posted on May, 13 2018 @ 02:09 PM
this is pretty much the whole point of VTOL aircraft such as the Harrier jump jet. the ability to take off and land without an airfield. and the idea
of such aircraft goes back to at least ww2. the Germans did in fact have one or two they did try to use. plus a few on the drawing board and in early
testing. both the Japanese and Germans had attack craft (pretty much suicide aircraft) based on the V-1. even the US was working on VTOL during the
war. but it was not very practical.
one of the big issues with "rocket propelled craft" is that it takes a lot fuel to get going to be able to launch. another issue was the volatility
of the fuels. the Germans did in fact use one rocket aircraft during the war, the ME 163 komet. although it took off and landed more like a standard
aircraft not VTOL. the fuels it used were extremely dangerous. so dangerous in fact that there were some interesting and intricate fueling protocols
in place, since if the two fuels mixed or touched at all it tended to cause explosions. C-stoff and T-stoff. it also had limitations such as a short
flight time, about 7 1/2 minutes due to the fuel consumption of it. it carried a little over 4,000lb's of the two fuels, for that 7.5 minutes of
powered flight time. because of this they were extremely vulnerable at landing as they were pretty much a slow unpowered glider. something the Allies
capitalized on, attacking them as they went to land. which all in all canceled out the advantages of it's speed. the Germans were also working on a
rail launched aircraft. i can't think off hand right now if it was a jet or rocket powered. but they ran into problems with the force of launching it
damaging the aircraft.
now of course i suspect you are thinking using a more conventional powered jet. but with say an external rocket motor that would be ejected after
launch. just look to the space shuttle program to answer why that is not the best idea. quite frankly rocket fuels by their very nature tend to be
very dangerous. and are prone to explosions. which should not be surprising since it is that same volatility that makes a rocket motor work.