U.S. to sell 17 Ospreys for GSDF (Japan)

Japan Times ^ | May 7, 2015 | JIJI, Kyodo

[BwanaNdege]

Wiki is a quick & concise source, at times, for info.

The original Bel 206A (Jet Ranger) had an Allison 250C-18 engine with about 250 hp, IIRC. The transmission was rated at about 317 hp (actually, the torque associated with that HP and RPM.

Bell did incremental upgrades over the years, going to the C-20B engine for a long time. The licensed Agusta in Italy to manufacture them. I put about 600 hours on an Agusta-Bell 206A, which had been upgraded with the C-20B engine, flying around East Africa. My two main home fields were at 5,500 ft and 6,620 ft elevation. I flew full loads into landing sites at 10,500 ft elevation... then waited around until almost dark so that it cooled off enough to manage a sliding take-off.

Bell customers wanted more room, so Bell stretched the 206 to add 2 rear facing seats. This had the JetRanger III engine/transmission and was designated the 206L LongRanger. Upgrades in engine & transmission eventually led to the 207 with its 4 blade rotorhead.

I first flew the JetRanger in the TH-57A Sea Ranger version as a USMC 1st Lt at flight school in Pensacola, FL in 1973.

If you are not happy with wikipedia, try this:

http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/bell_206_longranger.php

[q_an_a]

That’s fine... great data, I did work with Bell in 94-96 the engineers and sales people had been doing plenty with Ranger for the 20 years from your flight school till the 407 was introduced. If the 407 was not new and different why did they sell 12 in the intro weekend and had a years production at the end of a month? (BTW according to sales mgt the most they ever sold at a single event was 4 rangers) Why didn’t they just call it Ranger 95 or Ranger 2000? The answer according to the sales people was it was not a ranger it was better.

[q_an_a]

BTW if you read further down on wiki you see that the design was different Now your point is like saying that a car at Ford using a similar chaise to antoerh car is the same thing...NOT.
The 407’s fuselage is 8 inches (18 cm) wider, increasing internal cabin space, and includes main cabin windows that are 35% larger. The more powerful Rolls-Royce/Allison 250-C47 turboshaft allows an increase in Maximum Takeoff Weight and improves performance at hotter temperatures and/or higher altitudes.[2] The 407’s airframe is generally similar to the LongRanger, but includes a carbon fiber composite tailboom