Tilt Rotor Aircraft Joins National Air and Space Museum Collection

Michael Braukus
Headquarters, Washington     Sept. 16, 2003
(Phone: 202/358-1979)

Jonas Dino
Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif.
(Phone: 650/604-3937)

Peter Golkin
National Air and Space Museum, Washington
(Phone: 202/633-2374)

Eugene Kozicharow
Textron Inc., Washington
(Phone: 202/637-3830)

RELEASE: 03-295

TILT ROTOR AIRCRAFT JOINS NATIONAL AIR AND SPACE MUSEUM 
COLLECTION

     The XV-15 tilt rotor aircraft today took its place in 
what could be called "aviation's hall of fame," when NASA and 
the U.S. Army transferred the vehicle to the National Air and 
Space Museum's new Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center near 
Washington Dulles International Airport in Virginia.

"The XV-15 was one of NASA's most successful research 
aircraft and is a prime example of the cutting-edge aerospace 
research NASA is known for," said Dr. Victor Lebacqz, Acting 
Associate Administrator for NASA's Office of Aerospace 
Technology. "The transfer of the XV-15 to the National Air 
and Space Museum continues a NASA tradition of returning 
aerospace achievements to the American public," he said.

Tilt rotors are a unique type of aircraft that possess the 
take-off, hover and landing capabilities of a conventional 
helicopter with the range and speed of a turboprop aircraft. 
Tilt rotor flight research began in the 1950s with the Bell 
XV-3 convertiplane.

Using lessons learned from the XV-3, NASA's Ames Research 
Center, Moffett Field, Calif., in partnership with the U.S. 
Army, developed design specifications for a new aircraft to 
demonstrate the viability of the tilt rotor concept. After 
extensive ground, wind tunnel and simulator tests at Ames, 
the first of two XV-15s, built by Bell Helicopter Textron, 
took its maiden flight on May 3, 1977.

In the decades following the XV-15's maiden flight, a small 
but very dedicated group of engineers, designers and pilots 
from NASA, the U.S. Army and Bell Helicopter Textron 
accumulated many world records, industry accolades and NASA 
firsts. The XV-15 holds speed and altitude records for its 
class and awards from the American Helicopter Society and the 
American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. In 1981, 
at the Paris International Air Show, the XV-15 became the 
first NASA experimental aircraft to perform demonstrations to 
an international audience. 

The success of the XV-15 has led to the development of the V-
22 Osprey and the world's first civil tilt rotor, the nine-
passenger Bell Agusta 609, now under development and 
scheduled for deliveries in 2007. 

The aviation hangar at the National Air and Space Museum's 
Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center will be home to the museum's 
extensive vertical flight collection, which includes the 
first helicopter to carry a president of the United States 
(Dwight D. Eisenhower), the first helicopter powered by a 
turbine engine and the oldest surviving helicopter.

The center at Washington Dulles International Airport in 
Northern Virginia will eventually display 80 percent of the 
national air-and-space collection not currently housed at the 
building on the Mall or on loan to other museums and 
institutions. The center opens to the public Dec. 15.

The National Air and Space Museum, comprised of the Udvar-
Hazy Center and the museum's building on the National Mall, 
will be the largest air-and-space-museum complex in the 
world. The flagship building is the world's most popular 
museum, attracting more than 9 million visitors each year. 
Attendance at the Udvar-Hazy Center is projected at 3 million 
people a year.

For information about Bell Helicopter Textron, visit:

http://www.bellhelicopter.textron.com/

For more information about the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, 
visit:

http://www.nasm.si.edu/nasm/ext/hazycenter.htm

                                                                      
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