Students and researchers at Mississippi State University in Jackson built and flew the XV-11 Marvel in 1965 to test boundary layer and STOL technology. The name M.A.R.V.E.L. stood for “Mississippi Aerophysics Research Vehicle with Extended Latitude”.

 

The first all-composite aircraft, it carried out its initial program of research on behalf of the US Army in the late 1960s, and was rebuilt in the 1980s as a proof-of-concept for a utility aircraft.

 

The Marvel is now on permanent display at the Southern Museum of Flight at the Birmingham International Airport in Alabama.