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Description
| Manufacturer: | Hawker | |
| Base model: | V-6 | |
| Designation: | XV-6 | |
| Version: | A | |
| Nickname: | Kestrel | |
| Designation System: | U.S. Air Force | |
| Designation Period: | 1956-Present | |
| Basic role: | V/STOL | |
| Status: | Experimental | |
Specifications
| Length: | 42' 5" | 12.9 m | |
| Height: | 10' 9" | 3.2 m | |
| Wingspan: | 22' 1" | 6.7 m | |
| Empty Weight: | 10,000 lb | 4,535 kg | |
| Gross Weight: | 15,000 lb | 6,802 kg | |
Propulsion
| No. of Engines: | 1 | ||
| Powerplant: | Rolls-Royce Pegasus 5 | ||
| Thrust (each): | 15,500 lb | 7,029 kg | |
Performance
Known serial numbers
Examples of this type may be found at
| Museum | City | State |
| Air Power Park and Museum | Hampton | Virginia |
| National Air and Space Museum | Washington | Dist of Col |
| United States Air Force Museum | Wright-Patterson | Ohio |
| United States Army Aviation Museum | Ozark | Alabama |
| Virginia Air and Space Center / Hampton History Center | Hampton | Virginia |
XV-6A on display
Air Power Park and Museum | United States Air Force Museum | Virginia Air and Space Center / Hampton History Center |
Recent comments by our visitors
| Joe Rawl LEXINGTON, SC | I was an Army warrant officer helicopter pilot stationed at Ft Campbell in the Spring of 1966. I was assigned the fun duty of piloting the support Huey that provided whatever "ass and trash" support needed. The three XV-6A's were put through a series of tests that included hover landings to the turf on selected installation drop zones - that turned out to be a bad idea in that the down blast would literally eat a large hole in the ground and scatter dirt and grass lumps everywhere. Lots of memories of that period of time - most of my duty amounted to ferrying the test pilots out and back to the day's assigned test location/route so that they (and by proxy, me) could observe the tests/flights. I remember in a conversation with one of the American pilots that his training before his first flight in the aircraft consisted in getting "X" amount of time in a helicopter, time in a jet, then crawled in the cockpit of the single seat XV-6A where they cleared the area and let him have at it. Good, treasured, memories for me. btw, I stayed in the Army for 21 years - retired as an O-4 a number of years back now. jhr 03/19/2013 @ 08:14 [ref: 67669] |
| Jim Bremner Oak Harbor, WA | Jack Lawrence may have seen 6 crates, in the hanger at Fort Campbell but, three of those crates contained one wing, and the other three crates contained one fuselage each. There were only three XV6A aircraft sent the States. 12/02/2011 @ 20:09 [ref: 50944] |
| Maxie Cooper , AL | I became involved in the spring of 1966 when HQ TAC USAF sent me out to Ft Campbell to work with another blue suiter from Eglin AFB on the XV-6A. I programmed some of the computer programs that were used in the evaluations of the aircraft and engines. We found out that after about 50 hours of hovering the engines had a nasty habit of the compressors imploding. Anyway I thought I remembered the chase plane being an F4 out of Eglin AFB that day when the pilot hovered as he taxied back up the ramp. That really was impressive. The XV-6A and the F4 were going to fly a closed circuit three times around the field. The F4 finished his second trip just as the XV-6A completed his third. I remember the test pilot was from Germany and made the statement that if he had these planes during WWII we would all be speaking german now. He said that towards the end of WWII he had the planes, munitions, fuel, and pilots but no straight stretch of land long enough to get his planes in the air. Seems like every piece of land had bomb craters all over it. 12/01/2011 @ 21:12 [ref: 50815] |
| Jack St. Lawrence Orlando, FL | Reference the comment by James A. Bremner: there were actually 6 aircraft tested at Ft. Campbell (see the ariel photo on this web site). The photo was taken from one our Mohawks.
