Hiller ROE-1
| Hiller ROE-1 Rotorcycle | |
|---|---|
 Hiller YROE-1 Rotorcycle in hover. |
|
| Type: | Collapsible micro helicopter |
| Design country: | |
| Manufacturer: |
Hiller Aircraft Corporation United States XROE-1 Licensed Builder : Saunders-Roe Limited United Kingdom YROE-1 and Model G-46 (civil)
|
| First flight: |
January 10, 1957 |
| Commissioning: |
never |
| Production time: | |
| Number of pieces: |
12 |
The Hiller ROE-1 Rotorcycle was a single-seat, collapsible micro-helicopter that was intended to be used for self-rescue of pilots who had crashed or been shot down and as an observation helicopter. Folded he could in a nacelle under the wing of an airplane or on the loading platform of a vehicle to be transported. So it could be dropped with a parachute near the pilot to be rescued or transported to the place of use by simple means and made ready to fly within minutes without tools .
General
The designation ROE was derived from the designation system for aircraft of the US Navy that was valid during the development period , whereby RO stood for small helicopters and E for the manufacturer Hiller Aircraft Corporation . Depending on the stage of development, the designation ROE was prefixed with X for experimental or Y for prototype .
The construction of the collapsible small helicopter is described in the patent specification COLLAPSIBLE AND PORTABLE ROTARY WING AIRCRAFT . The publication was filed on January 17, 1958 by Edward H. Jacobsen and Stanley O. Nelson as agents of Hiller Aircraft Corporation. The patent was granted on April 10, 1962 with the aforementioned patent specification, publication number US3029047 A.
technology
Rotors
The Hiller ROE-1 Rotorcycle was built in a conventional tail rotor configuration . The main and tail rotors were designed as two-bladed rotors. The main rotor was equipped with two control paddles connected via an axis, the functionality of which is described in the HELICOPTER patent . With this, the corresponding patent was granted on September 13, 1949 under the publication number US2482750 A after the patent application had been filed on June 3, 1947 by Stanley Hiller Jr. and Joseph Stuart III. These control paddles stabilized the helicopter by damping the vibrations occurring on the main rotor and amplifying themselves through small control inputs. This damping was achieved when the pilot initially addressed a “servo rotor” (the control paddles) with his control inputs via the swash plate , which, through its deflection, passed these cyclical control impulses on to the main rotor with a small delay. Since not every small control input acted directly on the main rotor, a uniform and lower control sensitivity was achieved, which made the Hiller ROE-1 easy to fly.
- ↑ This type of stabilization is today such a model helicopters used that are not electronically using gyroscopes to stabilize (Flybarless systems) and as fly bar , stabilizer bar , auxiliary rotor plane or English flybar referred.
control
As with other helicopters, it was controlled in a tail rotor configuration. The control stick with which the control inputs for the cyclical steering are carried out was attached directly to the swash plate and was guided from above in front of the pilot's body. The collective lever with which the control inputs for the collective steering are carried out was attached to the left of the pilot's seat. The pedals with which the control inputs for the tail rotor (compensation of the torque ) are carried out were attached to the front strut of the landing gear and were connected to the tail rotor by wire ropes .
Base frame
The base frame was constructed in such a way that the Hiller ROE-1 Rotorcycle could be made ready to fly by simply unfolding the frame parts and inserting a safety bolt. Only the tail boom had to be attached.
The landing gear consisted of three struts that were inserted into tubular shafts attached to the base frame and each secured with a bolt. The front-facing strut was longer than the rear-facing struts, in order to ensure the attachment of the pilot's seat and the pedals required to control the tail rotor.
Behind the pilot was the fuselage that accommodated the drive and the rotor shaft .
The drive shaft for the tail rotor ran through the downward sloping and removable tail boom tube. This was plugged into a corresponding socket on the drive housing via a plug, which was designed in the manner of a gear wheel, in order to achieve a firm connection between the drive shaft and the main drive.
drive
An air-cooled Nelson H-59 four - cylinder two-stroke boxer engine with an output of 30 kW (40 hp ) served as the drive . This was connected to the drive shaft via a centrifugal clutch . Based on initial experience, the more powerful Nelson H-63 four-cylinder two-stroke boxer engine with an output of 32 kW (43 hp) was installed later.
Technical specifications
The following technical data are given for the Hiller ROE-1:
| Parameter | Data ( metric system of measurement ) |
Data ( Anglo-American measurement system ) |
|---|---|---|
| First flight | January 10, 1957 | |
| Manufacturer | Hiller Aircraft Corporation | |
| crew | 1 | |
| drive | Nelson H-59, air-cooled four-cylinder two-stroke engine 30 kW (40 PS) |
40 hp |
| Nelson H-63, air-cooled four-cylinder two-stroke engine 32 kW (43 hp) |
43 hp | |
| width | 5.64 m | 18.5 ft |
| length | 5.64 m | 18.5 ft |
| height | 2.34 m | 92 in |
| Main rotor diameter | 5.64 m | 18.5 ft |
| Tail rotor diameter | 0.91 m | 3 ft |
| Empty mass | 131.5 kg | 290 lbs |
| Max. Takeoff mass | 247.7 kg | 546 lbs |
| payload | 122.5 kg | 270 lbs |
| Top speed | 113 km / h | 70 mph |
| Cruising speed | 84 km / h | 52 mph |
| Rate of climb | 354 m / min | 1160 ft / min |
| Range | 267 km | 166 miles |
| effective range | 48 km | 30 miles |
history
In 1954, the Hiller Aircraft Corporation received an order from the US Navy to design a single-seat, collapsible small helicopter, the
- dropped with a parachute,
- assembled quickly and without tools,
- without aids started
in order to give a shot down or downed pilot the possibility to get over the enemy lines to safety. In addition, this small helicopter should be able to be used as an observation helicopter. The only competitor for this project was the Gyrodyne Company of America Incorporation, which developed the small helicopter with coaxial rotor Gyrodyne RON-1 Rotorcycle (RO for small helicopters and N for the manufacturer Gyrodyne Company of America Incorporation ).
