Talk:Lockheed AH-56 Cheyenne

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Development Previous U.S. Army gunship development 1955 Howze Board 1961 Sioux Scout and Airmobile test FAS AAFSS Conair design Sikorsky S-66 History First flight Production contract Development problems Requirements Document Request to change rotor length to meet requirements. Non-fatal and fatal accidents caused by rotor system. Cancellation of production contract. Cost-Reduction Initiative 1971 fly-off with S-67 Blackhawk and Bell 309 King Cobra. 1972 - Cancellation of the AH-56 Cheyenne program. Birth of AAH External Links Global Security (Born2flie 00:30, 14 November 2006 (UTC))

Contents 1 AH-56 or AH-56A? 2 XH-51 and AH-1G 3 Abridged history of the Army Attack Helicopter program 4 Stub-class 5 Copilot/Gunner Location

[edit] AH-56 or AH-56A?

Is this the AH-56 or the AH-56A, as it is listed in the external link? Rigadoun 19:55, 16 June 2006 (UTC)

This is the AH-56A following the Air Force designation system for aircraft. Technically, if there were to have been a family of AH-56 variants they would collectively have been known as the AH-56. I believe that this should be the AH-56A Cheyenne page and the 'AH-56 Cheyenne' should redirect here just as 'AH56 Cheyenne' does. However, it is a popular and accepted technique to leave the variant designation out when talking about a single instance of an aircraft. (Born2flie 23:12, 16 July 2006 (UTC))

[edit] XH-51 and AH-1G

My real issue on this page was that this aircraft was not designed to replace the AH-1G, but rather the AH-1G was selected as the interim aircraft until the AH-56A could be put into production and deployed to the Aviation units. This is evident from the dates of the programs and design periods. The AH-1 survived much longer than intended as an 'interim aircraft' (due to the cancellation of the AH-56A) much like the OH-58D survived much longer than intended as the 'interim aircraft' between the OH-58A and OH-58C variants and the LHX (later the RAH-66 Comanche).

Additionally, the XH-51 was actually Lockheed's CL-595 helicopter purchased by the Navy for a test program, commissioned by the Army, to study the survivability of helicopters based on the extra speed of compound helicopters. The study consisted of two CL-595's redesignated XH-51[1], both heavily instrumented. The XH-51A was simply instrumented, but the XH-51B was highly modified with stub wings. The left wing had a turbofan engine mounted on it and the right wing had a wingtip fuel tank to extend range, and the cockpit was reinforced to withstand the high speeds of the compound aircraft. The tests consisted of flying three circuits of three routes; 1. low, open terrain; 2. shallow hills; 3. mountainous; with motion cameras mounted in the helicopters and at likely anti-aircraft gun emplacement locations. The results showed that the significant speed advantage, while causing the aircraft to fly slightly higher, reduced the time available to detect, locate, and target the compound helicopter. Based on this study and the demonstrated performance capabilities of the XH-51B, the Army submitted the Request For Proposal for the Advanced Aerial Fire Support System (AAFSS).

Once I have my sources lined up, I plan on editing this page. --Born2flie 16:20, 15 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Abridged history of the Army Attack Helicopter program

I googled on the AAFSS and found this interesting study from 1973 [2]. I think it could be a great resource for this article. I just peeked into it... --Marvin ^talk 22:34, 22 July 2006 (UTC)

I think you've found a great reference. The article itself, being an official document, but then the bibliography is gold. Odd that this hasn't come up in my previous searches over the years. (Born2flie 18:33, 23 July 2006 (UTC))

I am glad that I can be of a help :) I searched on AAFSS A-X. --Marvin ^talk 00:26, 24 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Stub-class

I rated this article as a stub class due to incomplete information. (Born2flie 03:46, 11 September 2006 (UTC))

[edit] Copilot/Gunner Location

I think there is some confusion initiated by this article as to where the gunner's seat is located. The copilot/gunner is positioned in the front seat and the pilot is positioned in the rear seat like a typical American attack helicopter. If there is a dispute about this, I have photos of the front and rear seats (unsure of the copyright) and it is pretty evident which one is front and which one is rear. Not to mention that I've actually climbed on and into one of the copies at the Army Aviation Museum at Fort Rucker and can personally attest to the rotating gunner seat's location. (Born2flie 12:30, 15 November 2006 (UTC))