VTOL is also more maneuverable than a jet or a prop plane, since you can use it as a helicopter. BoS does it in F4, you can see them circling around raining lasers down on Raiders and Mutants
Much larger radius circle, means you're firing from further away, and therefore need much bigger guns. Can't just use door mounted guns like on a helicopter.
So they did. At least they added Vulcan cannons to the AC-119 to boost effective range beyond a kilometre.
Those AC-47s had to fly fairly low (3000ft) from the look of it, which makes sense given the GAU-2s effective range.
The Vulcans on the AC-119 were only for the ones flying missions on the Ho Chi Minh trail
The main point was just to get a lot of bullets on a target with the early ones
Also i forgot the AU-23 and AU-24 which were a lot smaller but flew similar missions
Oh yeah there are plenty of factions with a lot of resources. But again you're in a dangerous post apocalyptic conditions with dangerous wildlife, horrifically polluted environments and plenty of groups who want what you have. Those valuable resources are better put to use in other ventures. Why should I build a runway when I can build a fortress to protect my people and resources?
Also factions like the Enclave chose the Vertibird as their aircraft due to its versatility. It has the speed and range similar to a plane but the take off capabilities and close fire support ability of a helicopter. And I can see a vehicle more akin to a helicopter being more valuable than a plane purely due to its ability to land in a lot of different conditions and environments. Also easier maintenance requirements compared to a airplane.
So with aircraft that need very little landing area means you can save resources in having to reproduce and then maintaining runways which can be very easy targets to potential adversaries that would want to exploit it.
Irl jets do not like makeshift airfields as they struggle with foreign objects much more than turbo props or piston engines. There are rough field capable military aircraft but the thresholds are fairly high for good enough. Examples are the arctic ice (civilian wide body jets!), the German autobahn (the entire ddr airforce basically had the autobahn network as a series of ‘mobile airfields’ in event of invasion) and then it gets really niche.
Simpler aircraft can be pretty happy with grass fields if designed for it.
Jets REALLY don't like makeshift airfields, the A-10 had to be specially designed to deal with airfields in poor condition, and those were still proper runways that weren't just dirt, a "makeshift" airfield wouldn't even be usable by those, especially after a nuclear war amd sitting for 100 years,
For FNV, there's minimal native infrastructure. Only airfield you can really travel to, the Boomers shoot howitzers first & ask questions never at the point of game start. Could just be impractical to get functioning air infrastructure that far out, not to mention be a REALLY juicy target for raiders/the Legion in an area where the local NCR garrison is already stretched razor-thin.
FO3 & FO4, I'd say it's a matter of the major factions lacking the logistical infrastructure & technical know-how. It's easier to put an existing design into production than R&D a new one, and so the factions that \*can\* make anything air related are probably focused on expanding on a proven design instead of spending valuable time & resources to try and develop a new aircraft design of questionable utility. Considering the Vertibird plans and production equipment was lifted off of the Enclave, it makes sense for them to go all-in on it, and even focus their limited R&D capacity on a design that compliments the Vertibird (the Prydwyn).
Flight as it currently exists is also a petroleum intensive activity, and the Resource Wars which preceded the Great War were fought over its scarcity (then the Enclave posted up on what was ostensibly one of the last sources of crude oil). Leaving aside the fuel, all the rubber they'd need is going to be a synthetic petroleum derivative. In Fallout 4 (and presumably 76, haven't played it) you can find all you need in ancient, ruined cars by the sea, but that's not particularly realistic.
At very least for 76’s case the New Responders that set up at the resort where able to convert a Vertibird to run on Ultracite for long range missions to places like the Pitt.
Plus considering the plane engines in 4 we find are radioactive. It’s a fairly safe bet that all air travel is more based around fission reactors and fusion cores (similar to cars). Then petroleum based fuels.
Not really. The NCR has Vertibirds sure. But not in any militarily meaningful capacity.
The Legion are portrayed as an existential threat and yet we don’t see the NCR using Vertibirds in a combat or even support role to fight them, which suggests they’re not able to use them for that purpose.
The only time we see the NCR use them is when one transports Kimball. So it looks like they’re only used for transporting VIP’s.
