Lunar Landing Research Vehicle

The Bell Aerosystems Lunar Landing Research Vehicle, nicknamed the Flying Bedstead, was a Project Apollo era program to build a simulator for the Moon landings. The vehicles were used at Edwards Air Force Base, California, to study the piloting techniques needed to fly and land the Apollo Lunar Module in the Moon low gravity. They were vertical take-off vehicles with a single gimballed jet engine adjusted to cancel five sixths of the vehicle weight, plus hydrogen peroxide rockets that could fairly accurately imitate a lunar lander. The success of the two research vehicles led to three Lunar Landing Training Vehicles at Houston. One research vehicle and two training vehicles were destroyed in crashes, but the rocket ejection seat saved the pilot every time. Neil Armstrong said Apollo 11 would not have succeeded without the training.