Also the more recent generations of engineers have written aviation history, an example being the interceptor project VJ 101. In July 1964, this was the first aircraft with vertical takeoff capability to reach supersonic speeds. Dornier's Do 31 is still the world's only vertical takeoff and landing jet transport aircraft.
Two units of this experimental aircraft were built and the first flight was in 1967. By the time the programme came to an end, the aircraft had broken numerous records and were even employed by NASA for test flights. The C-212 transport aircraft was developed in 1971 and more than 460 units were sold in 45 countries. The C-101 jet trainer developed in 1975 is in operation in four countries. The first Tornado prototype took off from the test facility in Manching on 14 August 1974. This date marked the start of the success story written by the hitherto biggest European cooperation programme in the field of military aeronautics, which reached a production figure of just under 1,000 aircraft. Finally, in the 1980s the F-104G CCV demonstration programme laid the technology foundations for later applications in the areas of advanced flight guidance and control and the design of modern, aerodynamically unstable fighter aircraft.
