XV-15 litho - NASA's History Office

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Figure 46. Government and Bell personnel at the Dryden Flight Research Center, October 1981. (N=NASA, A=Army, B=Bell) Left to right, standing, back row: Kit Boyce (N), Benny Daniels (B), unidentified, Bob McClachety (B), John Dial, Ted Turner (B), Dick Denman (N), Marty Maisel (A), Jerry Barrack (N), “Tilt Rotor” Debbie (N), Jim Bilger (B), Jim Weiberg (N), Roger Marr (B), Dave Few (N), Rich Young (N), Jim Lane (N), Wen Painter (N), John Brown (N), unidentified, Jim Liu (N), Al Morningtar (N), John Weyers (N), Doug Winniford (B), unidentified. Front row: Shorty Schroers (A), Jerry Pickard (B), Dan Dugan (A), Joe Trentam (B), unidentified, Jerry Walker (B), Mike Kimbell (B), Ron Gerdes (N). (Ames Photograph AC81-0269) 62 this work should be conducted at the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center (DFRC) at Edwards Air Force Base near Mojave California, instead of the heavily populated area around Ames. To accomplish this, the proprotors and wing of XV-15 N703NA were removed and the disassembled aircraft, along with support equipment, were airlifted to DFRC from Bell onboard an Air Force C-130 on August 13, 1980. Following reassembly and ground tests at DFRC, the proof-ofconcept flight activity resumed on October 6, 1980, and continued through May 1981. During this period, the Government and Bell team members gathered in front of N703NA for a group picture (figure 46). Government Acceptance of N703NA A formal Government acceptance ceremony for XV-15 N703NA was held on October 30, 1980, at Dryden. The program schedule called for the arrival of Ames senior NASA and Army personnel onboard the ARC/DFRC shuttle aircraft at precisely 11:00 am, followed by the immediate XV-15 takeoff and fly-over demonstration by a Government flight crew. The aircraft was then to land and taxi to the area where the presentations were to be made. The Project Office staff had established a crisp schedule to reflect the precision and efficiency of the TRRA project. Once again we learned that things do not always work as planned. The shuttle flight landed on time, but as soon as the Ames dignitaries deplaned, one of them anxiously asked where the nearest men’s restroom was located... and the “crisp” schedule rapidly evaporated.
At the end of the ceremony, Bell flight test crew Ron Erhart and Dorman Cannon provided a plaque to Government pilots LTC Dan Dugan and Ron Gerdes illustrating the XV-15 in various flight modes. This symbolized the turning over of the “keys” of the new research aircraft to the Government (figure 47). Ames Flight Preparations Wherever the XV-15 was maintained special facilities were required. In preparation for planned future XV-15 operations at Ames, the Ames VTOL tiedown pad, developed years earlier for static tests of VTOL aircraft, was modified to allow the proprotors of the TRRA to be operated in the airplane mode, providing similar ground run capabilities as the one developed at Bell. A hydraulic lift platform, under the main and nose wheels (figure 48), elevated the XV-15 so that hinged tripod structures could be attached to the wing hard-points. In addition, a tubular strut pinned at ground level was attached to the tail hard-point to stabilize the tail section. With the supports in place, the hydraulic lift platform under the main and nose wheels was lowered to ground level, leaving the area under the elevated aircraft clear and resulting in a 6-ft wheel height. When mounted on the tiedown stand, the proprotors could be operated in any nacelle position. As a safety measure, for early operations of the XV-15 on the Ames tiedown stand, a ramp was positioned over the nose of the aircraft to enable emergency pilot egress and rescue (figure 49). Prior to its first flight at Ames, it was necessary to remove modifications made to the aircraft for the wind tunnel test in order to restore it to a flightworthy status. This refurbishment was delayed several months while project funding issues were being resolved. The provision of Navy funding at this point provided the contractor support necessary to refurbish XV-15 N702NA. A Bell team of engineers and technicians arrived at Ames in mid-1980 to work with NASA and Top: Figure 47. XV-15 plaque being presented to Government pilots by Bell pilots at the acceptance ceremony. (Bell Photograph 309835) Bottom: Figure 48. Ames tiedown test facility showing rescue ramp. (Ames Photograph AC80-0686-1) 63
Page 1:
The History of The XV-15 Tilt Rotor
Page 5:
Contents Prologue . . . . . . . . .
