Fairey Jet Gyrodyne
| Fairey Jet Gyrodyne | |
|---|---|
 Fairey Jet Gyrodyne
|
|
| Type: | Experimental airplane |
| Design country: | |
| Manufacturer: | |
| First flight: |
January 1954 |
| Number of pieces: |
1 |
The Fairey Jet Gyrodyne was an experimental combination aircraft made by the British manufacturer Fairey Aviation Company in the 1950s. The drive consisted of a radial engine that provided propulsion via the two propellers and a hot blade tip drive of the rotor, which enabled vertical take-offs and landings. The Jet Gyrodyne was part of a research contract from the Ministry of Supply (MoS) to obtain data for the structural design of the Fairey Rotodyne, which was then being planned . Gyrodyne is a combination of gyratory (rotating) and aerodyne, a term for aircraft heavier than air , in contrast to aerostats .
construction and development
The Jet Gyrodyne was a modification of the second prototype of the Fairey Gyrodyne aircraft, registered as G-AJJP. The Jet Gyrodyne was specially built to develop the blade tip propulsion and operational procedures for the later Rotodyne . The Jet Gyrodyne uses the fuselage, landing gear, and engine of the FB-1 Gyrodyne. The Alvis Leonides nine-cylinder radial engine was placed in the middle of the fuselage and propelled a pusher propeller at the tip of each stub wing and two Rolls-Royce Merlin motor loaders . The original three-blade pitch hub rotor system was replaced by a two-blade rotor with a cyclic and collective pitch control operated by a swash plate. A tail unit provided the necessary stabilization via the pitch and yaw axes. For take-off, landing and slow flight, the loaders supplied the rotor with compressed air, which was burned in the rotor tips. This torque-free rotor drive does not need a compensating compensation torque. When the airspeed was high enough, the rotor drive was switched off so that the rotor continued to produce lift in autorotation while the propellers produced the necessary thrust. For slow flight and landing, the rotor drive system was restarted to provide hovering ability.
history
After tethered flights at White Waltham, the first free flight took place in January 1954, but a full transition from helicopter to gyroplane flight was not achieved until March 1955 by pilot John N. Dennis. The system tests continued and by September 1956 190 transitions and 140 autorotation landings had been completed. The testing of the on-board rotor drive restart procedure led to several driveless autorotation landings until the method was perfected. The Gyrodyne jet was underpowered and only had fuel for 15 minutes of flight; occasionally additional tanks were carried to increase endurance. The Jet Gyrodyne was decommissioned as soon as ground tests of the Rotodyne rotor drive system began.
Preserved copy
Although it was scheduled to be scrapped in 1961, the Jet Gyrodyne (serial number XD759 later XJ389) was preserved and is now on loan from the Royal Air Force Museum in the Museum of Berkshire Aviation .
Technical specifications
Data from the British Aircraft Directory
- Length: 7.6 m
- Rotor diameter: 15.8 m
- Height: 3.10 m
- Empty weight: 1,600 kg
- Flight mass: 2,200 kg
- Drive: 1 × Alvis Leonides 9-cylinder radial engine with two three-blade pusher propellers
and two superchargers - Top speed: 224 km / h
See also
literature
- Charnov, Dr. Bruce H. The Fairey Rotodyne: An Idea Whose Time Has Come - Again? (Based on Charnov, Dr. Bruce H. From Autogiro to Gyroplane: The Amazing Survival of an Aviation Technology . Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Publishers, 2003. ISBN 978-1-56720-503-9 .) Detailed History .
- Green, William and Gerald Pollinger. The Observer's Book of Aircraft, 1958 edition . London: Fredrick Warne & Co. Ltd., 1958.
- Taylor, HA Fairey Aircraft since 1915 . Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press, 1974. ISBN 0-87021-208-7 .
- Winchester, Jim, ed. "Fairey Rotodyne." Concept Aircraft (The Aviation Factfile). Rochester, Kent, UK: Grange Books plc, 2005. ISBN 1-84013-809-2 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Gyrodyne , in FLIGHT, July 15, 1948, p. 78. ( online )
- ^ "Fairey Gyrodyne". British Aircraft Directory . August 13, 2006. "Fairey Gyrodyne." British Aircraft Directory . Retrieved: August 18, 2006.