Hiller Aircraft Corporation built two prototypes in their factory in Palo Alto , which the manufacturer called Model 1033 and which were used for various ground and flight tests . The US Navy assigned them the designation XROE-1 Rotorcycle . These were given the numbers 4003 (ground tests) and 4004 (flight tests) by the Bureau of Aeronautics (BuAer) of the US Navy. The first flight of a prototype took place on January 10, 1957.
The English aircraft manufacturer Saunders-Roe Limited built ten additional ROE-1 small helicopters under license . The first flight of these machines took place in October 1959. The first batch of five machines was completed in the spring of 1960, the second in December 1961. Five small helicopters were exported to the USA , where they were subjected to operational testing under the name YROE-1 Rotorcycle . This was from the Ames Research Center of NASA in the Moffett Federal Airfield and the States United Marine Corps at the base Naval Air Station Patuxent River performed. These five small helicopters were given the BuAer numbers 4020 to 4024.
The remaining five small helicopters were sold under the designation Model G-46 via the civil Hiller sales agency in Europe (Helicop-Air).
The Hiller ROE-1 never went into series production because the United States Marine Corps could not accept this small helicopter for military service. This was justified with
- the low top speed,
- the short range,
- the vulnerability to fire with small arms
- the lack of visual reference lines, which can lead to the pilot losing spatial orientation at all altitudes apart from the lowest flight .
Whereabouts
Of the twelve Hiller ROE-1s produced, at least six military machines have survived. Two civilian small helicopters, model G-46, are said to be on display in German and French museums.
Hiller XROE-1
The prototype used for the ground tests (BuAer number 4003) is in the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos (California) , the machine used for the flight tests (BuAer number 4004) is on display at the United States Army Aviation Museum in Fort Rucker.
Hiller YROE-1
The test sample Hiller YROE-1 obtained is located
- in the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos (BuAer number 4020 and 4021)
- at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC , on loan to the Patuxent River Naval Air Museum (BuAer # 4022)
- in private ownership (BuAer number 4024).
Another Hiller YROE-1 is said to be in the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville, Oregon . However, this has not yet been verified.
Model helicopter
Since there are currently no kits for building a Hiller ROE-1 Rotorcycle, Dominique Bauve has produced a true-to-scale (1: 3), flyable and remote-controlled model of this small helicopter. The original construction documents were used as a template. The model helicopter powered by a combustion engine has a rotor diameter of 1.80 meters and a take-off weight of approx. 9 kg.
Hermann Rainer also built an airworthy model of the Hiller ROE-1 Rotorcycle according to the original plans. This model on a scale of approx. 1: 2 has a main rotor diameter of 2.50 meters and a take-off weight of approx. 22 kg. Unlike Dominique Bauve's model, Hermann Rainer's Hiller ROE-1 Rotorcycle is powered by an external rotor electric motor that is powered by a lithium-polymer accumulator consisting of 12 cells connected in series.
See also
Web links
- Hiller ROE-1 Rotorcycle on the Hiller Aviation Museum website ; (en) last accessed on January 25, 2014 (English)
- COLLAPSIBLE AND PORTABLE ROTARY WING AIRCRAFT 3,029,047 in Google Patents ; last accessed on January 25, 2014
- HELICOPTER patent 2,482,750 in Google Patents ; last accessed on January 28, 2014
- Video of the Hiller YROE-1 Rotorcycle on the American Helicopter Society History Committee Facebook page ; last accessed on January 25, 2014
- Pictures of the Hiller YROE-1 Rotorcycle model helicopter at Skynet.be ; last accessed on January 25, 2014 (French)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g Hiller Aviation Museum, Internet article on the Hiller ROE-1 ( Memento of the original from August 14, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; (en) accessed on January 25, 2014
- ↑ a b c d e f g patent specification COLLAPSIBLE AND PORTABLE ROTARY WING AIRCRAFT 3,029,047 at Google Patents ; (en) accessed on January 25, 2014
- ↑ Patent HELICOPTER 2,482,750 to Google Patents ; (en) accessed on January 28, 2014
- ↑ a b National Air and Space Museum, Internet contribution to Hiller ROE-1 ; (en) accessed on January 25, 2014
- ^ Gyrodyne Helicopter Historical Foundation, Internet contribution to the Gyrodyne RON-1 ; accessed on January 26, 2014 (English)
- ↑ Hiller Aviation Museum, Internet list of the whereabouts of the Hiller ROE-1 ( memento of the original from February 2, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. ; accessed on January 25, 2014 (English).
- ^ Rc-heli-action magazine, volume 2014, issue # 2, pp. 64–65, Verlag Wellhausen & Marquardt Mediengesellschaft bR, Hamburg
- ^ Rc-heli-action magazine, volume 2016, issue # 3, pp. 14–19, Verlag Wellhausen & Marquardt Mediengesellschaft bR, Hamburg