Page 9:
Dedication The story of the success
Page 13:
Foreword The development of tilt ro
Page 17 and 18:
List of Figures Figure 1 Leonardo d
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Figure 41 Simultaneous static test
Page 21 and 22:
Figure A-2 Transcendental Model 2 t
Page 23 and 24:
List of Acronyms AARL Army Aeronaut
Page 25:
TRENDS Tilt Rotor Engineering Datab
Page 28 and 29:
Figure 2. Illustration of vertical
Page 30 and 31:
Figure 4. McDonnell XV-1 compound h
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Figure 7. Henry Berliner tiltpropel
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Top: Figure 9. The Baynes Heliplane
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Figure 13. Illustration from the Ha
Page 38 and 39: Figure 17. Bob Lichten, extreme lef
Page 40 and 41: Figure 20. Tiedown tests of the XV-
Page 42 and 43: 16 Research and Engineering), obtai
Page 44 and 45: 18 management continued to show int
Page 46 and 47: 20 Building the Technology Base Aer
Page 48 and 49: Figure 25. Bell 25-ft. diameter pro
Page 50 and 51: Figure 28. Performance tests of 5-f
Page 52 and 53: Figure 31. Bell 25-ft. diameter pro
Page 54 and 55: 28 Tilt Rotor Research Aircraft Pro
Page 56 and 57: 30 During the late 1960s and early
Page 58 and 59: 32 range of loading conditions and
Page 60 and 61: 34 The initial projected cost of $4
Page 62 and 63: Figure 35. Illustration of the Boei
Page 64 and 65: Figure 36. 1/5 scale XV-15 model in
Page 66 and 67: 40 under the contract. To accomplis
Page 68 and 69: 42 Aircraft Development The primary
Page 70 and 71: 44 Test stand angle box Test stand
Page 72 and 73: Figure 40. Proprotor response to co
Page 74 and 75: Figure 41. Simultaneous static test
Page 76 and 77: 50 helicopters. For the conversion
Page 78 and 79: 52 Prior to the start of flight ope
Page 80 and 81: Figure 44. Initial Bell tiedown sho
Page 82 and 83: 56 degrees 25 and a brief assessmen
Page 84 and 85: Figure 45. XV-15 in the Ames Resear
Page 86 and 87: 60 NAVAIR managers as a means of de
Page 90 and 91: Figure 49. Tiedown test facility at
Page 92 and 93: 66 Wheel height Top: Figure 51. Met
Page 94 and 95: 68 Symmetric beam mode Antisymmetri
Page 96 and 97: Figure 55. XV-15 during short takeo
Page 98 and 99: Top: Figure 56. Flow visualization
Page 100 and 101: 74 during “degraded” flight con
Page 102 and 103: Figure 59. Hover acoustics tests du
Page 104 and 105: 78 Nose weight Top: Figure 61. Typi
Page 106 and 107: 80 Following the completion of cont
Page 108 and 109: 82 After the proprotors stopped, th
Page 110 and 111: 84 sudden stoppage of the right eng
Page 112 and 113: 86 A reconversion to the helicopter
Page 114 and 115: 88 Paris Air Show By early 1981, th
Page 116 and 117: 90 enroute from Farnborough to Fran
Page 118 and 119: Top: Figure 66. Senator Goldwater i
Page 120 and 121: Figure 69. Shipboard evaluations of
Page 122 and 123: Figure 71. XV-15 at the New York Po
Page 124 and 125: 98 Crash (October 16 and 17, 1991).
Page 126 and 127: 100 The End of an Era By the mid 19
Page 128 and 129: Top: Figure 73. XV-15 at the Dallas
Page 130 and 131: 104 management system was very effe
Page 132 and 133: 106 could make use of the same flig
Page 134 and 135: Figure 76. The Bell tilt rotor eagl
Page 136 and 137: 110 demonstrations two years earlie
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112 Future Tilt Rotor Aircraft By t
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114 tiltrotor aircraft program. Thi
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116 Model 1-G Characteristics Power
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Figure A-3. Transcendental Model 2
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Figure A-4. XV-3 three-view drawing
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Figure A-5. XV-3 inboard drawing, s
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Nacelle angle (degrees) 124 120 90
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Figure A-8. General layout and majo
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Figure A-9. Side view inboard profi
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Figure A-11. XV-15 height-velocity
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132 Weight Design . . . . . . . . .
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134 WBS LEVEL: Bell Army/NASA I II
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136 US Army Air Mobility Research a
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138 Army/NASA (continued) Staff (19
Page 166 and 167:
140 Appendix C—Chronology 1452-15
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142 1968 Boeing Vertol awarded cont
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144 November, Initial piloted simul
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146 24 March 1982 XV-15 demonstrate
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148 30 July 1987 FAA/NASA/DOD Tilt
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150 21 August 1990 V-22 reached 340
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152 14 June 1993 The Department of
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154 Appendix D—Awards and Records
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Figure D-1. Jean Tinsley, first wom
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Figure E-3. XV-15 flying by the Sta
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Figure E-7. Bell test pilots Roy Ho
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Figure E-11. Ken Wernicke, Bell til
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164 Appendix F—Bibliography Tilt
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166 Ball, J. C. “XV-15 Shipboard
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168 Churchill, G. B.; Dugan, D. C.
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170 Edenborough, H. K. “Investiga
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172 Harendra, P. B.; Joglekar, M. J
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174 Kvaternik, Raymond G. “Studie
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176 Magee, J. P.; Pruyn, R. “Pred
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178 Martin, Stanley, Jr.; Erb, Lee
Page 206 and 207:
180 Rutledge, Charles K.; George, A
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182 Tischler, M. B.; Leung, J. G. M
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184 Whitaker, H. L.; Cheng, Yi. “
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186 Daniel C. Dugan Daniel Dugan gr
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188 Carnet, 88 Carpenter, Ron, 91 C
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190 Moffett Airfield, Moffett Field
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Monographs in Aerospace History Lau
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National Aeronautics and Space Admi
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