Ishida TW-68 Tiltwing

[overscan (PaulMM)]

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

 

[rousseau]

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

 

[rotorheadtx]

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

 

[rotorheadtx]

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

 

[CammNut]

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...

 

[hesham]

Hi,

the TW-68 model with strange canard wing !.

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

 

[Triton]

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

 

[luedo34]

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

 

[Triton]

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

 

[luedo34]

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.

 

[Stargazer]

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.

 

[luedo34]

What it only the financial side that stopped this project?

 

[Triton]

Artist's concept of Ishida TW-68 Tiltwing. Note fan in T-tail.

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

 

[elmayerle]

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).

 

[Stargazer]

Scanned and enhanced from a superb promotional leaflet from 1993:

 

[Stingray]

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

 

[northerndancer2000]

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.

 

[Stargazer]

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?

 

[Mark Nankivil]

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

 

[elmayerle]

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.

 

[Aeroweanie]

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.

Japanese firm builds U.S. plane Pentagon blocks Bell aircraft funds, citing tight budget. TUG OF WAR

FORT WORTH, Texas -- When Japan's powerful minister of international trade and industry toured the United States in 1990, he asked to see only one thing being built by Americans.

web.archive.org

 

[Grey Havoc]

Old archived Forecast International report on the program:

https://www.forecastinternational.com/archive/disp_old_pdf.cfm?ARC_ID=344

North American Genesis. Although the TW-68 was to be solely funded by its Japanese sponsor, design of the aircraft
was based strictly upon research and development activities conducted in the United States and Canada in the 1960s
and early 1970s. DMAV president Cecil Haga was one of the principal design engineers for the General
Dynamics/Canadair CL-84, a four-engined, tilt-wing technology demonstrator. Other DMAV and Ishida engineering
staff had been culled from LTV and Bell, the former having produced its own tilt-wing demonstrator, the XCH-142
some two decades ago.

Program Schedule. Wind tunnel testing of a TW-68 scale model was conducted at LTV Aircraft Products Group
facilities in Grand Prairie, Texas, during the summer of 1988. Additional testing was completed in 1989. Assembly of
the first prototype was originally scheduled for 1993 with certification and initial delivery expected in 1996. In 1991,
this date was adjusted to 1994 for first aircraft completion and 1997 for initial deliveries. In early 1993, Ishida
announced that the planned first flight had been slipped into 1996, with certification and initial deliveries scheduled for
1998.

Program Halted. Ishida announced, in June 1993, that the Ft. Worth facility would be closed at the end of that month,
and that no more funding would be forthcoming. While it remains to be sen whether Ishida will continue to seek a
partner, the program is effectively terminated.