Bell D188 Jet VTOL Fighter for the USN (1956)

[jzichek]

Check out this article at RetroMechanix.com on the Bell D188, a VTOL fighter proposal for the USN that preceded the D188A/XF-109:



The article is accompanied by an image gallery featuring 160 images reproducing the original proposal brochure and color photos of the desktop model. Many high resolution drawings and illustrations are featured throughout, along with a detailed technical description of every aspect of the aircraft, an unusual beast powered by 11 jet engines(!) More documents on this design will be featured in Part 2 of this article in the near future. Enjoy!

-Jared

[Stargazer]

Fantastic material, Jared!   Can't wait for Part II...  

Meanwhile, I have attempted to reconstruct a three-view of the Model D188 using the graphics on page 21 as a basis (Drawing No. D188-960-100). I hope I got the lines right (it's really not easy to make out the real lines of the aircraft from all the measurements).

I wonder what plastic models could be used to build this one... I believe a Lockheed F-104 could provide some valuable elements like the nose and wings... Maybe a North American X-15 could also be used for the rear fuselage... Any ideas, folks?

Thanks again Jared for providing us with so much inspiring material!

[jzichek]

The second part of the article on the Bell D188 is now up at RetroMechanix.com:



It covers a wind tunnel report on the design and features 18 images, including several nice photos and general arrangement drawings of the model, which differs slightly from the finalized design in the proposal brochure.

Continuing the Bell VTOL aircraft theme, there is an article up on Bell VTOL Aircraft Projects of October 1955:



This summarizes a brochure highlighting various Bell VTOL aircraft studies and features excellent general arrangement drawings and artist's impressions of several projects, including the Bell D139 shown above.

Finally, there is a short article on the Bell Aircraft Corporation Twenty-First Annual Report of 1956:



It's accompanied by several nice color photos and illustrations excerpted from the document.

Some improvements have also been made to the site, with several ads being removed and the right hand sidebar being de-cluttered, hopefully improving the load time. I hope you enjoy the material; there's plenty more to come!

-Jared