The french designed a plane in the late 1950s that would take off vertically, and its wings were a tube. https://interestingengineering.com/videos/this-bizarre

The french designed a plane in the late 1950s that would take off vertically, and its wings were a tube. https://interestingengineering.com/videos/this-bizarre-plane-had-a-circular-wing-and-could-take-off-vertically https://interestingengineering.com/videos/this-bizarre-plane... There were a few drawbacks. It required a seat that pivoted 90° forward, so that when pilots could see when taking off and when landing. Unpowered landings would inevitably result in damage to the airframe. Powered landings looked like space-x rockets, and were at the time difficult to pull off, as their instrumentation and and flight systems weren't developed enough to reliably land vertically. They noted the airframe would have a habit of spinning when hovering vertically. It was cancelled after a failed test flight, but with modern technology I think one could be built flightworthy. The plane does look cool, and would fulfill a critical role of a jet aircraft that can be launched without a runway.