I was told the trucked in story by the Bell XV-15 team. So apologies if not true. Just to be clear, you are stating that the S-69 was flown from West Palm to Rucker with the jet engines installed, just not operating? Good to know.
The question remains did the S-97 fly from West Palm to Huntsville? If not, why not.? If it did why didn't Sikorsky (who brags about every couple of knots gained) not mention it? The 97 has been flying for SIX years yet I have seen no press releases stating it reached its targeted design speed, the long range promised with the pusher prop, the high altitude performance, etc...
My original point was that if they did not fly it up to Huntsville, they have made no progress from 40 years ago. Now with your info the question is can they even do what the S-69 did?