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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 1486.PDF
640 FLIGHT KAMAN'S ROBOT Potentialities of a Remotely Piloted Helicopter THE Raman Aircraft Corporation of Bloomfield, Connecticut,manufacturers of the K.600 helicopter, have developed an experimental radio-controlled version of the machine for military use. The project was initiated in August 1952, when the U.S. Navy placed a contract with Kaman for the development of a remotely controlled helicopter using a combination of the automatic stabilization equipment then being developed by the Navy Bureau of Aeronautics and a guidance system originating in the Office of Naval Research. A radio-control system and electro-mechanical controls were developed, based on those of conventional target drones, but adapted for the helicopter's peculiar flight conditions. In May 1953, the first remote-controlled machine flew, and in September of that year it was demonstrated to the U.S. Navy. At that time the machine was flown with a helicopter pilot at the ground control point, but subsequent work produced a control system by which, in April 1956, a Kaman employee who had never before flown in any kind of aircraft made the robot helicopter take off, manoeuvre and land successfully. Since then all robot flights have been made by men who are not pilots, although a check pHot is required to sit at the helicopter's normal controls for safety reasons. In June 1955, the U.S. Navy and Army placed a joint contract for three remotely-controlled Kaman helicopters for evaluation. At the same time Radio Corporation of America became interested in the possibilities of mounting in the machine the back-pack television camera and transmitter which they had developed for the U.S. Army Signal Corps. The potentialities of this line of development are manifold and significant. The helicopter can be guided from a control station on the ground or in another air- craft, or by what is described as a "memory" system, presumably a programmed control. These three systems can also be used in combination, control being handed over from one to another as required. Special applications which have already been tested include simulated battlefield surveillance, using the television camera and transmitter; the laying of telephone cable; and the transporting and automatic unloading of cargo in inaccessible areas. Still and cine cameras can also be installed to make per- manent records of battle situations. These tactical applications are obviously extremely attractive, but still further developments are possible. The robot helicopter could be used in conjunction with television to seek out target areas and drop smoke-bombs as visual markers for artillery fire. The The K.600 under radio control, with safety pilot aboard. machines could be made to lay smoke-screens to obscure troop movements, or lay and detonate lines of explosives through mine fields, thus clearing a path for troops and vehicles; and yet another adaptation, the company claims, might be the use of robot heli- copters for hunting and destroying enemy tanks and vehicles. Another recent Kaman development is an automatic hovering device which enables a helicopter to maintain position above a fixed point on the ground with no pilot-assistance. On tests with a Kaman HTK-1 equipped with automatic stabilization equip- ment the machine was automatically hovered in a beam of light projected vertically. Horizontal control was by photo-electric cell sensing and vertical control by a sensitive barometric device. At a height of l,OOOft, the helicopter stayed within a 20-ft circle in winds of between 20 and 30 m.p.h. for periods up to 20 minutes. The main practical application foreseen for this development is in ground surveying and topographic mapping; the helicopter, it is considered, could provide an elevated surveying target for long- range work. NEW HEADSET AND OXYGEN MASK AN adjustable, lightweight headset for civil use with normal• or pressure-breathing oxygen mask has been developed by Airmed, Ltd., South Road, Temple Fields, Harlow, Essex, in conjunction with B.O.A.C., and is now in production. Origin- ally projected by Dr. J. Gabb and Mr. A. Lucking : of B.O.A.C., the equipment is already in use by B.O.A.C. Britannia crews. Its design is stated to be more advanced than that of most equivalent military equipment and to have aroused considerable in- terest in the U.S.A.; Doug- las, Lockheed and other American and Canadian companies have ordered or are testing it. Agents for the Western hemisphere are Scott Aviation Corp., Lancaster, New York. The new oxygen-mask toggle-frame headset, as it is termed, consists of a special lightweight, revers- ible set designed to give maximum comfort and sound attenuation. Full adjustment can be made The Airmed headset. quiakly. Permanently attached to the headset is a boom microphone which can be swung into position on either side and is adjustable in length. To the headset can be fitted a toggle frame carrying a standard oxygen mask, with integral microphone and supply tube. The frame can be easily attached to the earphone mountings and, when not in use, hangs on the chest and does not restrict head movement. When required it can be applied and fastened down simply and rapidly to give a pressure seal suitable to the type of mask used. To counteract the forward pull of the mask on the headset a small cloth strap is attached by quick-release fasteners across the back of the head. The toggle frame is so designed that by single-handed opera- tion a full facial seal can be obtained within eight seconds where the toggle frame mask is stowed near the crew member, within five seconds where the mask is worn attached to one side of the headset, and within two seconds when it is worn attached to both sides of the headset. The result is a headset for normal use offering a rapid and comfortable emergency oxygen facility for crews of pressurized civil aircraft. The equipment is not so cumbersome or irksome that airline crews will not willingly wear it on long flights. Preliminary list price for the complete headset, toggle frame and oxygen mask is about £39. "EXECUTIVE" AUTOPILOT A NEW three-axis autopilot for business aircraft, weighingonly 8.5 lb, is now in production by Tactair, Inc., a division of the Aircraft Products Company, Bridgeport, Pennsylvania. This equipment will be placed on the market early in 1957. Development has been in hand for the past three years, and for two years four prototypes of the autopilot, which employs neither motors nor electronic valves, have been flying in Beechcraft Bonanzas.
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