Vought V-459, V-460, V-465, V-471, V-506 V/STOL Intratheater Airlift Concepts

[Mark Nankivil]

Greetings All -

Vought obviously spent a lot of time and effort in the late '50s/early '60s on V/STOL intratheater airlift designs and all of the effort resulted only in the XC-142 program.

I'll start off with some drawings and charts culled from the report "Effectiveness Evaluation of 4 V/STOL Concepts for Intratheater Airlift Missions" which was undated but clearly, based on drawings I'll post later, dates from the 1963/64 period.

What were the other aircraft manufacturers up to at this time?

Enjoy the Day! Mark

 

[Mark Nankivil]

The first design referenced in the report was the V-459 which was a tiltwing turboprop design.

 

[AeroFranz]

it's Christmas early!
Thanks, Mark.

 

[Stargazer]

it's Christmas early!
Thanks, Mark.

Nope, since Mark has begun sharing his Vought treasures, it's Christmas EVERY DAY!!! Keep' em comin', Mark!

 

[yasotay]

That is fantastic stuff Mark!

Any chance that the full report is available?

 

[AeroFranz]

I just noticed that the props are of the "variable camber type". IIRC, there was a picture of a prop with a full span trailing edge flap in Barnes McCormick's "VSTOL aerodynamics" . Never heard of it afterwards. Maybe that's what they refer to in this report.
Any reference to it in the report, Mark?

 

[Mark Nankivil]

Hi All -

I did not have sufficient time to copy the whole report nor the three technical reports mentioned on the intro sheet - the drawings I will post shortly on the designs came from those technical reports though. As usual, my time in the Vought archives is rather short and I usually spend some time there handling some chores that the curator needs done before I dig in myself for what I am interested in. Being a drawing junkie, I tend to peruse the reports for the drawings and if something intrigues me further, hunt down and copy the report on the next visit. If only I lived a little bit closer....

AeroFranz, there's reference to the variable camber props in the 3 view included with the report but no additional info specifically on it. Whether the more detailed technical report has more on them, I could only guess that is where it is at.

Enjoy the Day! Mark

 

[Antonio]

Thanks Mark!!

 

[Stargazer]

Wow! Another V/STOL project I'd never heard about...

Mark, as you probably know, the reference until now for anything Vought was a French book by Bernard Millot in the Docavia series. I believe it is time to take up the challenge of doing a new reference book considering all the material you've brought to light. What do you say? Is this something you'd like to do?

 

[Mark Nankivil]

Thanks for the kind words Stargazer but I really am only scraping the surface of what's in the Archives. What I would like to do is create a catalog of the V numbers and tie a photo, drawing or data for each one so that the curator has something to reference when someone requests info. Having said that, I'd either need to move to Dallas-Ft. Worth or they need to move the archives to St. Louis ;D

More to come so stay tuned....

Enjoy the Day! Mark

 

[Mark Nankivil]

Greetings All -

Here's Vought's V-465 design....

Enjoy the Day! Mark

 

[Bill S]

Another V/STOL Intra theater Airlift Concept V-471 General Arrangement

 

[Mark Nankivil]

Thanks Bill! Mark

 

[Maveric]

Hi Bill S, thanks for this great drawing! Do you have some technical data for the V.471?

Servus Maveric

 

[Bill S]

The V-471 information was an addendum to the V-465 document, as a result there is not a lot of detail.

Attached are the fuel and propulsion perspective and some performance data.

All from the Vought Archives.

 

[Bill S]

One final on the V-471 the lifting fan installation

From the Vought Archives

 

[Stargazer]

Going through various files today I was finally able to identify this model as the Vought V-471 V-465. Thanks a lot, Bill.

 

[Bill S]

Going through various files today I was finally able to identify this model as the Vought V-471 or L12-VT-143 (see attachments).

Before you get too confused. When I name files of drawings from Vought, I use the drawing number "L12-VT-143" then the model number "V-471" then wording from the drawing title. I started this when I scanned over 1,000 drawings for the O3U-3 replica the Vought Retiree Group is building. Starting with the model number made it hard to find individual drawings.

In some concept drawings in the later years the Engineers did use the model number in the drawing number, but this was not the norm.

Hope this makes sense and reduces your confusion.

 

[Stargazer]

Thanks for the concern, but not to worry. I do indeed understand that the LT- designation is only the number of the drawing. However, in this particular case, only the L12-VT-143 drawing has the mention V-471, which made me think that perhaps this was the definitive version which was granted a proper V-number, contrary to previous drawings...

On second look, I realize that the model is not 100% similar to that drawing anyway, because the VTOL wing pods have pushed the jet engine a little further towards the fuselage. But I guess that's the closest we've found, and it definitely allows us to identify the model as a Vought, which was not possible before.

 

[Bill S]

The model you show is V-465

http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,8553.msg76106/topicseen.html#msg76106

bill

 

[Bill S]

V-506 Wind Tunnel Model Photos
One major difference between this aircraft and V-459
is the V-506 does not feature a full vertical tilt.
Vought Archives


bill

 

[Bill S]

Here is an artist concept of the V-459 which is the design
that Vought was pushing when compared to the
V-460, V-465, and V-471 on a cost effectiveness basis.
Vought Archives.


bill

 

[Bill S]

Three images of the V-459 model
in the Vought Archives collection.


bill

 

[Mark Nankivil]

Thanks Bill! Mark

 

[Mark Nankivil]

Good Day All -

Another to add to the thread - described as a light intratheater STOL transport. Fuselage design very similar to What Bill's posted for other designs.

Enjoy the Day! Mark

 

[Stargazer]

Great. Looks typically V-460 to me.

 

[hesham]

From this report.

 

[mr5oa]

I made the small one a few weeks ago!

 

[Scott Kenny]

I just noticed that the props are of the "variable camber type". IIRC, there was a picture of a prop with a full span trailing edge flap in Barnes McCormick's "VSTOL aerodynamics" . Never heard of it afterwards. Maybe that's what they refer to in this report.
Any reference to it in the report, Mark?

Props with flaps?!? This forum needs a "mind blown" emoji!

 

[aim9xray]

That was a big thing in prop V/STOL circa 1961. Check out the Kaman K-16B testbed.

 

[Orionblamblam]

I made the small one a few weeks ago!

Was it made from memory, or were there diagrams involved?

 

[Scott Kenny]

That was a big thing in prop V/STOL circa 1961. Check out the Kaman K-16B testbed.

Fascinating!

Not sure I want to see the inside of the prop hubs, though. I suspect that's a nightmare of complexity...