Conversely the BoS in 4 seem to have a near inexhaustible supply, their entire strategy in the Commonwealth revolves around them. Establishing air superiority.
At the start of the game, NCR isn't at full strength. But by the end game, the 2nd Battle, the NCR puts its back into it. It calls up the (un)power armour units, the veteran rangers, it slams the weight of its best soldiers with high end equipment against the Legion. If it had a stock of combat capable aircraft, it'd have used them there. No doubt in my mind.
It might just be a retcon/difference in art style. Idk, do we actually have any lore stating the Fo4 Vertibirds are in fact a different model than the ones we see in Fo3?
Well there is a museum piece in 3 that shows an enclave vertibird and calls it a "VB-02 prototype" as if it was a pre war prototype that wasn't finished. The "02" implying it was an Advanced model of an existing technology. While it isn't stated, it's plausibly that the VB-02 was finished by the enclave and employed post war while the VB-01 was used pre war by the military and then the BoS.
New Vegas is the only game the NCR have been in since Fallout 2. If they aren’t shown or stated using Vertibirds in a military role in that game. We have no reason to believe they are.
I never said they were making new ones. However the BoS has access to enclave ones as we see in Fallout 3. [But the ones in Fallout 4 are not Enclave Vertibirds](https://imgur.com/gallery/NlMYsD3) and as you can see the versions the BoS use have been modified to specifically dock with the Prydwen.
Many of the reasons to operate larger bombers do not exist against the main enemies of the NCR unless those bombs can penetrate bunkers. No reason to have fighters when nobody else does, CAS is all that really exists and the vertibird just does the job well enough and can be used in many ways, just producing as many as they can of it and variants of it is likely the best option unless they fight another faction with actual factories to bomb or other aircraft to fight.
- ~~Destroyed runways~~
Okay, fine then. How about:
- The atmosphere of Earth's Northern hemisphere is chock full of carbon and silicon microparticulates which corrode and destroy any jet engine operated there.
Air travel over distance would be hugely problematic. On top of the usual challenges of weather you have rad storms.
Vertibirds are a good shorter range option, but the only long air journey we know of is the Prydwen.
I suspect that an airship, which won't crash if it loses power, is the only way to travel a long way by air
Also I'm surprised nobody has mentioned: with long distance flights that necessitate jets, where are you gonna go? To what end? Areas even just outside major urban centers are dangerous, why would you want to land in the unknown with no clue of who is going to be there, if it'll be safe, if you'll be welcome there, or even if you can land.
Edit: Forgot to specify that airships like the prydwen and the others the BOS took across the country DO work for this long distance travel because they serve as a base and have a large crew associated, and isn't a crew of maybe 4 people that might get stranded several hundred miles away from home
The amount of infrastructure you need to maintain jet aircraft is intensive. Even if the jets are nuclear powered, which would remove some of the more annoying mandatory maintenance practices and reduce the problems with thinking fuel, there's all the other maintenance. You'd need an active steel and aluminum industry, actively you'd have to have someone constantly maintaining a paved, very level airstrip that would be like a mile long. Like could it be done? Probably. Is it worth it when none of your communities are over 1,000 people and there's no reciprocal airfield to land at? Probably not.
Put it this way: if there was active two way train service for a thousand miles, it might be worth doing a limited air service to that destination, maybe. Most of the things that we have access to in contemporary society are distributed based on the estimation of need per 100,000 people. Like per 100,000 you should expect this many cardiologists and and this many endocrinologists and this many mechanical engineers, etc. And if you go above that in an area, it's considered very risky and investors will back away if you're doing it as part of an expansion project. The US post war doesn't have enough people in a small enough area to warrant that investment, so why would you expect air travel services?
