Sep 16 2003
From The Space Library
NASA and the U.S. Army transferred an XV-15 tilt-rotor aircraft to the National Air and Space Museum's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia. J. Victor Lebacqz, Acting Associate Administrator for NASA's Office of Aerospace Technology, described the XV-15 ~ a unique type of aircraft possessing the takeoff, hover, and landing capabilities of a helicopter, with the range and speed of a turboprop aircraft~as one of NASA's most successful research aircraft and a prime example of cutting-edge aerospace research. Tilt-rotor flight research had begun in the 1950s with the Bell XV-3 convertiplane. In 1977 the first of two XV-15s built by Bell Helicopter-Textron had made its maiden flight. The XV-15 had achieved speed and altitude records for its class, receiving multiple awards from national organizations. Its success had led to the development of the V-22 Osprey and to the world's first civil tilt-rotor, the nine-passenger Bell-Agusta 609, which was under development and scheduled for delivery in 2007. (NASA, “Tilt Rotor Aircraft Joins National Air and Space Museum Collection,” news release 03-295, 16 September 2003, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2003/sep/HQ_03295_tilt_rotor.html (accessed 28 January 2009).
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