Bell Aircraft Company from a Modest Beginning to a Major Aerospace Innovator

Abstract

[Abstract] Larry Bell was born in Mentone, Indiana, the son of a lumber and hardware store owner April 5, 1894. Larry moved with his parents to California. His interest in aviation began when his brother Grover started flying in air shows and Larry became his mechanic. For 20 years Larry held top management positions with the Glenn Martin Company in California and finally with Consolidated Aircraft Company in Buffalo, New York. When Consolidated Aircraft decided to move to California, Larry Bell decided to stay behind as did many of the company’s professional and trained labor force. Bell took advantage of these people and the facilities left behind to form the Bell Aircraft Company on July 10, 1935. The many unique aircraft produced by Bell has filled many pages of history. The rocket efforts of Bell are not so well known however. The first rocket propulsion system of significance was the propulsion for the RASCAL missile. This work was the result of a study contract initiated by the U.S. Army Air Force in 1946. In 1947 the contract for the development of the ASM-A-2 Rascal missile. The engine was designated the XLR67-BA-1 and utilized white fuming nitric acid (WFNA) oxidizer and JP-4 as fuel. The contract was terminated in November 1958 when advanced technology in guidance counter measures made it obsolete. The RASCAL was an externally mounted aerial launched vehicle which utilized a specially designed B47 aircraft as the platform. In the course of the RASCAL lifetime, a B47 squadron was formed for this purpose. The original version of the RASCAL was to be nuclear tipped, however, this warhead was later changed to a high explosive. As the space program evolved, Bell became involved in a number of different ways. One being the Agena propulsion system. The Agena rocket engine’s heritage was from the power plant developed for the Hustler. The Hustler was the first supersonic bomber the B58. It had an armament pod attached beneath the airplane integral with the fuselage. Bell received a contract to develop a rocket power plant to propel the pod to the target. The B58 Powered Disposable Bomb Pod originally was to utilize a high explosive warhead, but this was later changed to a thermal nuclear device. It had a fifty mile range. The power plant produced 15,000 lb. thrust and utilized pump-fed white fuming nitric acid (WFNA) and JP-4 jet fuel propellants. Bell completed Pre-flight Rating Tests (PFRT) when the powered pod was cancelled. The Agena rocket system saw many detailed changes during its ten year life. Starting with the WFNA/JP-4 Hustler with a glow plug starting system to self-igniting inhibited red fuming nitric acid (IRFNA) and unsymmetrical dimethyl hydrozone (NH3). The system proved to be 99.6% reliable and supported as an upper stage many space program missions such as Gemini and Ranger lunar mission, as well as Mariner, to name a few. Early work at the edge of space as in the case of the Bell X1A and the X-2 airplanes focused the need for vehicle attitude control when aerodynamic control surfaces became ineffective. Bell set about designing small hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) thrusters to fulfill this need. The attitude control thruster effort continued to grow with the Dynasour project and the Mercury capsule and Minuteman systems. The lunar landing simulator used by the astronauts developed by Bell utilized the H2O2 attitude control thrusters. The work with