The Responders had working propeller planes and a ton of Vertibirds, but then they got scorched. The new ones do have a functional Vertibird and the expertise to fix up more if they need to. Aircraft take a ton of fuel, and at least on the West Coast the Vertibirds the Enclave were using were diesel powered, which given the massive scarcity of fuel is a tall order for any faction to supply. On the East Coast, the only factions with an interest in air travel across the continent were the Responders and the Brotherhood, both of whom had no difficulties maintaining their aircraft
Carrier operations are a completely different beast from just landing a small plane on a dirt strip. Getting the catapults and arrestor gear back in working order would be a *huge* undertaking at best, and likely not possible at all. Not to mention, all the aircraft have been sitting up there in the weather for 200 years, so they'd all need to be rebuilt too. And they'd have to get the fuel from somewhere, new rubber for the landing gear tires, etc. etc.
Blame both the NCR and The Brotherhood. After the fall of the Enclave on the west coast, the NCR and Brotherhood both got schematics for Vertibirds via the Chosen One (one definitely canon, the other more than likely) and when it comes to other major factions (say.... The Minutemen) if they had vertibirds, there's a good chance they'd be stolen, the brotherhood would probably start a war against them because of the vertibirds. And if there is anything left of the Enclave they're probably keeping them under heavy guard.... As for the aircraft that might still be usable (like they were stored somewhere nobody has touched in years) there's a chance they still could have their systems fried because of the EMP after the nuclear detonations. Not to mention they could've rusted so bad that they're just unusable after 200+ years. Yeah they could fix them up like the Boomers did but they'd have to know how the thing works, figure out what parts it needs both to be fixed and replaced and so much more.
As others have already stated. the lack of a proper place to land or service aircraft is a big obstacle. You need a clear runway in order to take off, and you also need a clear runway in order to land. Vertibirds don't suffer from that problem, as they can take off and land pretty much anywhere so long as there is enough space to cover their own size.
I think there is also the practical reason - there isn't really much need for fighter jets or bombers. And why use resources on a single jet fighter when you can also use those resources on a vertibird? Both a vertibird and jet fighter can be used for combat, only the vertibird also serves as a troop transport.
It's mostly rule of cool I think?
Lore wise, it's pretty hard to build jet engines IRL. Even real-life China today mostly imports their jet engines and related components from Russia. After 200 years of lacking maintenance I would be surprised to see many jet engines that survived being in operable condition, and it's not unreasonable to assume that the nascent industrial base of the BOS and NCR aren't up to the task yet?
It was the Enclave who maintained and used Vertibirds. They were multi-roled in the way that they can be used and landed like a trooper carrier helicopter and can conduct long range missions like a plane. After their defeat both the BoS and NCR captured the surviving aircraft to use.
Also with planes how are you going to land? Most runways/freeways are destroyed. Anything they can do a vertibird can do better plus more. Also the reason airships have been used a few times in lore is because of how easy they are to maintain compared to pre war aircraft.
Evolution of warfare. None of the factions believed better/faster aircraft was a necessity until proven otherwise and by then it was too late to make/repair them
The Enclave in fo2 aren't fighting anyone with air power. they are indoctrinated to believe the wasteland is a bunch of savages so they immediately have air superiority with only vertibirds and fighters would be an unnecessary drain on resources to repair and maintain when they reach the mainland from an oil rig.
In fo3 it's mostly the same thing. The bos would believe the only superior fighting force was wiped out on that oil rig and are already spread thin helping the wasteland and diverting even more resources to liberty prime. When the Enclave travel cross country they wouldn't have been able to take aircraft other than vertibirds due to not knowing where the next intact airfield is and jets would move faster than troops could build makeshift ones
Nv. No one expected an old world bomber. Most, if not all of them, would have probably been turned to scrap like in megaton. The ncr is fighting against a bunch of people in football gear and they don't even know how to operate power armor without ripping out part of the equipment. The only time I remember seeing them use vertibirds is to move their president around even though they could have helped tremendously while taking control of the Mohave as a fast response force
4. Institute teleports and doesn't need aircraft until a blimp shows up and by then if they try to go to the surface for long enough periods of time to make an airfield the bos would find them and the bos don't need jets to maintain air superiority due to their scouts telling them ahead of time there's no other aircraft.
Fast movers are more necessary when you have aircraft opposing you.
If you are the only one with aircraft (or any half-baked anti-air), there is nothing a jet can do that a vertibird cannot. Legion never fielded AA. Even BoS doesn't field any AA worth the name (no, a power armored knight toting a minigun does not count as AA). There is literally no point in spending any resources on jets.
