bomber aircraft. As the Vertibird's primary roles appear to be transport and ground attack, the "VB" prefix seems to be simply intended as an abbreviation of Vertibird. In post-1962 US Department of Defense nomenclature, the transport variation's designation would probably be CV-2, meaning "cargo/transport VTOL, design number 2", with the gunship variant being "A/CV-2", meaning "Attack Purposed, Cargo/Transport VTOL, design number 2".

Fallout 4

 * The wreckage from a destroyed vertibird may continue to move long after it has crashed, sending (harmless) fuselage spinning over and over around the crash-site

Fallout 4
In Fallout 4, the player character can summon a vertibird to their location using a flare, which flies them to a destination of their choosing. The player can use the minigun on the side, as well as being able to jump out or order an early landing. These models differ from all other vertibirds seen throughout the franchise. Whether the vertibird in the Commonwealth are a different model from the VB-02 or are a prototype of the VB-02 is unknown. The same model of vertibird can be seen on the day of the Great War at the beginning of the game. These can also be seen throughout the Commonwealth mid-game, transporting Brotherhood of Steel patrols or acting as close air support to nearby Brotherhood troops. Unlike previous games, Vertibirds are easily shot down by heavy weaponry, which serves beneficial as the dead pilots and crew commonly carry unique weapons and apparel.