Bell XF-109
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| D-188A XF-109 / XF3L |
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 XF-109 mockup with engine pods rotated for vertical flight. |
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| Type | VTOL fighter |
| Manufacturer | Bell Aircraft Corporation |
| Status | Cancelled 1961 |
| Primary users | United States Air Force United States Navy |
| Number built | 1 mockup |
The Bell XF-109/XF3L was a proposed eight-engine Mach 2-capable vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) fighter that never proceeded past the mock-up stage.
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[edit] Development
If it had been built, the Bell D-188A project would have been one of the most unorthodox aircraft to fly, and certainly the most unusual in USAF inventory. In 1955, Bell Aircraft was requested by both the USAF and the USN to develop a VTOL/STOVL supersonic, all-weather fighter-bomber and defence interceptor. The project was highly ambitious and was designed to fulfill a multitude of roles for two different services and, as a result – based on the poor record of other Air Force/Navy aircraft projects – it is highly dubious as to its success. The aircraft was designated the Model 2000, and was offered in two different versions – the D-188 for the US Navy and the D-188A for the USAF. Bell had – rather optimistically – called the Navy version the XF3L-1 and the Air Force version the XF-109, although neither of these was official. On December 5, 1960, Bell publically showed off the design as the XF-109 – the USAF version, as the USN had lost interest the year earlier.
The aircraft was unconventional, and consisted of a long, thin, area-ruled fuselage with a large fin and all-moving stabilators in the tail. The single-person cockpit was in the extreme nose and the small-span wing was mounted high on the fuselage. At the ends of each wing were pods that contained two turbojets each. These pods were designed to swivel through an arc of 100 to allow for both horizontal and vertical flight. To take off vertically, the pods were rotated to direct the engines’ thrust downward, while for horizontal flight the pods were rotated back to the horizontal. The pods were capable of directing thrust slightly forward as well for enhanced landing manoeuvres. In addition to the four wing engines, four additional engines were mounted in the fuselage – two in the rear directed out of two separate tail ducts, and two directly aft of the cockpit and positioned vertically to aid in VTOL flight, exhausting out of two ventral ducts. Thus, with eight engines, the XF-109 would have had the most engines ever fitted to a fighter aircraft.
Armament consisted of two 20mm cannon in the fuselage, an internal weapons bay and eight wing hard points for missiles and other ordinance. In addition, the D-188A featured an engine bleed system to assist in VTOL manoeuvring. Thrust from the fuselage engines was directed to a pair of thrusters in the nose and two more in the tail to aid in pitch, roll and yaw. However, in the spring of 1961, the USAF cancelled the program and no examples were built.
One final word on the designations. As mentioned, the military designations were not official and were speculative on the part of Bell. The Navy’s XF3L-1 was not assigned, but would have been the D-188’s designation had the aircraft been built, as this was the next in the USN series. The USAF XF-109 designation had previously been assigned to a proposed Convair F-106B variant, however, had subsequently been left blank and Bell assumed – if the D-188A had been built – this would have been assigned to the aircraft. Many reference works refer to the D-188A by its assumed experimental series number, but in fact the XF-109 designator was never assigned.
[edit] Specifications (XF-109/D-188A, as designed)
General characteristics
- Crew: 1
- Length: 58 ft 7.5 in (18.90 m)
- Wingspan: 23 ft 9 in (7.24 m)
- Height: 13 ft 1.5 in (3.89 m)
- Wing area: 194 ft² (m²)
- Empty weight: 13,800 lb (kg)
- Loaded weight: 23,917 lb (10,849 kg)
- Powerplant: 8× General Electric J85-GE-5 turbojets, 2,600 lbf (11.6 kN) each
Performance
- Maximum speed: Mach 2.3
- Range: 2,000 nm (2,300 mi, 3,900 km)
- Service ceiling 60,000 ft (18,000 m)
- Thrust/weight: 0.87
Armament
[edit] References
Townend, David R. Clipped Wings – The History of Aborted Aircraft Projects, Markham, Ontario, AeroFile Publications, 2007, ISBN 978-0-9732020-4-5.
[edit] See also
Comparable aircraft
Related lists
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