The Sikorsky XV-2, also known by the

Sikorsky Aircraft Sikorsky Aircraft is an American aircraft manufacturer based in Stratford, Connecticut. It was established by the Russian-American aviation pioneer Igor Sikorsky in 1923, and was among the first companies to manufacture helicopters for civilian ...

model number S-57, was a planned experimental stoppable rotor aircraft, designated as a

convertiplane A convertiplane is defined by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI or World Air Sports Federation) as an aircraft which uses rotor power for vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) and converts to fixed-wing lift in normal flight. In the ...

, developed for a joint research program between the

United States Air Force 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 ...

and the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

. The program was canceled before construction of the prototype began.

Design and development

The XV-2 was developed as part of a joint U.S. Air Force and U.S. Army program intended to explore technologies to develop an

aircraft An aircraft ( aircraft) is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, i ...

that could take off and land like a

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

but fly at faster airspeeds, similar to a conventional

airplane An airplane (American English), or aeroplane (Commonwealth English), informally plane, is a fixed-wing aircraft that is propelled forward by thrust from a jet engine, Propeller (aircraft), propeller, or rocket engine. Airplanes come in a vari ...

. The XV-2's stoppable-rotor design was intended to allow it to hover and fly at low speed like a conventional

. It utilized a single-blade single-rotor design; a counterweight provided stability to the rotor system, while a tip-jet arrangement powered the rotor, which retracted into the upper fuselage when stopped, the XV-2 then flying like a conventional aircraft on

delta wing A delta wing is a wing shaped in the form of a triangle. It is named for its similarity in shape to the Greek uppercase letter delta (letter), delta (Δ). Although long studied, the delta wing did not find significant practical applications unti ...

s. A single jet engine was provided for forward flight, and was to be equipped with

thrust vectoring Thrust vectoring, also known as thrust vector control (TVC), is the ability of an aircraft, rocket or other vehicle to manipulate the direction of the thrust from its engine(s) or motor(s) to Aircraft flight control system, control the Spacecra ...

for steering in hover and for anti-torque control in lieu of a tail rotor. The XV-2 prototype was assigned the serial number 53-4403, but the project was cancelled before construction could begin.Pearcy 1993, p.103.

Specifications

References

;Citations ;Bibliography * * * *

External links

Helis.com: Sikorsky History part 2

Sikorsky Product History: S-57, Sikorsky Archives
{{US STOL and VTOL aircraft Cancelled military aircraft projects of the United States Gyrodynes V-002 Stoppable rotor helicopters Single-engined jet aircraft Tipjet-powered helicopters High-wing aircraft Delta-wing aircraft

Design and development

Specifications

See also

References

External links