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Aviation History
1957
1957 - 0913.PDF
5 July 1957 17 These views of the cockpit show the dual controls, central instrument panel and simplicity of layout. Note the ample width for comfort and freedom of movement. i over the Solent ioreshore near Caishot. The ighfs" Gemini can move in close for photography. negligible torque, and after a tail rotor failure the machine should descend without any particular change of direction. In earlier articles on handling helicopters we have gone into the whys and wherefores, and described training and practice manoeuvres. The Skeeter will, of course, taxi and do running take-offs, but we did not bother with such things on this occasion. The chief pleasure of the flights, and one of my main impressions of them, arose from the Skeeter's utility. For the first time, I felt that here was a machine sufficiently compact, simple, conven- tionally manoeuvrable and comfortable to challenge the light fixed- wing machine on even terms. Of course it can offer a lot more in some respects, while on the other hand it is still considerably slower in cruising flight. But if the price can in time be brought within bounds, this is a type of aircraft I could use and appreciate week-by-week. Hitherto, like most other people, I have tended to regard rotorplanes as interesting experiments with some unique and important local applications. In spite of its small size and the need to keep weight to a minimum, the Skeeter appears strong and durable; it offers adequate comfort, and there is nothing home-made or experi- mental about its finish. The cockpit is quiet in flight as heli- copters go, and the days of vibration and shake seem happily to have passed. The Skeeter can be equipped with a rocket booster system— the work of Napiers—which uses as fuel high test peroxide stored in a tank on top of the rotor hub. The booster system was not fitted to the aircraft when I flew it but the booster control panel is seen mounted above the instrument panel in a picture on the right. The blade tip boosters do not increase rotor speed but provide a great deal more lift and there is a very marked effect on performance. For example, sea level climb goes up from 1,020 to l,800ft/min on this aircraft and the vertical rate of climb at sea level goes from 230ft/min to l,100ft/min. Wave flecks like a snowstorm on the return flight over Southampton Water. In addition to about a dozen prototype and development aircraft—the earliest being buUtby the Cierva company—Saunders-Roe have production contracts to deliver various marks of Skeeter to the RiA.F., the British Army and the West German Air Force. The Germanorder is for ten machines; the size of the British order may not be quoted.
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