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Aviation History
1964
1964 - 1534.PDF
RIGHT international, 21 May 1964 845 Hawker Siddeley P.I 127 VTOL AIRCRAFT 1964 SURVEY COMPILED BY JAME8 HAY STEVENS AS the practical helicopter completes its first quarter-century it is possible to see an apparent parallel with the aeroplane's development over a similar period. In both cases cruising speeds fairly soon reached 100 m.p.h., but then remained there while loads increased from a handful to some three-dozen passengers. Then there came a performance jump to 150 m.p.h., which the new helicopters are also now making, without sacrificing payload. Two hundred miles an hour (brought by the low-wing monoplane with retractable undercarriage) is now in sight with the latest free-turbine helicopters with autostabilization and off-loaded rotors. Rotor drag would seem to be the factor restricting further rises in speed and payload range. From here on the VTOL aeroplane becomes the more efficient vehicle. But who can say whether the tilt-wing or the tilt-propeller (with or without ducts) will prevail in the medium-performance bracket? Or at high speed, will it be direct jet lift (supplementary lift jets, deflected or tilted thrust), or fan lift, or induced lift? The technology is here, the different compromises between weight, bulk, complexity and fuel consumption are many—and there are nearly as many proponents. In these pages we describe all major VTOL aircraft of which details are known. GREAT BRITAIN Beagle Aircraft Ltd 75 Victoria Street, London SW1 Beagle WA.116 This one-man autogyro, based on the Bensen Gyro-Copter, was largely redesigned by Wg Cdr K. H. Wallis, who was determined to achieve a stable aircraft which could be flown "hands and feet off," with an unstallable rotor and handling characteristics akin to those of an aeroplane. The effectiveness of this develop- ment has been proved by fixed-wing pilots, who have flown solo without even a prelim- inary ground taxi run. The Wallis proto- type G-ARRT was taken over by Beagle Aircraft and the hand-made structure engineered for factory production. Control is by conventional aeroplane- type stick and rudder pedals, there being no torque to overcome, since the rotor rotates freely in flight. The 72 h.p. Enfield/ McCulloch flat-four engine drives a fixed- pitch pusher propeller and is also used to spin-up the rotor through a flexible drive. The airframe is made mainly of light-alloy tubing, with wooden rotor blades and fabric- covered fin and rudder surfaces. The tri- cycle undercarriage has brakes on all three of the identical wheels to hold full engine
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