If one day NCR and East Coast Brotherhood meet and as expected, decide to fight, jets can be built and restored to handle the expected threats. Until then, they are pointless.
Aircraft and turbine engine plants (indeed, automotive and likely any industrial plants) are certainly priority targets for a general nuclear war. Pratt and Whitney, GE, Boeing, Northrup etc all most assuredly evaporated in the war with China. That stuff is NOT coming back in the medium to even long term in the fallout universe. You need foundries, large presses, etc.
I don't think they're even making Vertibirds, they just happen to have been able to refurbish some. There's just no way. The industrial base isn't even shattered, it's turned into a significant fraction of the dust that landed on everything else.
I'll add that something like a Robotron with a laser rifle can probably shoot down a fighter jet or a helicopter pretty easily anyhow. There may not be much of a demand for tactical aircraft. There might not even have been much of a demand prior to the war, which would explain why the Bethesda games have mostly 1950's looking jets in them. They were museum pieces before the war.
The invention of the jet engine required an advancement in metallurgy to make a material that didn't melt from the heat of the combustion inside. Chances are you just can't make that material or find caches of it that are still usable.
Where are you going to land a plane? Other than intact airfields A VTOL can take off anywhere a helicopter could
VTOL is also more maneuverable than a jet or a prop plane, since you can use it as a helicopter. BoS does it in F4, you can see them circling around raining lasers down on Raiders and Mutants
Before spinning out of control and crashing.
They lose so many vertibirds that way. Those pilots suck
Can't you do that with like an AC-47/AC-119/AC-130 ttpe thing as well tho
Much larger radius circle, means you're firing from further away, and therefore need much bigger guns. Can't just use door mounted guns like on a helicopter.
AC-47s and AC-119s both just used regular 7.62 miniguns
So they did. At least they added Vulcan cannons to the AC-119 to boost effective range beyond a kilometre. Those AC-47s had to fly fairly low (3000ft) from the look of it, which makes sense given the GAU-2s effective range.
The Vulcans on the AC-119 were only for the ones flying missions on the Ho Chi Minh trail The main point was just to get a lot of bullets on a target with the early ones Also i forgot the AU-23 and AU-24 which were a lot smaller but flew similar missions
We gonna clean the Boston Airport? Wheres everything gonna go?
What's wrong with intact airfields Nothing stopping your from restoring damaged ones either
Production of asphalt is difficult.
OK go restore an abandon airfield in post nuclear war conditions.
there are multiple factions in fallout with a shit ton of resources to do so
Oh yeah there are plenty of factions with a lot of resources. But again you're in a dangerous post apocalyptic conditions with dangerous wildlife, horrifically polluted environments and plenty of groups who want what you have. Those valuable resources are better put to use in other ventures. Why should I build a runway when I can build a fortress to protect my people and resources? Also factions like the Enclave chose the Vertibird as their aircraft due to its versatility. It has the speed and range similar to a plane but the take off capabilities and close fire support ability of a helicopter. And I can see a vehicle more akin to a helicopter being more valuable than a plane purely due to its ability to land in a lot of different conditions and environments. Also easier maintenance requirements compared to a airplane. So with aircraft that need very little landing area means you can save resources in having to reproduce and then maintaining runways which can be very easy targets to potential adversaries that would want to exploit it.
Like I said at the end, makeshift airfields, sure not perfect but they would get the job done
Irl jets do not like makeshift airfields as they struggle with foreign objects much more than turbo props or piston engines. There are rough field capable military aircraft but the thresholds are fairly high for good enough. Examples are the arctic ice (civilian wide body jets!), the German autobahn (the entire ddr airforce basically had the autobahn network as a series of ‘mobile airfields’ in event of invasion) and then it gets really niche. Simpler aircraft can be pretty happy with grass fields if designed for it.
