Bell Aircraft / Bell Aerospace "D-" designations

[Steve Pace]

Bell Model 2410 - Tactical Air Command (TAC) VTOL could be related to the XF-109?.... -SP

 

[Stargazer]

Bell Model 2410 on Page 39 is noteworthy - XF-109? -SP

Bell Model 2410 - Tactical Air Command (TAC) VTOL could be related to the XF-109?.... -SP

No need to ask the question twice, Steve! Give us time to think about it...

Well, my answer is DEFINITELY NOT. The number 2410 suggests a 1967 or 1968 design proposal, which is years after the XF-109.

Considering the designation is in the middle of several X-22-related ones, I'd go for an X-22 transport derivative proposal myself. Just my two cents.

 

[hesham]

Hi,

The Bell displayed a full-scale concept mock-up,designated
D-306,at the annual convention of the Helicopter Association
of America in San Diego in 1974,later the company made
some improvements to be Model 222.

Hi,


D-306 was twin turboshaft engined helicopter,could accommodate two pilots
and eight passenger,only a full-scale mock-up was built in January 1974,and
in April 1974,the company made some improvements and became Model-222.

 

[Grey Havoc]

Are the Model 2340 (Two Man Rocket Pogo, company sponsored), Model 2369 (Platform Double Pogo, NASA), and Model 2377 (Lunar Pogo Simulator, company?) directly related, I wonder? Seems likely to me.

On a side note, the Model 2382 contract for testing the Jet/Rocket belt's suitability for police work sounds interesting. U.S. police forces could have certainly used something like it during the 60s and 70s what with all the Soviet inspired riots and protests, etc. going on.

Here's a clip from a certain Sci-Fi movie that you may remember:

View: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ta1HBizg0Yk

 

[hesham]

Hi Bomiwriter,


that's a very good discussing with my dear Stargazer,but you are right
about the D-143 was not twin boom fighter project,but it was MX-2276;


http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,213.msg165155.html#msg165155


And for D-7000 series,not all of them was a spacecraft,but many of them are not,such
as D-7605,which was an air cushion aircraft;
http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,6983.msg171448.html#msg171448


and D-7233 was C-119 with air cushion;
http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,6983.msg171448.html#msg171448

 

[Stargazer]

hesham, I never said the D-7000 series was only about space, I said that most of the space programs were in that series and the D-8000 series. That is quite different!

 

[hesham]

Stargazer,


I spoke to Bomiwriter,who said that,I know you didn't say this.

 

[AM]

Hi

D-31 - navy night fighter

Regards

 

[Tailspin Turtle]

Hi

D-31 - navy night fighter

Regards

Also see http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,583.msg168218.html#msg168218

 

[Bomiwriter]

Greetings;
Finally have a break from writing and research projects. Looking at the fascinating Bell lists above I see one listed as Bell D-143 supposedly a Twin-Boom Fighter.
It does not appear correct when looking at the list in a chronological manner.
Bell's Study Contract for the RS-459L Brass Bell (classified name) or "Hi-Fi Recce (unclassified name) continued past August, 1957 when it was supposed to...repeat supposed to be absorbed into the Dyna Soar Abbreviated Development Plan...it was NOT. Brass Bell apparently continued with USAF funding nearly into Fall of 1958 for whatever reasons, and was quite advanced for a 1950s (mid) boost glider.
One of the 1958 Reports has typed on the inner cover this information;
Bell Model D-143, Brass Bell Reconnaissance Aircraft Weapon System.
The wierd thing is this; the Brass Bell Report series are thus...D-143, the same series as the "Model number." The above list says D-143 a twin-boom fighter. Boy, this is Twilight Zonish cause, a twin-boom fighter was used as cover for the Bell YP-59A jet fighter project to keep it secret. This is like a hiccup or repeat of same for Brass Bell glider. It makes we wonder if one or two were possibly constructed as Black Projects before the term became a common usage term. As a note for those interested, I find that Bell engineers actually designed, built and even patented a number of special machines (no such machines were available from ANY source back then), used in constructing "boost-glider" skins, wing segments, even a section of a boost-glider fuselage and wing. They built their own ovens to test the segments, and even have drawings of a special room in which they were placed for testing. Some of the in-house designed and constructed were actually sold on the commercial market and were the first of their kind...as patents not constructed machinery for sale.
That adds to my wondering if indeed, one or two may have been constructed. A B-36 was shown in drawings to perform drop-air tests. I do have drawings and photos of skins, double-wall cooling parts and that cross-section of a fuselage-wing segment under construction! Also...really wild is the Book by Igor Ufanasov (Space Wings) who has a photo of aRussian boost-glider cross-section, nearly identical to the Bell cross-section, in color in an open oven! That cross-section, while nearly identical, is the same cross-section Bell constructed under USAF Contract to test the cooling systems...gee, one wonders if perhaps there were "Soviet" eyes inside the Bell factory in the 1950s??
That's it. Maybe someone can clear up this little twist in the Bell numbering system, but the twin-boom fighter does not fit in the D-143 area that I know of although there was an ARTIST drawing only of wierd twin-boom type VTOL craft for sea-rescue, but don't know of any Model number.
Bomiwriter

 

[fightingirish]

Bell Aircraft Trainer Proposal - Model D-67 - December-19-1947

Source: Niagara Aerospace Museum @ Facebook

 

[Stargazer]

Bell Aircraft Trainer Proposal - Model D-67 - December-19-1947

Cool photo. More photos, plans and info on the D-67 in this topic: https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/12968

 

[hesham]

From, US Army AH-1 Cobra Units in Vietnam,

he author speaks about D207 and D209,I think he means Models rather than D series ?.

 

[Apophenia]

... author speaks about D207 and D209,I think he means Models rather than D series ?.

But they were, originally, referred to as Models D207 and D209.

Maybe that designation transition was a matter of project maturation? I don't recall the also-mentioned D255 and D262 'Iroquois Warrior' projects ever being referred to simply as 'Model 255' or 'Model 262'.

 

[Stargazer]

But they were, originally, referred to as Models D207 and D209.

Maybe that designation transition was a matter of project maturation? I don't recall the also-mentioned D255 and D262 'Iroquois Warrior' projects ever being referred to simply as 'Model 255' or 'Model 262'.

It's a fact that some "D" designations become plain models, why others don't, and often without apparent logic...