Originally Posted by
SASless
I think back to the days of the Sikorsky ABC and XV-15 competition back in the 1980's.....each outfit had a lot to win or lose upon how the competition turned out.
Odd that Sultan continues bashing anything/everything Sikorsky but then we are used to his standard of posts.
A note: There was no competition between Sikorsky's S-69/XH-59 (ABC craft) and the XV-15. They were separate NASA research programs investigating new technologies for powered lift flight. As NASA programs, they weren't intended to lead to an operational aircraft. The XH-59 flew 106 hours between 1973 and 1981 and wasn't very successful. In 1982 it was proposed to modify the aircraft with new rotors, new engines and a pusher prop in a shared cost program with Sikorsky, but Sikorsky wasn't willing to put any of its own money into that,
The XV-15 first flew in 1977. It was much more successful, and was even flown at the Paris Air show. At the end of the planned tests, NASA planned to decommission it, but Bell leased it back and at their own expense flew it to expand the envelope, update some of the materials and components and demonstrate it to various military and civil agencies. This included a number of "guest" crew including military and civil pilots, personnel from various agencies and even members of Congress. It was also used to support procedures development for the V-22. Eventually, the airframe ran out of flight hours and was flown to the Smithsonian where it's now on display