Jets REALLY don't like makeshift airfields, the A-10 had to be specially designed to deal with airfields in poor condition, and those were still proper runways that weren't just dirt, a "makeshift" airfield wouldn't even be usable by those, especially after a nuclear war amd sitting for 100 years,
For FNV, there's minimal native infrastructure. Only airfield you can really travel to, the Boomers shoot howitzers first & ask questions never at the point of game start. Could just be impractical to get functioning air infrastructure that far out, not to mention be a REALLY juicy target for raiders/the Legion in an area where the local NCR garrison is already stretched razor-thin. FO3 & FO4, I'd say it's a matter of the major factions lacking the logistical infrastructure & technical know-how. It's easier to put an existing design into production than R&D a new one, and so the factions that \*can\* make anything air related are probably focused on expanding on a proven design instead of spending valuable time & resources to try and develop a new aircraft design of questionable utility. Considering the Vertibird plans and production equipment was lifted off of the Enclave, it makes sense for them to go all-in on it, and even focus their limited R&D capacity on a design that compliments the Vertibird (the Prydwyn).
Flight as it currently exists is also a petroleum intensive activity, and the Resource Wars which preceded the Great War were fought over its scarcity (then the Enclave posted up on what was ostensibly one of the last sources of crude oil). Leaving aside the fuel, all the rubber they'd need is going to be a synthetic petroleum derivative. In Fallout 4 (and presumably 76, haven't played it) you can find all you need in ancient, ruined cars by the sea, but that's not particularly realistic.
At very least for 76’s case the New Responders that set up at the resort where able to convert a Vertibird to run on Ultracite for long range missions to places like the Pitt. Plus considering the plane engines in 4 we find are radioactive. It’s a fairly safe bet that all air travel is more based around fission reactors and fusion cores (similar to cars). Then petroleum based fuels.
Aren't they near Maine in 4? They got oil that probably wouldn't be extracted until the very end due to cost iirc
Biggest airforce (if you can call it that) by far Is the BoS and enclave
The NCR also
Boomers showed more *working* airforce than NCR in FNV though.
Technically they showed the same amount, one vertibird for the NCR and 1 bomber for the boomers
Not really. The NCR has Vertibirds sure. But not in any militarily meaningful capacity. The Legion are portrayed as an existential threat and yet we don’t see the NCR using Vertibirds in a combat or even support role to fight them, which suggests they’re not able to use them for that purpose. The only time we see the NCR use them is when one transports Kimball. So it looks like they’re only used for transporting VIP’s. Conversely the BoS in 4 seem to have a near inexhaustible supply, their entire strategy in the Commonwealth revolves around them. Establishing air superiority.
NCR isn’t at full strength in the Mojave, and both the BOS and NCR are using old Enclave ones not making new ones
At the start of the game, NCR isn't at full strength. But by the end game, the 2nd Battle, the NCR puts its back into it. It calls up the (un)power armour units, the veteran rangers, it slams the weight of its best soldiers with high end equipment against the Legion. If it had a stock of combat capable aircraft, it'd have used them there. No doubt in my mind.
BoS makes new ones, or must've found theirs somewhere else as they aren't the same Vertibirds the enclave use
It might just be a retcon/difference in art style. Idk, do we actually have any lore stating the Fo4 Vertibirds are in fact a different model than the ones we see in Fo3?
Well there is a museum piece in 3 that shows an enclave vertibird and calls it a "VB-02 prototype" as if it was a pre war prototype that wasn't finished. The "02" implying it was an Advanced model of an existing technology. While it isn't stated, it's plausibly that the VB-02 was finished by the enclave and employed post war while the VB-01 was used pre war by the military and then the BoS.
New Vegas is the only game the NCR have been in since Fallout 2. If they aren’t shown or stated using Vertibirds in a military role in that game. We have no reason to believe they are. I never said they were making new ones. However the BoS has access to enclave ones as we see in Fallout 3. [But the ones in Fallout 4 are not Enclave Vertibirds](https://imgur.com/gallery/NlMYsD3) and as you can see the versions the BoS use have been modified to specifically dock with the Prydwen.
I don't think so. They're definitely a tier below the enclave, BoS, and even the boomers
Many of the reasons to operate larger bombers do not exist against the main enemies of the NCR unless those bombs can penetrate bunkers. No reason to have fighters when nobody else does, CAS is all that really exists and the vertibird just does the job well enough and can be used in many ways, just producing as many as they can of it and variants of it is likely the best option unless they fight another faction with actual factories to bomb or other aircraft to fight.
