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Bell D-188 (XF3L / XF-109)

1961 COLD WAR X-PLANE

History

In January 1954, Bell engineers finally saw the fruits of their labor on the Type 65 - a vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) research system that combined the fuselage of a Schweizer glider with the wings of a Cessna 170 Together. The landing gear skis were borrowed from a Bell 47 helicopter. In addition to this, there are two Fairchild J44 turbojets, each providing 1,000 pounds of thrust, mounted under the main shoulder-mounted aircraft.

The engine can be tilted along one axis - from vertical (for landing/takeoff maneuvers) to horizontal (for level flight). The Type 65 remained in use until 1955, when Bell engineers turned their attention to other, more pressing projects.

Although the Model 65 was dead, the work done proved valuable in another corporate program - the Bell "D-118". The design was developed to meet United States Navy (USN) and United States Air Force (USAF) requirements for a joint supersonic utility aircraft design with inherent VTOL capability. It is designed to provide the performance of the Lockheed F-104 "Starfighter" (straight forward speed above Mach 2) and a broader integrated mission set. The VTOL quality allows the aircraft to be used almost anywhere in the world and does not require the use of a prepared full-length runway to operate.

This could have given American war planners a distinct tactical advantage over anything the Soviet Union was serving at the time. The branch envisions a unique platform capable of performing combat missions such as air defense, coastal defense, advanced bomber interception, general fighter operations, and fighter-bomber operations.

The design is largely in the overall conventional configuration - the lone pilot sits in the cockpit behind the tapered nose cone at the front of the fuselage, the straight wing attachments are mounted on the shoulders on the sides of the fuselage, and the empennage relies on conventional A single fin arrangement in which the level along the rear side of the hull is set lower. To improve aerodynamic efficiency, the rear wing is fully swept back, while the main plane tapers from root to tip, and a rotatable "pod" is installed. These provide the aircraft with the necessary lift/hover capability as well as additional thrust for forward flight.

The dimensions of the aircraft include a wingspan of 23.8 feet, a length of 62 feet and a height of 12.8 feet.

Proposed weapons include 2 or 4 x 20mm internal cannons supporting 108 x 2.75 in (70mm) air-to-air missiles (in an internal, retractable weapons bay) and ammunition up to 4,000 lbs , in the form of an early air-to-air missile (AAM) or traditional airdrop mount carrying a total of eight underwing hardpoints.

Internally, due to its VTOL characteristics, the aircraft should have a rather complex layout - no less than eight turbojets. Six are GE J85-GE-5 series engines (2,600 lb thrust each) and two are GE J-85-GE-19 engines. Each of the rotatable wing pods housed two turbojets, with the rest in the fuselage.

Two are mounted aft of the cockpit (to balance vertical lift thrust) and two are placed horizontally (for forward thrust) and vented through a set of simple exhaust ports in the rear of the fuselage.

Initial product designation changed to "Model 2000", Bell designated the USN model D-188 and the USAF model D-188A (there will be slight variations between each service model to meet special Navy requirements ). In official service, these models were designated "XF3L-1" and "XF-109", respectively, although these were never officially designated.

Between 1959 and 1960, the US Navy authorities had abandoned the Bell project due to continued delays in engine kits, and the project budget had increased as a result. This made the USAF the only service of interest, so the model was completed and finally debuted in early December 1960. However, the U.S.

Air Force followed the U.S. Navy in early 1961, ending its interest in the complex and expensive Model 2000. This ended Bell's D-188 VTOL supersonic fighter program, and true VTOL combat flight became apparent only after the introduction of the British "Harrier" fighter-bomber in the late 1960s.

Estimated some performance figures for the unique Bell D-188: a top speed of Mach 2.3, a range of up to 2,300 miles, and a combat radius of 1,350 miles. Service is capped at 60,000 feet. Curb weight is 13,800 lbs and maximum takeoff weight (MTOW) is 24,000 lbs.