Dec 032009
Now available: a PDF copy of a Bell report on their D-171 design, a competitor for the X-15 program. This 26 page report shows the design in considerable detail, giving structural designs, propulsion system details, reaction control systems, cockpit layout, carrier aircraft (B-36) and more. This report was scanned from a photocopy, rather than the original report, but the image quality – in particular the drawings – is still quite good. Also included are 8 pages of technical details on the D-171 in the form of Standard Aircraft Characteristics sheets.
Air Doc 15 can be downloaded for $5.50.
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5 Responses to “Air Doc 15: D-171 Airplane, Project 1226”
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My oh my – those are some mighty big windows that cockpit has goin’ on there! Did Bell suddenly develop heat-proof glass or something?
That was my thought also; something goes wrong at Mach 5 with a canopy like that, and it’s going to be a pretty severe situation pronto.
They probably were going to make it out of quartz glass.
The whole thing looks very Bell. The picture window is part of that image! Could it be that there was to be a metal shield over the windows until the aircraft was under a certain speed? In order to find how how Bell expected to avoid problems it seems necessary to buy the documents.
…Doesn’t look that much different from the actual X-15, does it?
The Republic entry into this competition isn’t too far from the Bell offering. The Douglas “D-558-3” looked a lot like both the Republic and Bell designs. All the companies were working from the same basic idea. It could be that the NACA issued in the request for proposal a basic design that no one wanted to ignore.