Bell ATV
| Bell Model 65 ATV | |
|---|---|
|
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| Type: | |
| Design country: | |
| Manufacturer: | |
| First flight: |
January 1954 (1st hover) |
| Number of pieces: |
1 |
The Bell Model 65 ATV was an experimental VTOL aircraft developed by the Bell Aircraft Corporation in the early 1950s .
history
As early as 1941, AM Young submitted a patent from Bell for a rear starter with counter-rotating rotors. These first concepts were followed in 1944 by the construction of a jet-driven rear starter, which was called Young's Convertiplane , after the chief developer Young, or as the Model 50 Convert-O-Plane .
Studies resumed in 1950 when the Bureau of Aeronautics announced a competition for a VTOL fighter aircraft. In contrast to its competitors Lockheed ( XFV ) and Convair ( XFY ), both of which proposed a rear starter, Bell's concept envisaged a take-off from the normal horizontal position. In 1951 Bell was commissioned to carry out a feasibility study. Bell then went one step further and also created a flyable test copy. The Bell ATV (Air Test Vehicle) was built with the aim of saving as much as possible. The airframe was composed of the wings of a Cessna 170 , the fuselage of a glider from Schweizer Aircraft and the skid landing gear of a Bell 47 . Two Fairchild J44 small engines , which were rotatably mounted on both sides of the fuselage, provided the propulsion. The gas generator of a Turbomeca Palouste jet engine attached to the back of the fuselage was used to generate compressed air for attitude control. For this purpose, pipes led to the ends of the wing and to the stern, from which the air could escape with a throughput of 1.2 kg / s. The transition from horizontal to vertical flight and back (transition) was made possible by rotating the main engines by 90 °.
The ATV was completed by December 1953 and carried out the first hover flight in January 1954. A month later, a faulty right engine compressor wheel destroyed the fuel lines and started a fire. The damaged machine could be repaired and test operations resumed. The test program was ended in the spring of 1955 after the ATV had only completed 4½ hours in hover and conventional flights. A transition was not carried out in the entire program.
The ATV is owned by the National Air and Space Museum , but is not currently (2017) exhibited there.
Technical specifications
| Parameter | Data |
|---|---|
| crew | 1 |
| length | 6.40 m |
| span | 7.93 m |
| Takeoff mass | 900 kg (estimated) |
| Engines | 2 Fairchild J44 each with 4.9 kN (500 kp) thrust |
See also
literature
- Alain J. Pelletier: Bell Aircraft since 1935 . Putnam Aeronautical Books, 1992, ISBN 0-85177-851-8 , pp. 103 f.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Patent US 2382460 A (accessed January 5, 2017)
- ↑ Overview of all Bell designs on aerofiles.com (accessed on January 5, 2017)
- ↑ Description on the National Air and Space Museum website (accessed January 10, 2017)