Bell 30

Bell 30
Type:	Experimental helicopter
Design country:	United States
Manufacturer:	Bell Aircraft Corporation
First flight:	December 29, 1942 (tethered flight at a height of 1.50 m), June 26, 1943 (first free flight)
Number of pieces:	3

Bell Model 30 Ship 1A at the Smithsonian

The Bell Model 30 was an experimental - Helicopter manufacturer's Bell Aircraft from the 1940s.

history

The Bell 30 was developed and built in 1941/42 after Larry Bell saw a helicopter flight model by the American inventor and helicopter pioneer Arthur M. Young . Within six months, Young, who had joined Bell in November 1941, designed and built the Bell 30 helicopter, known as Ship 1 , with many problems only through trial and errorcould be solved. Young is also considered to be the inventor of the stabilization bar (also known as the flybar), which is characteristic of many subsequent bell patterns and is arranged below the two-blade main rotor, which is intended to reduce the sensitivity to cross winds and thus the workload of the pilot by stabilizing the rotor plane.

The first of three prototypes (Ship 1) with the approval NX-41867 flew tethered for the first time on December 29, 1942. After an accident in January 1943, Ship 1 was rebuilt and had its first free flight on June 26, 1943. By July 1943, speeds over 100 km / h (70 mph) were reached. According to other sources, it was only afterwards that the machine was seriously damaged during a landing and was rebuilt as Ship 1A with a higher-mounted tail rotor and improved landing gear. The second prototype (Ship 2, NX-41868) received a two-seater closed cockpit. In 1944, the first public screening was announced in a newspaper (Buffalo Sunday News) and carried out at Buffalo Stadium in July 1944. At the beginning of 1945, work began on Ship 3, which was given a four-wheel landing gear, a modified hull shape and initially an open cockpit with a better view vertically downwards. Later a fully glazed pulpit was used for the first time. Ship 3 first flew on April 20, 1945 and was the direct predecessor of the Bell 47 , which had its maiden flight on December 8, 1945.

construction

The construction of the rotor had already been developed and implemented with the main and tail rotor - as is usual with today's modern helicopters . The fuselage was designed in two parts, with the front part consisting of two plywood longitudinal members that carried the cabin and the engine. The stern was a magnesium alloy half-shell construction .

In Ship 1 and 2, the undercarriage consisted of two single-wheeled booms pointing diagonally forward and a single wheel attached to a strut in the stern area. The rotor blades were made of glued spruce and balsa wood (according to other sources it was solid wood) with a metal insert in the front edge of the profile. The used as a drive six-cylinder - Franklin - Boxer engine was installed vertically, driving the rotor about a 1: 9 squat planetary gear on. The engine was forcibly cooled by a fan that sucked in the cooling air in the nose and blew it out again through openings on both sides of the fuselage.

Whereabouts

The rebuilt first prototype (Ship 1A) is on display in a late construction at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum .

Technical specifications

Parameter	Data
Main rotor diameter	10.06 m
Tail rotor diameter	1.52 m
Main rotor area	79.46 m²
Engine	a Franklin six-cylinder boxer engine with 160 hp (119 kW)

literature

• Alain J. Pelletier: Bell Aircraft since 1935 , Putnam Aeronautical Books, 1992, ISBN 0-85177-851-8 , pp. 55-58
• David & Charles (Eds.): Jane's All The World's Aircraft - 1945-46 , Sampson Low, Marston & Company Ltd., London, 1946. Reprinted 1970, pp. 208c f.

Web links

Commons : Bell 30  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Bell model 30

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} Pelletier, 1992, p. 57
2. ↑ Photos and a short historical outline
3. ↑ Ship 1A at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
4. ↑ AERO issue 24, page 668