Ishida TW-68 Tiltwing

overscan (PaulMM)

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This seems to be the patent for the Ishida TW-68, includes nice drawings.

http://www.google.com/patents?vid=USPATD332079&id=NeQpAAAAEBAJ&printsec=abstract&zoom=4#PPP1,M1
 

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The TW-68 looks like a civilian version of VX-15 ?But more mature.
 

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I saved these images when a TW-68 model went up for sale on EvilBay:
 

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Another set of 3-views, with slightly different configuration:
 

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Sorry to do the Flight archive thing, but if you want to read some background on the Ishida tilt-wing...

http://www.flightglobal.com/PDFArchive/View/1992/1992%20-%200260.html
http://www.flightglobal.com/PDFArchive/View/1992/1992%20-%200261.html
http://www.flightglobal.com/PDFArchive/View/1992/1992%20-%200262.html
http://www.flightglobal.com/PDFArchive/View/1992/1992%20-%200263.html

Interestingly, the man behind the TW-68, ex-Bell engineer David Kocurek, is now on the team designing the Karem Aircraft Optimum Speed Tilt Rotor...
 
Hi,

the TW-68 model with strange canard wing !.

http://www.flightglobal.com/PDFArchive/View/1989/1989%20-%202375.html?search=tw-68%20aircraft
 

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http://www.aerospacefacts.com/plane/aircraft.php?plane_id=135
 

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Does anybody happen to know when work on this design ended? It has finally been given up, right?
 
luedo34 said:
Does anybody happen to know when work on this design ended? It has finally been given up, right?

According to Jane's, development of the TW-68 was put on hold in July 1993 and the subsidiary responsible for prototype and production phases of the aircraft was disbanded.
http://www.janes.com/articles/Janes-All-the-Worlds-Aircraft/ISHIDA-AEROSPACE-RESEARCH-INC-United-States.html
 
Triton said:
luedo34 said:
Does anybody happen to know when work on this design ended? It has finally been given up, right?

According to Jane's, development of the TW-68 was put on hold in July 1993 and the subsidiary responsible for prototype and production phases of the aircraft was disbanded.
http://www.janes.com/articles/Janes-All-the-Worlds-Aircraft/ISHIDA-AEROSPACE-RESEARCH-INC-United-States.html

Thanks, I didn´t know it was that early.
 
What a shame... I used to love that design and still have the original leaflet from 1989. With solid financial backing, Ishida could have beaten the Bell/Agusta 609 by a good 15 years at least.
 
Artist's concept of Ishida TW-68 Tiltwing. Note fan in T-tail.

Source: "Tilt-Wing Turboprop" Popular Mechanics September 1990
 

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luedo34 said:
What it only the financial side that stopped this project?

As a first approximation, I'd say yes. A tilt-wing design is actually technically much less complex than a tilt-rotor design, at least if you're tilting the whole engine nacelle with the rotor. If I was going to develop a ptototype, proof of concept, vehicle for the TW-68, I'm probably look at using a MU-2 fuselage, either the long or short one, as a starting point (interestingly enough, Boeing made the same proposal in their XV-15 concept).
 
Scanned and enhanced from a superb promotional leaflet from 1993:
 

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Also from a promotional leaflet, but I don't know the year:
 

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elmayerle said:
luedo34 said:
What it only the financial side that stopped this project?

As a first approximation, I'd say yes. A tilt-wing design is actually technically much less complex than a tilt-rotor design, at least if you're tilting the whole engine nacelle with the rotor. If I was going to develop a ptototype, proof of concept, vehicle for the TW-68, I'm probably look at using a MU-2 fuselage, either the long or short one, as a starting point (interestingly enough, Boeing made the same proposal in their XV-15 concept).


Grumman also did a proposal to turn a MU-2 into a demonstrator for their 698 tilt-nacelle (turbofan) concept. That was one that I wish they had made.
 
northerndancer2000 said:
Grumman also did a proposal to turn a MU-2 into a demonstrator for their 698 tilt-nacelle (turbofan) concept. That was one that I wish they had made.

Funny, I think I can remember a Boeing Vertol proposal to convert an MU-2 (the Model 222, if memory serves).
A joint Boeing/Grumman proposal maybe?
 
Sorting thru a collection made up mostly of magazine clippings - definitiely pre-internet - but there are some real gems hidden away through out the collection. From the December '96 issue of Aviation & Aerospace magazine, A shame this design did not make it to fruition.

Enjoy the Day! Mark
 

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northerndancer2000 said:
Grumman also did a proposal to turn a MU-2 into a demonstrator for their 698 tilt-nacelle (turbofan) concept. That was one that I wish they had made.

Funny, I think I can remember a Boeing Vertol proposal to convert an MU-2 (the Model 222, if memory serves).
A joint Boeing/Grumman proposal maybe?
Boeing-Vertol did just that for their competitor in the XV-15 competition. Given that the MU-2 does not use hydraulics, it makes/made a good basis for experimentall testbeds.

I should note that the TW-68 would have shared one requirement with the XV-15, and the V-22, engines that would be configured to have all systems function in both horizontal and vertical positions. In the case of the XV-15, engine choice was dictated by available engines from the X-18 tilt-wing program that were so configured. Boeing-Vertol's Model 222 only tilted the rotors, much as Bell's V280 does today and thus required a simpler pair of engines.
 
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Here is a Baltimore Sun article from April 10, 1992 on the TW-68. A little poking around shows that J. David Kocurek died in 2016. In 1980, I interviewed to work with him at Bell, but ended up going to Sikorsky instead.
 

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