LHX Program

Hi team,
I'm gathering drawings, paintings etc for a possible scratchbuild of the Bell-McD LHX - has anyone done/found three-view line drawings or profiles of it? I'd be grateful for any help - I'd like to Photoshop some markings etc for reference for the model if I get to it.

EDIT: I found the below thanks to Googling "Bell LHX" and "McDonnell LHX". The second image was found at http://s246.photobucket.com/user/Norman_Rockwell/media/Aircraft%20Profiles/lhx-u_245.jpg.html and its brother nearby. It's the first time I've seen this Utility concept, it looks great.
 

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The first image is at DeviantArt: http://bagera3005.deviantart.com/art/L-H-X-153193031

While there I found this comment on the image by user "Lopearedgaloot":
The final SuperTeam configuration of the LHX ended up looking nothing like this sleek, sharklike, beauty. Being instead something like a cubist version of the AH-1F Cobra. Very ugly.
There is actually some debate whether the concept artwork on which this 4 View is based was ever 'real' so much as good showmanship.
IMO, it was.
The MMR would have stolen at least 15 knots of speed and so doesn't belong. Longbow (even as the AAWS-H) didn't exist at the time this configuration was first shown in 1984 or so and the EOTAS targeting system was mounted in the extension to the forward part of the transmission doghouse, giving a very clean nose without all the bums and lumps of a turreted installation you show.
The use of a roofsight did not require as much of the airframe to rise above terrain mask as the nose installation to achieve line of sight and allowed the CPG to sit behind the pilot.
ALQ-144 would _not_ have been mounted as that jammer is actually a beacon attractor (think bug lamp) to many modern shoulderfire missiles and the RCS penalty isn't worth it's electrical consumption or thermal load.
The more likely jammer would be the ALQ-212 ATIRCM which was turreted, mounted on the wingtips and used sectored not 360` lamp technology (later versions use lasers).
The secret of the McDonnell LHX was that it clung to the original '180 to 300 knot' performance specification of the pre-1988 LHX (not LH) requirement.
As such, it was capable of cruising at 200+ knots with the benefit of a VTDP like tail thruster. The very wide 'hips' of the fuselage:tail boom break were to allow for the mounting of a _huge_ NOTAR fan (nearly 40") to support this pusher hybrid thrust capability.
Mass flow was so high that the exhausts for both engines had to be ducted out the port side of the fuselage (@ increased IR signature penalty) so that a NACA conformal inlet could feed the enormous trunking of the fan plenum from the starboard side.
The 'panel lines' of the boom are inaccurate because the aft fuselage was not facetted like the RAH-66 but rather almost circular in crosssection This was a compromise for the speed requirement in that the Super Team LHX had very good frontal RCS reduction but only median flank and aft quarter RCS.
There _were_ longitudinal reinforcement strips on the outside of the boom to help stiffen the hollow composite structure.

My question is: has anyone seen, or does anyone have, any image of the "final configuration" Lopearedgaloot refers to?

I also found the below comment from Steve Snyder at http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/mcdonnell_lhx.php which provides a tantalising glimpse into what the SuperTeam LHX would've been like to fly:
I was one of the pilots that was selected to fly in the simulator fly-off between the McDonnell Douglas-Bell (MacBell team) and Boeing-Sikorsky (BoSki team). The aircraft, as simulated was amazing to fly and it's notar tail rotorless design allowed for some fun maneuvers we developed like a 180 degree pedal turn (no pedals-just twist the right three axis controller) full deflection at 160 knots and you were looking at your attacker, could lock on a stinger, fire and return to forward flight with another twist--pretty cool and possible with the altitude hold feature built into the "delta" collective. Other neat stuff that was worked on during the train-up and pilot selection was training at the NASA Aimes laboratory using a configurable fiber optic fed simulator that we were tested for the best mix of flight controls whether two on left and right or the final three right and 1 left with no pedals, although we kept stamping the floor, well into the test. Too bad it wasn't purchased as it would saved a lot of scout pilot lives.
 
While looking (still!) for SuperTeam photos etc, I found a very cool model of the Apache used by them for flight control systems testing: http://www.modelbrouwers.nl/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=43131

Also, please ignore my request for final SuperTeam config pictures as I've now seen them among previous posts.

Unless, of course, there's a photo of a mockup somewhere....
 
hesham said:
Hi,


a strange Sikorsky tilt-rotor design,maybe intended for LHX.


http://www.sikorskyarchives.com/pdf/News%20June%2001%20Joe%20Keogan.pdf

Wow, you are a Master Hesham. ;D :D
 
Do these belong here?
 

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I have really enjoyed the great tilt rotor pictures you have posted today. Thank You!

