Lockheed’s attack helicopter that almost changed Vietnam - AH-56 Cheyenne 

Bell:"We're making America's first jet fighter." Lockheed:"We're making America's first good jet fighter." Bell: We're making America's first attack helicopter." Lockheed:"We're making America's first good attack helicopter." Bell:" ....Listen here you little shit!"

Bell was building a current generation attack chopper, while Lockheed was already working on the future of attack helicopter. They could have coexisted.

The moment I saw that rotating gunnery chair my mind immediately went to "Greetings, Starfighter..."

McNamara, his impact, cancelling programs he wasn’t invested in, is legendary

Seeing how much the Cobra have changed from it's original design, makes me wonder how the Cheyenne would look today.

I built a Cheyenne model as a youngin' back in 1972 - was crushed to learn the project was cancelled. Amusing that in 1986 I became a Naval Aircrewman - and later did the Maverick missile tests for the Seahawk helicopter.

Nobody seems to have mentioned one of the best reasons for going with the AH-1. It has about 40% parts interchangeability with the UH-1. Really streamlines logistics.

You forgot to mention that the Air Force was exerting HUGE pressure that this was THEIR domain under the Key West Agreement. The Army was effectively barred from creating a fast helicopter again which is one reason the Apache is so slow.

A big part about the cheyenne, was not only the push prop and actual functioning wings, but the special stsbilized rotor blade system. It didnt use a traditional swash plate, it used a system similar to what toy helicopters actually use, with a stabilizing bar on top for a inherently stabilized system gyroscopically.

It was the US Air Force that primarily put a stop to the Cheyenne attack helicopter. The Air Force wanted the skies all to themselves.

Minor correction: AH-64 was started by Hughes. Which was bought by McDonnell Douglas 1984. Which was bought by Boeing 1997.

Having 130 successful missile tests and then your first display test failing is like something out of a movie. I like to imagine a bell employee snuck in and cut a wire.

The AH-64 upgrade that is coming actually brings most of the AH-56 designs to it, minus the belly turret. The reasons for the AH-56 cancellation are superfluous at best.

Behold, the reason Lockheed never built another helicopter 😂 Edit: I didn’t know Lockheed acquired Sikorsky

Lockheed didn't need to build helo's anymore, as with the Griada treaty Skunk works got anti-gravitic technology in 1954.

Lesson learned time-to-time. "There is nothing more permanent, than a temporary solution".

Don't you love when someone change the requirements without giving notive to the other but by some dark way, the opponent knew what would change

this helicopter is awsome! sad thath it got cancelled. one of my favorite helicopter.

"First attack helicopter" The AH-1 litrally flying the same year

The idea that any single weapon system could win the Vietnam War, is to misunderstand the conflict completely.

I saw this copter, not knowing what it was, at Ft Rucker in 2005; impressive, rigid main rotor and pusher prop. By the time it was debuged, I understand it had state of the art avionics and control systems, as well as devastating firepower. Very cool.

Ive seen concepts for a boeing ah64 upgrade package that would turn it into a cheyenne more or less. With bigger wings, and a pusher propeller.

Saw one at Ft. Rucker museum in ft Rucker, Alabama

I've always wondered why the canopie was so large. It has to be 3 feet higher than the gunners head! I bet he could have stood up and not needed to open it.

I love watching the release live!

McNamara was a beancounter and a bully and we all know what means...he would have made the perfect merchant banker

Bell: I ain't taking this humiliation! *makes a helicopter that would be quicker to make* . Lockheed: *surprised pikachu*

The rotating CPG station would get you super sick lol

McNamara probably saw the Huey Cobra as his Ford Falcon being turned in the Mustang, all-over again...!😄

🤔 The AH 56 Cheyenne reminds me a bit of the A-10 Thunderbolt II 🤔

This thing was always 50 years ahead of its time. The Army dropped the ball by cancelling it.

Built the Aurora model kit of this back in the early '70s. Soon after building it...I found the Cheyenne project was canceled. (Cue sad trombone...)

I love your enthusiasm, it encourages my own fascination and wonder.

I think you missed the real problem. The Cheyenne was designed to attack from relatively high altitude in a fast steep dive, then pulling up to high altitude. This would have been safe in Vietnam as the main threat to helicopters was AA guns, which couldn't easily hit at the altitudes they'd have cruised at. Then, the Soviets brought out the SA-7 which would have decimated helicopters at altitude. The only way to avoid the SA-7 would have been going even higher (not feasible for helicopters) or lower, which would have made the high speed less useful as a defence. The Cobra was actually introduced into combat while the Cheyenne was in test.

Thank you,gratefully, for covering this wonderful helicopter.

This premiere was awesome! You earned ur self a sub 👍

One of my personal favorite helicopters (mostly by design) is the Yak-60. Looks like a Chinook, just bigger, though I think the Mil V-12 has it beat in weight.

When I was a undergraduate in mechanical engineering, my professor in my mechanical vibrations class (1979) said this helicopter had vibration problems that could not be corrected. Thus it was cancelled.

