LLTV NASA 952
The Lunar Landing Training Vehicle (LLTV) - sometimes called The Flying Bedstead - was an open framework vehicle which, according to Journal contributor Ed Hengeveld, was equipped with a "turbofan engine which could be throttled to support five-sixths of the weight of the vehicle. Lift for the remaining one-sixth of the LLTV's weight was provided by two hydrogen peroxide lift rockets. These engines were operated by the pilot to simulate the engine that the Lunar Module would use during its descent to the Moon." The LLTV was also equipped with a set of maneuvering thrusters similar to those on the LM so that the pilot could get a seat-of-the-pants feel for flying the LM.
NASA built two copies of an earlier model called the Lunar Landing Research Vehicle (LLRV) and three LLTVs. Three of these five were lost in accidents: one on 6 May 1968 with Neil Armstrong as pilot; one on 8 December 1968 with Joe S. Algranti as pilot; and one on 29 January 1971 with Stuart M. Present as pilot. All three pilots bailed out safely.
After the third accident, only one of the LLTVs remained: NASA 952.
Apollo 12 Commander Pete Conrad commented, "(NASA Administrator) Dr. Gilruth, bless his soul, just worried to death that somebody was going to get bagged in an LLTV. And so, he asked everybody when they came back (from the Moon) 'Do you think it's necessary to fly the LLTV?' And, the feeling that I think Neil had and myself - and I'm quite sure the rest of the guys - was 'Yes, you really should go ahead and fly the LLTV.' But, having had the three accidents and having that one vehicle left, Dr. Gilruth asked the guys to figure out how many flights we got on a vehicle before we crumped one. And it turned out to be like 260 flights or something like that. To finish the training after the third accident, they had to fly 240 more flights; and, so, when Gene (Cernan, the Apollo 17 Commander) flew the last flight in his training, the thing went to the Smithsonian or whatever because nobody was ever going to fly that thing again as far as Gilruth was concerned. And he almost didn't authorize the training, see. And so, at least the early guys pushed very hard for everybody to continue flying it."
As of August 2004, the surviving LLTV was on display in the lobby of Building 2 at NASA's Johnson Space Center. Journal Contributor John Osborn, who took all of the photographs linked below, writes, "The LLTV is suspended from the ceiling, making close-up photography a challenge."