At one time I had a picture of a much younger me sitting in the BAT, back when LHX was going to be the next wonder of Army Aviation.
 
Great images, thanks. Colour adjusted for anyone interested.
 

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Mark Nankivil said:
A while back I bought off of EPay a pair of LHX brochures from the Boeing-Sikorsky team and the McDonnell Douglas-Bell Helicopter team. Here's the scans of these two, I'll start with the McDonnell Douglas Bell brochure....

Enjoy the Day! Mark
The cover picture of the Bell/MDC LHX add was posted today at sobchak's site.
Link: https://sobchak.wordpress.com/2015/04/23/ad-mddbell-lhx-1980s/
 
hesham said:
here is a Bell JVX drawings,but in the lower drawing,I can't ID if this was air-cushion landing
gear or not ?.


Looks like shadow in the perspective drawing exaggerated by a photocopier. The three view clearly shows retractable, wheeled gear.
 
yasotay said:
back when LHX was going to be the next wonder of Army Aviation.


From the 'future is fantastic' files circa 1980s. An article on the "LHX Pursuit Helicopter Squadron" in US Armor magazine. They may not have gotten it right about the LHX wiping out swarms of HINDs but they did get it right about the Sgt. York SPAAG not being able to hit anything!
 

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Abraham Gubler said:
yasotay said:
back when LHX was going to be the next wonder of Army Aviation.


From the 'future is fantastic' files circa 1980s. An article on the "LHX Pursuit Helicopter Squadron" in US Armor magazine. They may not have gotten it right about the LHX wiping out swarms of HINDs but they did get it right about the Sgt. York SPAAG not being able to hit anything!
Ah the good old days! We were going to fly above the vulgar brawl, earning the platitudes of the unwashed below as we ‘smaught’ the evil doers, unjustly attempting to deprive the west of its shining truth. I worked for the author at one point, an interesting character who had a habit of taking flag officer directives as notions or suggestions.
 
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Abraham Gubler said:
yasotay said:
back when LHX was going to be the next wonder of Army Aviation.


From the 'future is fantastic' files circa 1980s. An article on the "LHX Pursuit Helicopter Squadron" in US Armor magazine. They may not have gotten it right about the LHX wiping out swarms of HINDs but they did get it right about the Sgt. York SPAAG not being able to hit anything!
Interesting how the X moniker remains after this creature as it is in service. No sure if one would be too keen to take an experiment into combat. but guess combat is an experiment also.
 
LHX artwork. This image appears earlier in this thread but this is a bigger picture with some Boeing Sikorsky blurb added.
 

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Barrington Bond said:
Thanks to my wallet...

Well, I hadn't visited this thread in months, and all I can do is thank you wallet from the bottom of my heart!!
(and you for sharing your wallet's purchases...) ;D
 
ZacYates said:
I found the below thanks to Googling "Bell LHX" and "McDonnell LHX". The second image was found at http://s246.photobucket.com/user/Norman_Rockwell/media/Aircraft%20Profiles/lhx-u_245.jpg.html and its brother nearby. It's the first time I've seen this Utility concept, it looks great.
index.php

index.php

This is the work of Robert Beechy, a very talented profile artist who has produced hundreds of fascinating profiles.
However, despite the high level of accuracy in his work, most of it consists of imaginary markings and camo on existing designs, so I wouldn't take these as reliable reference if I were you. The LHX was for a while his subject of choice, and I have no less than 258 images from that series, covering virtually every possible Army and Navy of the world, and then some!
 

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mil said:
Skyblazer I'm a fan of images LHX program where you can see more
I'm with him! I'm still planning a 1/72 scratchbuild of that version of the Superteam LHX, so any images are welcome even as inspiration.
 
ZacYates said:
Skyblazer I'm a fan of images LHX program where you can see more

mil said:
I'm with him! I'm still planning a 1/72 scratchbuild of that version of the Superteam LHX, so any images are welcome even as inspiration.

Here's Robert Beechy's page on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robert.beechy/
He's a nice guy and I'm sure he'll be more than willing to direct you to his LHX topic on the What If forum (I must admit I couldn't find it if I tried... and I can't see myself sharing hundreds of pics here, especially considering they're all fictitious liveries and variants).
 
ZacYates said:
Hi team,
I'm gathering drawings, paintings etc for a possible scratchbuild of the Bell-McD LHX - has anyone done/found three-view line drawings or profiles of it? I'd be grateful for any help - I'd like to Photoshop some markings etc for reference for the model if I get to it.

EDIT: I found the below thanks to Googling "Bell LHX" and "McDonnell LHX". The second image was found at http://s246.photobucket.com/user/Norman_Rockwell/media/Aircraft%20Profiles/lhx-u_245.jpg.html and its brother nearby. It's the first time I've seen this Utility concept, it looks great.