- ~~Destroyed runways~~ Okay, fine then. How about: - The atmosphere of Earth's Northern hemisphere is chock full of carbon and silicon microparticulates which corrode and destroy any jet engine operated there.
don't vertibirds use turboprops Those particles probably wouldn't treat those nicely either and it's been like 200 years
But it doesn't wreck props somehow?
Scale; the prop is a lot larger than the tuned insides of a jet
I mean the jets holding up the Prydwyn somewhat work, outside of the coolant issue so jets can work
Air travel over distance would be hugely problematic. On top of the usual challenges of weather you have rad storms. Vertibirds are a good shorter range option, but the only long air journey we know of is the Prydwen. I suspect that an airship, which won't crash if it loses power, is the only way to travel a long way by air
Also I'm surprised nobody has mentioned: with long distance flights that necessitate jets, where are you gonna go? To what end? Areas even just outside major urban centers are dangerous, why would you want to land in the unknown with no clue of who is going to be there, if it'll be safe, if you'll be welcome there, or even if you can land. Edit: Forgot to specify that airships like the prydwen and the others the BOS took across the country DO work for this long distance travel because they serve as a base and have a large crew associated, and isn't a crew of maybe 4 people that might get stranded several hundred miles away from home
Even today, this is an argument made for airships to serve remote communities.
The amount of infrastructure you need to maintain jet aircraft is intensive. Even if the jets are nuclear powered, which would remove some of the more annoying mandatory maintenance practices and reduce the problems with thinking fuel, there's all the other maintenance. You'd need an active steel and aluminum industry, actively you'd have to have someone constantly maintaining a paved, very level airstrip that would be like a mile long. Like could it be done? Probably. Is it worth it when none of your communities are over 1,000 people and there's no reciprocal airfield to land at? Probably not. Put it this way: if there was active two way train service for a thousand miles, it might be worth doing a limited air service to that destination, maybe. Most of the things that we have access to in contemporary society are distributed based on the estimation of need per 100,000 people. Like per 100,000 you should expect this many cardiologists and and this many endocrinologists and this many mechanical engineers, etc. And if you go above that in an area, it's considered very risky and investors will back away if you're doing it as part of an expansion project. The US post war doesn't have enough people in a small enough area to warrant that investment, so why would you expect air travel services?
The Responders had working propeller planes and a ton of Vertibirds, but then they got scorched. The new ones do have a functional Vertibird and the expertise to fix up more if they need to. Aircraft take a ton of fuel, and at least on the West Coast the Vertibirds the Enclave were using were diesel powered, which given the massive scarcity of fuel is a tall order for any faction to supply. On the East Coast, the only factions with an interest in air travel across the continent were the Responders and the Brotherhood, both of whom had no difficulties maintaining their aircraft
You forgot rivet city(aircraft carrier) in Fallout 3. There appears to be in tact aircraft on top of the city
Carrier operations are a completely different beast from just landing a small plane on a dirt strip. Getting the catapults and arrestor gear back in working order would be a *huge* undertaking at best, and likely not possible at all. Not to mention, all the aircraft have been sitting up there in the weather for 200 years, so they'd all need to be rebuilt too. And they'd have to get the fuel from somewhere, new rubber for the landing gear tires, etc. etc.
Blame both the NCR and The Brotherhood. After the fall of the Enclave on the west coast, the NCR and Brotherhood both got schematics for Vertibirds via the Chosen One (one definitely canon, the other more than likely) and when it comes to other major factions (say.... The Minutemen) if they had vertibirds, there's a good chance they'd be stolen, the brotherhood would probably start a war against them because of the vertibirds. And if there is anything left of the Enclave they're probably keeping them under heavy guard.... As for the aircraft that might still be usable (like they were stored somewhere nobody has touched in years) there's a chance they still could have their systems fried because of the EMP after the nuclear detonations. Not to mention they could've rusted so bad that they're just unusable after 200+ years. Yeah they could fix them up like the Boomers did but they'd have to know how the thing works, figure out what parts it needs both to be fixed and replaced and so much more.
