8/9/2019 History of the USAF Flight Test Center, Edwards AFB, California, 1 Jan - 30 Jun 1961

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hours. The f i r s t f l i g h t was performed on 14 June 1961 underARDC Test Directive 60-65.

A production F-104~su f f i c i en t ly ins trumented to ob tainlev e l f l i g h t performance da ta was used f o r t h i s t e s t . One oftwo stan dard d i r e c t cu rr e nt powered engine i g n it io n systems wasreplaced by a high energy al te rn at in g curr ent system to insureground and in-f l ight s t a r t s under cold atmospheric and fu elteq per atu re con dit ion s. Also, two 175-gallon t i p tanks weref i t t e d t o t he a i r c r a f t t o p rovide 1 ,012 ga l l ons o f f ue l , andthe main h e 1 control on the engine was modified s l ig ht ly tometer t he HTF 59-24 High Density Fuel .

Tes t r e s u l t s i nd i ca t ed a 14.6 percen t o r 110 nau t i ca l milesIge increase by use of HTF 59-24. Maximum range was achieved bycing a mil i ta ry power climb t o cru ise a l t i t u d e of 30,000 f e e t

and maintaining a speed th er ea ft er of 515 knots . Range was 865na7 and 755 nautical miles with JP-4--- tical miles w i t h HTF 59-24uncl e r th e same conditions.62

Avrocar F li gh t EvaluationOn 4 April 1960 and 9 June 1961, a l im it ed q ua li ta ti ve

r luat ion was conducted on the performance, s t a b i l i t y and c o n t r o lof Avrocar, U. S . A r m y VZ-gAV, a t the cont rac tor f ac i l i t y , AvroA i l 't Limited, Malton, Ontario, Canada. AFFTC personnel making

uation was First Lieutenant Wallace H. Deckert, USAF, cPA-OJec - c engineer, and Major Walter J . Hodgson, USAF, p ro jec t p i l o t .

FTC -TDR-61-62: F-104 High Density Fue l Range Test , Jan 1962, p. 12. SD P i n Vol 3, t h i s h i s t .

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The Avrocar, a ground ef f e c t vehi cle , was manufactured f o r- the A rmy under USAF Contract AF 33(600)-3796. I t was an uncon-

ven tional a i r c r a f t -wi th a c i rc u l a r p lanform. Take-off grossweight was 5,680 pounds which in cl ud ed 840 pounds of f u e l and a

) t . Avrocar was powered by th re e Continenta l ~ 6 9 - ~ - 9ngines--r? ra t ed a t 927 pounds s t a t i c sea l eve l th r us t . Together, t he

tnes a c ted a s a gas genera tor to dr ive a c e n t r a l l y l o c a t e dr . A i r f lowed from the turborotor through radial ducts

a rm exnausted out through various combinations of annular nozzlesa*-and jets depending on the f l ight regime.

Avrocar was equipped with a focussing ring control systemf o r hover ing f l i g h t dur ing the f i r s t evaluat ion on 4 April 1960.Modifications were undertaken i n 1961 to add a s epar ate co nt ro l

';em f o r t r a n s i ti o n and high speed f l i g h t . The second eval-ion on 9 June 1961 was performed to determine i f the changes:c te d t he a i r c r a f t i n i t s hovering and low speed regime.

Deckert and Hodgson found the addition of a high speedcont;r ol system produced an advers e a f f e c t upon performance and

l t r o l of the avr ocar during hovering and low speed fl i g h t .6 3ai rspeed dropped from kno ts and ground cushion

i n s t; a b i l i t y occur red a t a lower height (anything over 1$ f e e t ) ....wn?n the avrocar was flown over i r re gu la r te rr a i n and a la rge;ch dur ing the te s t , there was some evidence of an under-

rered condition and a major problem from recirculating debr i s

F Tc -T DR -~ I- ~~ :vrocar F li gh t Evaluation, Jan 1962, p. 12.S D Q i n Vol 3, t h i s h i s t .

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(gra ss, dust , water, and sand). Correcti on of the se problemsalong with modif icat ions to the control system and the propulsionsystem was t o be made before - a round ef f e c t t ra n si t i o n in to highspeed f l i g h t could be demonstrated.

S-62A Helicopter E v a l u a ~ ~ o nFrom 9 through 21 September 1960, f i v e t e s t f l i g h t s fo r a

t o t a l 10 hours were flown with a commercial model S - 6 2 ~ elic op te ra t the AFFTC t o determine i t s g e ne ra l f l i g h t c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s . M r .Kenneth R . F e r r e l l was project engineer and Captain Paul J . Balfe, 4USAF, was p r o je c t p i l o t .Manufactured by th e Sikorsky A ir c ra ft D ivis ion of UnitedLi rc ra ft Corpor ation, th e S-62A was powered by a single General

d l e c t r i c T-58 gas fr ee turbin e engine. Basic weight of the a i r -c r a f t was 5,032 pounds with a usefu l load capa bi l i ty o f 2,468

. pounds. The S-62A was es se nt ia l l y an improved kp hi bi ou s , tur -bine powered model of the H-19 he l icop te r us in g many o f th e samelynahic components.

I n th e fi v e f l i g h t te n hour te s t , AFFTC personn el found the;-62A possessed good fl y in g q u a l i t i e s . Sideward and rearward

f l i g h t cha r ac t e r i s t i c s were exce l len t . C on t r o l l ab i l i t y wasscceptable about a l l ax is and the plane was easy t o f l y . Majorihortcomings i n f ly in g q u a li t i e s were high pedal f or ce s and poorlynamic l a te ra l d i re c t io na l s t a b i l i t y during c limb. 64

64. Hq AFFTC-TR-61-8: Limited St a b i l i t y and Cont rol Evalu atio n of the S-62A Helicopter, Mar 1961, p. 15 . SD R i n Vol 3, t h i s h i s t .