Grumman FV-14 Oblique Wing Aircraft

Interesting find ! I hope, vstol (Mike) have seen this,
he wrote an excellent paper about the theme of oblique
wing aircraft last year.
 
Thank you my dear Jemiba,

and I don't know if perfix V meaning V series (V-14) or what ?!.
 
hesham said:
Thank you my dear Jemiba,

and I don't know if perfix V meaning V series (V-14) or what ?!.
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"FV-14" was most certainly a Grumman name for the project, to bank on the success of the F-14, not a DoD designation. Don't forget that "V-14" was skipped because of the Bell X-14 still in the inventory at the time.
 
An early FV-14 test configuration:

http://www.anft.net/f-14/f14-detail-wsm-04.htm

You know I couldn't resist ;D
 
SOC said:
An early FV-14 test configuration:

http://www.anft.net/f-14/f14-detail-wsm-04.htm

You know I couldn't resist ;D
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That test was done to verify that the aircraft was controllable if there was a malfunction in the wing sweep mechanism and the wing sweep was no longer symmetrical. The Grumman test pilots, who had total confidence in the plane (except for the TF30s) even proposed bringing one aboard in this configuration, to which the Navy (wisely) said, "Uh...that's OK, we've seen enough. Thanks anyway".
 
I seem to remember that this test was followed up by further asymmetric testing on a F-14 at Edwards that included some deployable canards on the nose to stablize the aircraft if necessary.
 
elmayerle said:
I seem to remember that this test was followed up by further asymmetric testing on a F-14 at Edwards that included some deployable canards on the nose to stablize the aircraft if necessary.
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This happened, but not as part of asymmetric wing testing. For two years, starting in 1978, a flight test Tomcat was fitted with foldout canards on the forebody. The purpose was to stabilize the aircraft during spin testing while developing a revised Aileron Rudder Interconnect system, which was later incorporated into the fleet when they did the Digital Flight Control upgrade.


In this shot you can just see them deployed, ahead of the pilot.
 

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That would be F-14 #12/1X Buno 157991 - it was modified for high AOA testing (with the flip-up canards) following the retirement of A/C #2 Buno 157981 (due to a hydrazine APU fire). I do not believe that it performed asymmetric wing testing with NASA Dryden.

It was returned to the Navy around 1986-7 and served at Pax River as a proof-of-concept testbed for the thrust deflector paddles used on the NASA HARV F-18 and the X-31.
 
aim9xray said:
That would be F-14 #12/1X Buno 157991 - it was modified for high AOA testing (with the flip-up canards) following the retirement of A/C #2 Buno 157981 (due to a hydrazine APU fire). I do not believe that it performed asymmetric wing testing with NASA Dryden.

It was returned to the Navy around 1986-7 and served at Pax River as a proof-of-concept testbed for the thrust deflector paddles used on the NASA HARV F-18 and the X-31.
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The canards were part of the emergency spin recovery system (along with a drag chute) to recover the aircraft during testing for the ARI, especially at high AoA.

In the case of the deflector paddles, the Navy got interested in the possible benefits of thrust vectoring specifically for the F-14. Working with NASA Langley, they were first tested in a simulator and then in Langley's 16-Foot Transonic Tunnel. The purpose was to define the geometry and thrust-vectoring effectiveness for further Navy testing. A full scale set of deflector vanes were then flight tested on an F-14 to verify the data so far and to demonstrate structural integrity over part of the Tomcat's flight envelope. Although the tests were successful, it was decided not to spend any more money to take the concept all the way to adoption on the F-14.

Subsequently, the data that had been obtained in the F-14 program was used as a basis for work on the X-31 and the NASA F-18 High-Angle-of-Attack Technology Program.

Here's a shot of the wind tunnel model at Langley, which shows the paddles to good effect.
 

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Hey that's pretty neat, something I've never heard of before: a TVC F-14. Are there any images around of the actual test aircraft?
 
SOC said:
Hey that's pretty neat, something I've never heard of before: a TVC F-14. Are there any images around of the actual test aircraft?
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, the only one I have immediately is this one taken at Pax River. The paddles are kind of hard to see. Use the picture of the wind tunnel model as a guide to locate them.
 

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