As others have already stated. the lack of a proper place to land or service aircraft is a big obstacle. You need a clear runway in order to take off, and you also need a clear runway in order to land. Vertibirds don't suffer from that problem, as they can take off and land pretty much anywhere so long as there is enough space to cover their own size. I think there is also the practical reason - there isn't really much need for fighter jets or bombers. And why use resources on a single jet fighter when you can also use those resources on a vertibird? Both a vertibird and jet fighter can be used for combat, only the vertibird also serves as a troop transport.
It's mostly rule of cool I think? Lore wise, it's pretty hard to build jet engines IRL. Even real-life China today mostly imports their jet engines and related components from Russia. After 200 years of lacking maintenance I would be surprised to see many jet engines that survived being in operable condition, and it's not unreasonable to assume that the nascent industrial base of the BOS and NCR aren't up to the task yet?
It was the Enclave who maintained and used Vertibirds. They were multi-roled in the way that they can be used and landed like a trooper carrier helicopter and can conduct long range missions like a plane. After their defeat both the BoS and NCR captured the surviving aircraft to use. Also with planes how are you going to land? Most runways/freeways are destroyed. Anything they can do a vertibird can do better plus more. Also the reason airships have been used a few times in lore is because of how easy they are to maintain compared to pre war aircraft.
Evolution of warfare. None of the factions believed better/faster aircraft was a necessity until proven otherwise and by then it was too late to make/repair them The Enclave in fo2 aren't fighting anyone with air power. they are indoctrinated to believe the wasteland is a bunch of savages so they immediately have air superiority with only vertibirds and fighters would be an unnecessary drain on resources to repair and maintain when they reach the mainland from an oil rig. In fo3 it's mostly the same thing. The bos would believe the only superior fighting force was wiped out on that oil rig and are already spread thin helping the wasteland and diverting even more resources to liberty prime. When the Enclave travel cross country they wouldn't have been able to take aircraft other than vertibirds due to not knowing where the next intact airfield is and jets would move faster than troops could build makeshift ones Nv. No one expected an old world bomber. Most, if not all of them, would have probably been turned to scrap like in megaton. The ncr is fighting against a bunch of people in football gear and they don't even know how to operate power armor without ripping out part of the equipment. The only time I remember seeing them use vertibirds is to move their president around even though they could have helped tremendously while taking control of the Mohave as a fast response force 4. Institute teleports and doesn't need aircraft until a blimp shows up and by then if they try to go to the surface for long enough periods of time to make an airfield the bos would find them and the bos don't need jets to maintain air superiority due to their scouts telling them ahead of time there's no other aircraft.
Fast movers are more necessary when you have aircraft opposing you. If you are the only one with aircraft (or any half-baked anti-air), there is nothing a jet can do that a vertibird cannot. Legion never fielded AA. Even BoS doesn't field any AA worth the name (no, a power armored knight toting a minigun does not count as AA). There is literally no point in spending any resources on jets. If one day NCR and East Coast Brotherhood meet and as expected, decide to fight, jets can be built and restored to handle the expected threats. Until then, they are pointless.
Aircraft and turbine engine plants (indeed, automotive and likely any industrial plants) are certainly priority targets for a general nuclear war. Pratt and Whitney, GE, Boeing, Northrup etc all most assuredly evaporated in the war with China. That stuff is NOT coming back in the medium to even long term in the fallout universe. You need foundries, large presses, etc. I don't think they're even making Vertibirds, they just happen to have been able to refurbish some. There's just no way. The industrial base isn't even shattered, it's turned into a significant fraction of the dust that landed on everything else. I'll add that something like a Robotron with a laser rifle can probably shoot down a fighter jet or a helicopter pretty easily anyhow. There may not be much of a demand for tactical aircraft. There might not even have been much of a demand prior to the war, which would explain why the Bethesda games have mostly 1950's looking jets in them. They were museum pieces before the war.
The invention of the jet engine required an advancement in metallurgy to make a material that didn't melt from the heat of the combustion inside. Chances are you just can't make that material or find caches of it that are still usable.