Interesting insight on the YAH-63A

Interesting insight on the YAH-63A

Author
Discussion

MartG

Original Poster:

20,622 posts

203 months

Thursday 26th March 2015
quotequote all
Back in the early 70s the US Army was looking for a new attack helicopter, and of course ended up with the AH-64 Apache.

The competitor for the Apache was the Bell YAH-63 A, and I've just come across an interesting insight into this from former Bell employee Steve Eggers showing how not listening to the customer can have long term effects

"When I worked at Bell, there were a few "old timers" that remember this project. It was a disaster from the beginning. The Army had very specific criteria. The most notable was a Four-Blade rotor system. At the time Bell didn't do anything but two blade rotors. The guy who designed the YAH-63 rotor had a patent on it and stood to make a lot of money if it was chosen. The main blades had a 48" chord. The vibration was terrible to the point of physical illness.

When the aircraft was delivered, the Army asked Bell, "What is this?" Basically, Bell replied that this is your new attack helicopter. The Army responded that this isn't what was on the RFP. BELL told the Army, "You don't know what you want. You don't need four blades."

Well, after the crash of the first flying article and the rush to get what was a stress test article up to flying status, the YAH-63 was never going to go into production. This aircraft is what caused the U.S. Army to never pursue a new program with Bell. That why in the 80s, The Army had Blackhawks and Apaches. The Hueys and Cobras fell victim to attrition. The OH-58 was Bells last product to the Army. Bell offered up the Huey II for the LUH, but they decided to go with the Eurocopter. "

"This helicopter is actually credited, by Bell Helicopter, as the Ugliest Helicopter Ever Built."



"Furthermore, I was able to look at other drawing board designs for AAH. There were better designs, 3 and 4 blade options...and they went with this piece of junk."