At that time, I was a crew chief on a US Army Mohawk at Ft. Campbell and for several weeks, the powers that be ran tests which evidently were intended to compare the Mohawk to the XV-6A as recon aircraft. The Mohawk had a belly camera and the 6 XV-6A's all had cameras mounted in the nose. We would run identical photo recon missions on a daily basis which I can only surmise were intended to test the feasability of using the XV-6A as a recon aircraft. I flew as an observer in the Mohawk on these test flights for the duration of the testing. 11/07/2011 @ 14:08 [ref: 50026] |
| James A. Bremner Oak Harbor, WA | I was assigned to the original Tri Partite Squadron, formed in England in 1964. There were 3 countries involved with the evaluation of the XV6A, The United States, Great Britain, and the Republic of Germany. The American’s were made up of approximately 30 people: 10 U.S. Army, 10 U.S. Navy and 10 U.S. Air Force, all senior ratings.
We spent 1965, putting the aircraft through its paces before splitting up the assets and returning to the United States, in February 1966. We shipped our share of the aircraft, 3 if I recall correctly, to Ft. Campbell and reassembled then for the American Trials. We flew them to Eglin Air Force of a couple of months of operation then left the aircraft in the capable hands of the U.S. Air Force, for additional testing. Eventually, I believe they all would up in various museums. In was a great experience, working with the other Services. I formed some great friendships that continue today. Chuck Massey, see posting above, was also a team member. He was one of the last to leave the project. The XV-6A Tri Partite Evaluation Squadron started of with a stumble. On April Fools Day 1965, with no motion camera or Flight Analyzer, of any kind, trained on it…one of our operational requirements. The first flight wound up as a pile of rubble, on the side of the runway. I have a picture of in that I’ll try to upload. It was not our finest hour. J.A. Bremner USN, Ret. 01/12/2011 @ 17:11 [ref: 35476] |
| ken bell , FL | I too was in B Company that day and was looking out my Tech Supply window and witnessed that beautiful site. Good memories. 10/29/2009 @ 17:28 [ref: 25235] |
| Jack Howard Navarre, FL | I was the Avionics Shop Supervisor for the 101 Airbone at Fort Cambel Ky when the XV6A arrived for the U.S.Army to test and evalate. The only avionics on this aircraft was a M1 compas and one VHF radio. The U.S. Army, Air Force, and Navy tested and evalated three of these aircraft. One of the three aircraft had a hard landing while landing on a aircraft carrier. The Air Force, Army, and Navy decided they were not interested in thes aircraft but the U.S. Mariens were very much intersted. It is amazing how the U.S. Air Force has taken another interest in this aircraft and came up with the F 35 that is currently in production. 02/07/2009 @ 05:21 [ref: 23656] |
| Chuck Massey , TX |
I was at Fort Campbell with the program in 1966, when the incident that Jack told about took place. I was on the program from 1964 RAF WEST RAYHAMN, ENGLAND until 1969 at Edward's AFB, CA. 01/02/2007 @ 10:53 [ref: 15067] |
| Jack St. Lawrence Orlando, FL | In the spring of 1966 I was stationed at Fort Campbell, KY with the 101st Aviation Battalion on Campbell Army Airfield.
We were told to clear out one end of our hanger and shortly after we had accomplished that, large crates started to arrive. In the crates were the first 6 XV-6A aircraft brought to the U.S. for testing. We were given a briefing on the aircraft and shown some films of some of the original prototype testing in England. (Including a horrific crash which killed one of the test pilots) The aircraft were assembled by a tri-service team and test flown using an F-100 Super Sabre as a chase plane. The first Hawker to be tested returned to the airfield after it's test flight was completed. I was in our operations office listening to the control tower radio traffic when the pilot of the XV-6A made contact with the tower and asked for clearance to land on the "B" Company ramp behind our hanger. The tower contoller asked the pilot to please repeat the request. The pilot did so, and the tower controller then asked what type of aircraft was making the request. The pilot replied that he was flying a pure jet and repeated his request. By now, the tower controller was thoroughly confused. After a short delay, he contacted the pilot and said that the runway was clear, the taxiway was clear and the "B" Company ramp was clear and that the pilot could land anywhere he wanted to! I went out behind the hanger and saw my first ever landing by what was to become the Harrier. The pilot brought the aircraft down the runway at about 50 feet, turned into the taxiway and went into a low hover as he approached the ramp area, turned 90 degrees and set it down perfectly. What an unbelievable maneuver to watch! I uploaded some photographs to this site this afternoon which include 3 of the XV-6A's, one of which is the number 2 aircraft now at the Air Force Museum. 10/11/2001 @ 18:26 [ref: 3383] |
Recent photos uploaded by our visitors