You didn't do your due diligence when researching this chopper. The US Air Force exerted a lot of influence to the powers that be to cancel this program since it would take away funds from their Close Air Support program. They argued that since it had functioning wings, the US Army should not be allowed to operate it since fixed wing aircraft are the Air Forces' domain. It's petty and silly but that's how the Air Force operated during the 60's and 70's. Also, it was Hughes Helicopters who produced and won the contract for the original AH-64 Apache until they were acquired by McDonnell Douglas in the early 80's and then MD merged with Boeing in the late 90's.

I grew up in the San Fernando Valley not all that far from the original Lockheed Skunk Works in Burbank. Back in the 1960s the sound track of the San Fernando Valley was sonic booms from jets screaming overhead and the roar of Clay Lacy's purple P-51 "Miss Omni" pylon racer making hot laps of the Valley from its home at Van Nuys Airport. Oh, and the sound of prototypes of the Cheyenne. One of them would fly over our elementary school right at recess time every day like clockwork, and I always noticed. One day I will never forget it pulled a loop right over our school. Even as a 4th grader I "knew" helicopters weren't supposed to pull loops but there it was right before my eyes. One nice clean loop on the way north probably to some test range out by Edwards Air Force Base. What a thrill for a little kid who would as an adult go on to fly helicopters, though nothing that hot.

Can you make a video about the new biggest plane in the world concept built to carry wind turbine blade, the Radia WindRunner?

Just sad that it was cancelled.

Its lookalike ov 10 bronco

Amazing video!

Lockheed....Apple of defense industry One thing i had hear about the cancellation due to the Air Force that didnt like Army took over their job on XAS role. The cancellation would led to the birth of the A 10 Thunderbolt II.

Great mini documentary 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻

The cancellation of the Cheyenne is just another reason why the USAF was a mistake.

Swear first time I saw this helicopter it looked hella cool

I can understand the Army needing a combat helicopter right away thanks to the Vietnam war, but I agree that the Cheyenne should have gone to production and started on the upgrade cycle. It seems more viable as an anti-tank helicopter for Europe; especially if the Soviets felt a yearning to come west.

The development of turboshaft engines was what took helicopters to the next level. The earlier use of piston powered craft was their limiting factor originally.

One is on display at Ft Polk, Louisiana...I was stationed there from 97-02

The Cheyenne's demise is tragic But the Cobra is still iconic

Does anyone notice the nose and canopy is nearly spot on with an OV-10 Bronco?

It looks a lot like that dragonfly aircraft

Obsessed with landing everywhere

what website do you use to make the AI videos??

My Uncle flew Cobras in Vietnam. 👍🏼

Can you make a video about the secret weapons of the Luftwaffe. Like the Fritz X , Hs 293, X4, V1, and V2, etc...

Great video i make lots of model kits of the experimental prototypes and have that kit you show on the desk nice touch! I only wish the old Aurora kit was as detailed as your 3D renderings are! You should make the 3D models available for the flight sim games!

the Bell UH-1D Huey multi mission helo gunship could have done with a twin-engined arrangement . . . for e.g. the 1,623 shp (1,283 kW) General Electric T700-GE-401 turboshaft engines . . . and a 4-blade main rotor instead of the typical 2-blade type . . . the ship borne Bell UH-1Y Venom maritime multi mission helo gunship is a heavily upgraded variant of the good old UH-1D & UH-1H . . .

Seen one of these things on static display at Ft Rucker. Cool as hell, too bad they couldn't have been put into production

how badass this was... to have a rotating gunner seat for an attack helicopter

The ad was smooth.

I was looking into the Apache and don't see any lineage but it sounds an awful lot like this turned into the AH 64. I don't really think we missed out on anything, Bell was right and at the right time when the troops needed it. It was cheap and pretty much ready. Which was key there, and if they had more time and development, who knows. The fact you didn't see it produced later and instead the AH-64 instead, should tell you that whatever the cost it wasn't justified for the trade off and we found better solutions as far as 1975 came around at least. Then again the Cobra kept serving right a long, refit after refit, which is pretty amazing considering. I enjoyed this video and these animations. This looks futuristic even today and I would have liked to seen it work, but I have to trust their reasoning. I know the troops needed it sooner than later. So that was a big W. And the Cobra is flat out awesome.

amazing helicopter video

Defiant X looks very similar to the AH-56 Cheyenne and it also got canceled! Bell helicopter 🚁 wins again! Makes you wonder 🤔

Beautiful Graphics

The "pusher" prop was a constant RPM feathering prop that was reversible (pitch range of the prop blades could be set either positive or negative angle of attack, in stationery hover it was set to 0 degrees) and could be used for deceleration as well as acceleration, During deceleration the prop would function as a sort of regenerative brake extracting energy from forward velocity and dumping it into the main rotor.

The Blackburn Beverly needs some found and explained love

Very epic video

Dude i swear some american tech that looks "Futuristic" are literally old as heck!

3:10 - the tail propeller is working backwards xD

I feel like the program was sort of revived in the sense that it's idea was, ish, i think the V-22 Osprey can revive the idea if they made an attack helicopter variant

please do the 1910 coanda, its the first "jet" biplane that was created before ww1. Would be interesting to do a what if it was successful and managed to be developed during the war.

