Bell Model 65 Air Test Vehicle

The Bell Model 65 Air Test Vehicle was an experimental tiltjet VTOL aircraft that Bell built from parts of several general aviation aircraft: the fuselage of a Schweizer 1-23 glider, the wing of a Cessna 170 and the landing gear of a Bell 47 helicopter. Two Fairchild J44 turbojet engines, each of 1,000 pounds-force thrust and of a type used on drones, missiles and for jet-assisted takeoff, were mounted under the wing on each side and could tilt from horizontal to vertical, while a Turbomeca Palouste turbocompressor fed small thrusters at the tail and wingtips for control in the hover. It made its first hover on 16 November 1954 and horizontal flights in 1955 after wheeled landing gear from a Cessna was added. The program ended in 1955 to allow development of the Bell X-14, and its tiltjet experience fed the XF-109 fighter concept. The aircraft is in storage at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum.