1959 Flying Barrel

"Flying Barrel" Takes Off Vertically

French aircraft designers have come up with a "flying barrel", an annular-winged plane that takes off vertically from a launching truck, then shifts to horizontal flight.  Called the C-450 "Coleoptere", the tail-sitting plane has a one-man cockpit, flanked by air-intake ducts that feed the central jet engine.  Fuel is contained in the surrounding wing.  The experimental craft is expected to fly at speeds up to Mach 2 or 3.  Manufactured in Paris, the strange plane is expected to be test-flown for the first time this summer.

This was in the August 1959 edition of the Popular Mechanics magazine