I saw one of these AH=56 helicopters in the local on post museum at what used to be called Ft Polk, LA, back in the mid 80's. I was serving in the US Army as an LT and recognized it what it was. May have been an example being tested at this post when the program was cancelled in 1972.. Perhaps its still there slowly turning to dust.

More lockweed content please

The AH-1 feels disrespected.

Many years ago there was one on display. Walking around the helicopter it was unbelievable how that they were rejected. Then many years later there was a program about it. It was loaded with errors and overruns that killed the program.

hey, i love your videos for years now! there is one plane i'd like you to look into: the MBB Lampyridae, germany's stealth fighter from the 80's that wasn't to be... would love to see it coming to life with your great renders ;-)

According to military historian Hideo Kojima, a number of AH56 were deployed in Costa Rica, 1974 under a covert CIA operation. Most of them were destroyed or captured by the legendary mercenary, putting the last nail in the coffin for the AH56.

It didn't look badass enough. The most badass looking thing always wins

Never knew there was a pusher prop helicopter back then

As an interesting footnote, I was named after the test pilot that died in this aircraft. Also, I met his father at an airport bar in Kansas City.

Notably, the reason Soviet choppers got "targeted" (shot down in huge numbers) was because the U.S. was slipping so many Stinger man-portable surface-to-air missiles to the Mujahideen that at one point they started using them as anti-vehicle and anti-personnel missiles since they had almost as many of them as they did RPGs. When a HIND flew near a Mujahideen force, it tended to get shot at by multiple Stingers from multiple angles.

Just another example of US military's short-sighted behaviors. Another is focusing primarily on stealth and BVR capabilities and downplaying the necessity of close-range dogfighting via thrust-vectoring technology. Enough said.

I was waiting to see if you'd botch who made the AH-64, and you sure as hell did. The Apache was developed by Hughes Aircraft Company before it was absorbed by McDonnel-Douglas, this was years before Boeing took over M-D.

The AH-56 was created for a war against the Warsaw Pact overrunning Germany. Compared to what the Army needed right now. The AH-1 is still serving with the Marines and being purchased by foreign governments.

For the record McDonnell Douglas developed the AH-64. Boeing did not. Boeing didn't merge with McDonnell Douglas until 1997.

A flying dolphin of death. Looks cool

Thank you for this wonderful video. The helicopter is a great invention and its primary purpose was for rescue and flying ambulance.

I would love to know how the controls worked. In a helicopter you push forward on the cyclic and increase power to move forward. This helicopter moved forward without pitching down. That would have to be a separate control somewhere. Or you would have to make pitch control somewhere else.

Looks like an A-10 and a Cobra had a child

The Peace Sentinel and Militaires Sans Frontières' gunship of choice

I watched the entire video and there are a number of serious discrepancies. First off, when the Army asked for a dedicated attack helicopter there were three contenders. The Cobra was not even one of them. Bell helicopter built the cobra in something like 9 months and had it flying in a year. By 1967 it was in Vietnam. As far as the true competition there were three helicopters up for purchase. The cheyenne, the Apache and the Blackhawk which is seen as a photograph of the S-67 seen at 6 minutes and 32 seconds. There are very very few photographs of this machine and it seems to have disappeared from history so I credit you guys with being able to dig the references on this helicopter up. The bottom line is through research and development the Apache is the only one that survived the culling process. The Cobra was meant as a stop gap until the winning design would have been chosen in approximately 8 to 10 years. The cobras service in the army wound up up lasting 33 years. That's a pretty impressive stop gap. It evolved through the decades and became what the Marines have today, they're viper. Which in my opinion is the most reliable and deadly Battlefield aircraft because it's much simpler in design than the apache. Much easier to maintain. And this is coming from an X cobra pilot. Ultimately the AH-64 won a contract that was started in the mid 1960's and the Army took the first orders in 1984, about 20 years later. Just a "taad" longer than the 8-10 years promised.

One of a principle reasons for cancellation of a project is the support of associated industries of a competitor project. This phrase is the whole history of US military projects.

I think it's time to take a look at the Republic XF-103.

Imagine a KA52 Cheyenne.

If I had a dollar for every video claiming an aircraft should not have been cancelled I could have my own helicopter. The Cheyenne faced as much competition from the A-10 as it did from the Cobra. The problem with the Cheyenne was not just developmental issues and cost, but that fact that it was seen as encroaching into the roles of fixed-wing ground attack aircraft. The Cobra was a genius move by Bell and was so cost-effective that it is still flying today. The A-10 was simpler and less expensive than the Cheyenne, and the 30mm gun gave its proponents room to claim is was the more cost-effective solution to the Fulda Gap problem. The AH-64 that came along later did not overreach and try to take roles and budget away from fixed-wing aircraft, which is why it got the green light.

Can you do a video on Indian military equipments like LCH Prachand or INS Vikranth

2 turbojet engines and a rotor that can be stowed away? Anyone else thinking “AIRWOLF”? Could be a reality since 1984., shame.