Rockwell XFV-12; The VTOL Fighter That Couldn’t General Leave a Comment on Rockwell XFV-12; The VTOL Fighter That Couldn’t In the 1970s the US was looking at fielding large numbers of cheaper carriers and they wanted a VTOL fighter to go with it.The problem was the design chosen for development, the XFV-12, couldn’t get off the ground. (Visited 1 times, 1 visits today)