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Description
| Manufacturer: | Bell | |
| Base model: | H-40 | |
| Designation: | YH-40 | |
| Designation System: | U.S. Air Force | |
| Designation Period: | 1948-Present | |
| Basic role: | Helicopter | |
| Status: | Prototype | |
Specifications
| Not Yet Available |
Known serial numbers
Recent comments by our visitors
| Bryant Clark Fort Eustis, VA | Gentlemen,
My name is Bryant Clark. I am a supervisor of some very gifted machanics here at Fort Eustis who recently conducted a complete restoration of the YH-40 723. It took us nearly a year and nearly 2000 man hours as the aircraft had not been moved for nearly 40 years and was in very bad repair. We tore it down to nothing and completely refurbished, cleaned, and treated the aircraft. We replaced the skids and redid every single fiberglass item on the aircraft. We replaced the windshields. She got a new mast, tranmission mounts, and a rebuilt grease head. We took an old pair of UH-1H blades and cut them off and capped them to give her a new set of blades and a new tail rotor. We reskinned the sync elevators, the small sync on the vertical fin and both wings. Hopefully, the pictures I have provided do your efforts as rotor wing pioneers justice. 06/22/2012 @ 06:34 [ref: 61071] |
| Benny shaffer Ft worth, TX | I was a crew chief on s/n 59-1632. It is now at ft hood.I was at Ft.Eustis at the time assigned to TRECOM. I have some pics that I will try and upload. 10/28/2011 @ 21:00 [ref: 49849] |
| Benny shaffer Ft worth, TX | I was a crew chief on s/n 59-1632. It is now at ft hood.I was at Ft.Eustis at the time assigned to TRECOM. I have some pics that I will try and upload. 10/28/2011 @ 21:00 [ref: 49850] |
| Michael Kennedy Lake Arrowhead, CA | The YH 40 is the helicopter that figures in WEB Griffin's history of Army aviation in his Brotherhood of War novels. The story begins in The Majors as he recounts the story of the opening of Fort Rucker as the Army Aviation Center. He was there as an Army publication writer at the time. That series and his Marine Corps series are his best books and the details, even down to the street addresses in the area, are accurate. 11/04/2010 @ 13:34 [ref: 32970] |
| David Hatcher Enterprise, AL | Thanks Matt for the picture! 10/02/2008 @ 05:32 [ref: 22781] |
| David Hatcher Enterprise, AL | Thanks Bill! Gee and I was just by there last March going from the NASM to Kitty Hawk. Thanks again for the location and picture! Dave 10/02/2008 @ 05:30 [ref: 22780] |
| Bill Lincoln , NY | Currently, the Bell Model 533 is on display at Fort Eustis, VA outside of the Aviation Applied Technology Directorate (AATD) building. I, too, wish I had a good photo of it. 04/19/2007 @ 13:40 [ref: 16232] |
| David Hatcher Dothan, AL | Does anyone know where the Model 533 is today? Pax River at the Navy Test Pilot School or at NASA? I would appreciate a recent digital photo, or any other UH1s that may be "displayed" even those on a stick! 12/04/2006 @ 14:37 [ref: 14909] |
| David Hatcher Dothan, AL | In 1959, the Army experimented with various rotor systems and methods of drag reduction for helicopters. Bell modified the first prototype YH-40 s/n 56-6723 as a test-bed which Bell called the Model 533. These modifications included a cambered vertical tail surface, streamlined fairing for the rotor system, flush air intakes, aerodynamic cross-tubes for landing skids and new hinges for the doors. Even the stabilizer bar and replaced with a variable-tilt rotor mast (?) in order to maintain the fuselage in low-drag attitude. The Lycoming T53-L7 was replaced with a 1.100 shp Lycoming T53-L-9A and then with a 1.400 shp Lycoming T53-L-13 turboshaft.
Several different two, rigid three and four bladed rotor types were tested. Eventually, two Continental J69-T-9 turbojets were installed on each side of the fuselage. On January 17, 1964, the helicopter achieved a speed of 338km/h in level flight using both the 1.100shp Lycoming T53-L-9A shaft-turbine, plus the J69s. The next modification was two small sweptback fixed wings which now made it “a compound helicopter”. The J69-T-9s were replaced by 765-kg J69-T-29s. On October 15, 1964, the Model 533 was the first helicopter to exceed the 200 knots. In 1968, two 1490-kg Pratt & Whitney JT12A-3 turbojets at the end of short stub wings, and in May 1969, Bell announced the aircraft had attained 508km/h. 12/03/2006 @ 06:45 [ref: 14900] |
| David Hatcher Dothan, AL | The US Army procured 6 YH-40 in 1956, Army serial numbers 56-6723 thru 56-6728 (Bell serial numbers 4 thru 9)
56-6723 became the Bell Model 533, experimental compound helicopter 12/01/2006 @ 10:54 [ref: 14888] |
Recent photos uploaded by our visitors
