Vertibird

The VB-02 VTOL (Vertical take off and landing) craft, codenamed Vertibird, is a pre-War military multipurpose helicopter, extensively used by the Enclave in post-war America. It has a heavily armored fuselage and can be outfitted with a variety of offensive weapons and defensive countermeasures, the most common being a Gatling Laser and a missile rack. It is powered by an internal fission reactor, which has been known to detonate under heavy fire. They have a winch that can haul several tons of equipment - or a large cage carrying a Deathclaw.

It was still in prototype phase when the Holocaust of 2077 struck, preventing it from entering full military service (scheduled for 2085). However, 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 and extractions and close air support alike, the Vertibird is synonymous with the Enclave in general, and a good representative of its power as a whole.

There are two versions of the craft used by the Enclave:
 * A transport-orientated version with a glass canopy, six legs, and a large cargo bay
 * A dedicated gunship version with a more heavily armored hull, three or four (depending on model) retractable landing struts, and greater maneuverability.

Events related to the Vertibird

 * In 2241, one crashed near the trapper town of Klamath and was the first sign of the Enclave encountered by the Chosen One.
 * The Chosen One stole the Vertibird Plans from the Navarro base, but it is not certain whether he gave them to the Brotherhood of Steel, the Shi, or simply kept them.
 * In 2277, several Vertibirds were destroyed by Liberty Prime. Numerous more fled the Capital Wasteland, likely to other posts the Enclave has in the United States.

Combat Statistics
Vertibirds are mostly support craft, but they will attack you in a few circumstances, especially during the mission Take it Back! 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 pair of Missile Launchers, and a bomb rack that can drop Mini Nukes. All of these weapons are threatening; the Missile Launcher deals heavy damage and can hurl you off high objects (such as bridges) and to your untimely death. The Gatling Laser can deal a lot of damage from afar, and the Mini Nukes, usually used in airstrikes against heavy targets and emplaced defenses, can kill a player (or their party) instantaneously.

Fortunately, the Vertibirds you face 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 the toughest hostile faction in the Capital Wasteland.

Ones on fire-support duty are the ones to worry about, as they are usually set on engaging hostile forces and backing up Enclave forces on the ground. These often perform bombing runs with small-level nuclear charges, and make several passes to eliminate any resistance in the area. Vertibirds on these support flights may open fire on you with their Missile Launchers or Gatling Lasers, though they do not use them as much as their Mini Nukes.

You can sometimes find parked Vertibirds. One noteworthy one is on the steps of the Capitol Building, and there's another a short distance northward of Vault 101. These can be destroyed too, much to the horror of any Enclave troops stationed nearby.

Destruction
You can destroy Vertibirds with heavy ordnance, though you cannot target them in V.A.T.S. Note that the explosion of weapons-grade fuel powering a Vertibird is significantly larger than the explosion of a car or truck - proximity to an exploding Vertibird guarantees critical injury or death. There is a great deal of scrap thrown into the air when a Vertibird is destroyed. Should you search the area afterward, you may see propellers and whatnot lying on the ground.

If the troops have already disembarked and are close enough when the Vertibird is destroyed, the resulting explosion will kill them. If they are still aboard, they will be destroyed along with any possible loot. However - the troops instantaneously appear about 1.5 seconds after the vehicle lands, after it throttles up to take off; if destroyed before this narrow window, the troops may appear on the ground completely unscathed. Wait for the "enemy" tags to appear on your radar to administer the killing blow - the Vertibird by itself will not make one.

Just a couple seconds of sustained fire with a Gatling Laser is all it takes to bring one of these birds down. The Fat Man, Enclave Plasma Rifle, and the Gatling Laser (best) perform this task well; Nuka Grenades and Plasma Grenades can too, though with difficulty. As a benchmark, on Hard difficulty it takes exactly: 12 shots from A3-21's Plasma Rifle, or 2 Nuka Grenades, or 11 shots with Lincoln's Repeater to bring one down. Given the very short window of opportunity to target it, a fast-firing weapon is recommended.

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

Design background
The Vertibird is a lateral twin-rotor (non-synchronized) helicopter design. An actual experimental prototype for this type of aircraft was the Platt-LePage XR-1/XR-1A tested by the US Army in the 1940's. Others included the German Focke Achgelis Fa 223 and the McDonnell XHJD-1 "Whirlaway".

The XR-1 was the first American military helicopter to takeoff and hover with good control, but the lateral design was generally plagued by significant vibration and control problems when in motion. Synchronized lateral rotor aircraft like the Kellett XR-10 worked better, but the concept was eventually abandoned in favor of the tandem (fore-aft) twin-rotor configuration that is in use today (e.g. the Chinook). In Fallout 3, closer inspection has revealed that they are indeed tilt-rotor craft similar to the real-world V-22 Osprey.

The name "Vertibird" is the trademark for a toy helicopter playset popular in the 70's. Some design aspects of the unusual aircraft appear to be inspired by that hovering insect, the dragonfly. For example, the six legged landing gear and twin bulges in the forward fuselage.

The designation VB-02 indicates that it is a bomber aircraft, which is odd considering that it actually functions as a transport and ground attack aircraft.

Random Vertibird landing encounter
In Fallout 3, after escaping from the Jefferson Memorial, the player may encounter random Vertibird landings when in any exterior location (both in Washington D.C. and the Capital Wastelands). The Vertibird will approach from a random direction and land near the player, deploying up to three hostile Enclave Soldiers or two soldiers and a Sentry Bot. If they do not see the player, they will start patrolling the area and attack anything around.

You may also see one fly overhead when in a building with a collapsed ceiling (Ex.: The National Guard Depot).

Thus far, there have been no reports of being able to glitch on or otherwise board a Vertibird. This has recently changed, however - and a player was able to escape the map. 

Appearances in games


Vertibirds appear in Fallout 2 and Fallout 3.