The Bell X-14 (Bell Type 68) is an experimental

VTOL A vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft is one that can takeoff and landing, take off and land vertically without relying on a runway. This classification can include a variety of types of aircraft including helicopters as well as thrust- ...

aircraft flown in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in the 1950s. The main objective of the project was to demonstrate vectored thrust horizontal and vertical takeoff, hover, transition to forward flight, and vertical landing.

Design and development

Bell constructed the X-14 as an open- cockpit, all-metal (

duralumin Duralumin (also called duraluminum, duraluminium, duralum, dural(l)ium, or dural) is a trade name for one of the earliest types of age hardening, age-hardenable aluminium–copper alloys. The term is a combination of ''Düren'' and ''aluminium'' ...

)

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple wings. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...

for the

USAF The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...

. It was powered by two

Armstrong Siddeley Viper The Armstrong Siddeley Viper is a British turbojet engine developed and produced by Armstrong Siddeley and then by its successor companies Bristol Siddeley and Rolls-Royce Limited. It entered service in 1953 and remained in use with the Ro ...

turbojet engines equipped with thrust deflectors sited at the aircraft's centre of gravity. The engines are fixed in position; transition from vertical to horizontal flight is achieved with a system of movable vanes that control the direction of engine thrust. Top speed was with a service ceiling of . The X-14 was designed using existing parts from two

Beechcraft Beechcraft is an American brand of civil aviation and Military aircraft, military aircraft owned by Textron Aviation since 2014, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. Originally, it was a brand of Beech Aircraft Corporation, an American manufacture ...

aircraft: wings, ailerons, and landing gear of a Beech Bonanza and the tailcone and empennage of a Beech T-34 Mentor.

Operational history

The X-14 first flew on 19 February 1957 as a vertical takeoff, hover, then vertical landing. The first transition from hover to horizontal flight occurred on 24 May 1958. In

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

, its Viper engines were replaced with

General Electric J85 The General Electric J85 is a small single-shaft turbojet engine. Military versions produce up to of thrust dry; Afterburner, afterburning variants can reach up to . The engine, depending upon additional equipment and specific model, weighs fro ...

engines. That year the aircraft was delivered to the

NASA Ames Research Center The Ames Research Center (ARC), also known as NASA Ames, is a major NASA research center at Moffett Federal Airfield in California's Silicon Valley. It was founded in 1939 as the second National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) laborat ...

as the X-14A. During the development of the P.1127, Hawker test pilots Bill Bedford and Hugh Merewether visited NASA Ames to fly the X-14 and acquaint themselves with jet V/STOL aircraft handling prior to the first flights of the prototype P.1127. It served as a test aircraft with

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the federal government of the United States, US federal government responsible for the United States ...

until

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

. The X-14 project provided a great deal of data on VTOL (Vertical Take-Off and Landing) type aircraft and flight control systems. In

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

, the X-14A was fitted with new engines (General Electric J85-GE-19) and redesignated the X-14B. An onboard computer and digital

fly-by-wire Fly-by-wire (FBW) is a system that replaces the conventional aircraft flight control system#Hydro-mechanical, manual flight controls of an aircraft with an electronic interface. The movements of flight controls are converted to electronic sig ...

control system were also installed to enable emulation of landing characteristics of other VTOL aircraft. The aircraft was obtained by NASA and repurposed as a Moon-landing simulator.

Neil Armstrong Neil Alden Armstrong (August 5, 1930 – August 25, 2012) was an American astronaut and aerospace engineering, aeronautical engineer who, in 1969, became the Apollo 11#Lunar surface operations, first person to walk on the Moon. He was al ...

flew the aircraft on numerous occasions, running out of fuel more than once. The X-14B was used in this test role until it was damaged in a landing accident on 29 May 1981 and never repaired. At the time, there were plans to develop an X-14C with an enclosed cockpit. There were also plans for an X-14T trainer. None of these further versions got beyond the planning stage. During all of its years of service, the X-14 was flown by numerous pilots with no serious incidents or injuries.

Aircraft serial numbers

Although there was only one airframe, it changed serial numbers with every major upgrade. *X-14 - ''USAF'' ''56-4022'' *X-14A - ''NASA 234'' (N234NA) *X-14B - ''NASA 704'' (N704NA)

Surviving aircraft

The X-14B was rescued from the scrap yard in 1991 and is undergoing renovation as part of the Ropkey Armor and Aviation Museum.

Specifications (X-14B)

References

External links

* * {{Authority control X-014 X-14, Bell V/STOL aircraft by thrust vectoring Twinjets NASA aircraft Mid-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1957 Aircraft with fixed tricycle landing gear