Interesting as part of the LHX project requirements, the UH-1 was penned in as one of the legacy airframes to be replaced along with the OH-58C/D as I recall so the need for a utility variant of whatever airframe proposed.

cheers
 
There was originally a requirement for both an attack/recon and utility varient, all using the same dynamic components (think USMC H-1). Budget chopping killed the utility version pretty early in the program. So to save money they cut the number of aircraft significanty... which caused the cost per unit to go up significantly. Sound familiar?
 
yasotay said:
There was originally a requirement for both an attack/recon and utility varient, all using the same dynamic components (think USMC H-1). Budget chopping killed the utility version pretty early in the program. So to save money they cut the number of aircraft significanty... which caused the cost per unit to go up significantly. Sound familiar?

Was the utility variant approximately the size of the Airbus Helicopters UH-72A Lakota? Was it also stealthy?
 
It's hard to say just how much impact cutting the utility variant had at the end but it certainly seems like a waste of a good opportunity. Haven't the UH-72s have had some issues that have kept them out of any risky areas too?
 
The UH-72 was never meant to fly in combat. It was procured specifically for non-combat logistics and SAR/Medevac support in the United States and some overseas locations (mainly in Europe).
 
TomS said:
The UH-72 was never meant to fly in combat. It was procured specifically for non-combat logistics and SAR/Medevac support in the United States and some overseas locations (mainly in Europe).

Yep here are my photos of the OPFOR Lakota based at the Combined / Joint Maneuver Training Center at Grafenwohr (based at Hohenfels Army Airfield), I took back in June at Paris Airshow 2015,

Also there are three or so UH-72A is based at the Regan Test Site / Kwajalein Atoll under Sikorsky Aerospace Services contract to the US Army Space and Missile Defense Command. They replaced the UH-1H Hueys which were operating under DynCorp contract. A good friend of mine ex US Army CWO flew those Hueys on Kwalajein in the late 80s / 90s on contract,

cheers

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The BK-117 (now Airbus 135) was the most economical medical helicopter on the CIVIL market. That is why it won. To my knowledge, there is not an ounce of armor plating on any UH-72. The regulars have elected to buy more UH-72 to use as the primary training helicopters because they don't need the expense of combat rotorcraft in the training fleet.

As to Triton's question, the utility version was to be of similar size and shape to the scout/attack version as it used the same dynamic components, engines and core avionics. While there was some stealth inherent in the air vehicle I do not think it was as much a priority as it was in the scout/attack aircraft. Also the utility version had side by side seating as is the norm for non-attack helicopters. There may be some here who know better than I.
 
yasotay said:
The BK-117 (now Airbus 135) was the most economical medical helicopter on the CIVIL market. That is why it won. To my knowledge, there is not an ounce of armor plating on any UH-72. The regulars have elected to buy more UH-72 to use as the primary training helicopters because they don't need the expense of combat rotorcraft in the training fleet.

As to Triton's question, the utility version was to be of similar size and shape to the scout/attack version as it used the same dynamic components, engines and core avionics. While there was some stealth inherent in the air vehicle I do not think it was as much a priority as it was in the scout/attack aircraft. Also the utility version had side by side seating as is the norm for non-attack helicopters. There may be some here who know better than I.

You mean the BK-117 has morphed into the Airbus Helicopters H145 (formerly EC145) :) and the military version is called the H145M formerly known as the EC645T2) :) as the first one for the German Bundeswehr was handed over back in the summer.

In fact here are my photos of the H145M mock up also from Paris Airshow 2015 and tbh IMHO, this was more realistic than the first mockup of the EC645T2 in 2013,

cheers

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Hi,

 

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Skyblazer said:
Here's Robert Beechy's page on Facebook
Thanks Skyblazer, belated appreciation coming your way! I'm also a member on a couple of What If forums so I'll have a hunt around there, too.
 
An interesting article about the LHX Program in the lastest July 2017 issue of the French magazine 'Le Fana de l'Aviation'. :)
Featured in the article are 2 great drawings of the Boeing–Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche, one of them in a fictional desert camo as a SCUD-Hunter in Iraq, by alanqua. B)
 
fightingirish said:
An interesting article about the LHX Program in the lastest July 2017 issue of the French magazine 'Le Fana de l'Aviation'. :)
Featured in the article are 2 great drawings of the Boeing–Sikorsky RAH-66 Comanche, one of them in a fictional desert camo as a SCUD-Hunter in Iraq, by alanqua. B)

Get it,nice article.
 
Apologize if already posted.
 

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Hi,

 

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