Bell has announced that the tilt rotor, hitherto known as the V280 and then FLRAA (with a fine for anyone in Fort Worth who still calls it the V280, as I have been told by a very senior source), has been given the military type designation MV-75 which sounds much better to our ears at RotorHub International. There has been no word so far on the name for the type since the Bell 47 entered service as the H-47 Sioux. The U.S. Army has had a tradition of naming all its vertical lift aircraft after Native American tribes. That said, the only other tilt rotor in the US DoD inventory, the V-22, was dubbed the Osprey, so the question remains open: will the appellation be bird of prey or tribally based? Interesting question. The author argues that Dudoa Tsalagi iyosda (Cherokee is a good name)!
Image: Bellflight
