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Aviation History
1923
1923 - 0125.PDF
MARCH 1, 1923 stopped, and the winch line is secured so that it cannot falldown the mast when the coupling is broken. A light line the tower, where it rests on a portable pad to prevent chafing.is then attached to the ship's half coupling, and the hauling In leaving the mast, the ship is trimmed sufficiently light line completely withdrawn into the ship. to rise as soon as it is released from the mast, the releasingPassengers, baggage, etc., may then pass over a gangway hook is opened and the ship rises, and the mast is again let down from the bow of the ship to the main platform of ready to receive. ft~ - THE DE BOTHEZAT HELICOPTER JUST recently reports have been coming along of severalsuccessful flights of some of the experimental helicopters with which various inventors, in different parts of the world,are attempting to solve the problem of direct lift and hovering. One of these, which appears to be making a certain amount ofprogress towards success, is the de Bothezat. According to our American contemporary Aviation, it accomplished itsfirst free flight at the Headquarters of the Engineering Division at MeCook Field, Dayton, Ohio, on December 18last. The duration of this flight was 1 min. 42 sees., and the altitude reached about 6 ft. The helicopter rose straightfrom the ground, and then was manoeuvred at the will of the pilot, and then descended, landing safely and easily. Themachine was steady during this flight, showing a high degree of stability, and no difficulty was experienced in landing.The flight was witnessed by many Army officials and others. This helicopter was designed by Dr. G. de Bothezat andbuilt, under his personal supervision, by the U.S. Air Service. As may be seen from the accompanying illustrations, thede Bothezat helicopter consists of a cruciform framework, or fuselage, supported on a four-wheel chassis, and havingat the extremity of each arm of the '- body " a large six- bladed lifting screw—or, practically speaking, six liftingplanes arranged radially. These are rotated through a special shaft gearing designed by Dr. de Bothezat by a170 h.p. Le Rhone engine mounted in the centre of the body. The working of this gearing has been quite satisfactory.The total blade area of the lifting screws is 900 sq. ft., and their diameter 25 ft. The total weight of the helicopter is3,600 lbs., including pilot and fuel. This machine was built full size, without preliminary models or tests of any kind,all of the details of the construction being based upon computations made by Dr. de Bothezat and in accordancewith his general theory of helicopter stability. The construction of the helicopter took only eighteenmonths, including the work of designing, building and all adjustments and tests. During its first successful flightit was piloted by Major T. H. Bane, who had been in charge of the Engineering Division while the machine was beingdesigned and built. During further trials, on January 19, it lifted two persons—Major Bane, the pilot, and Art Smith, the well-known civilian pilot—to a height of about 4 ft. In this weight thetotal weight lifted was 3,750 lbs., or 450 lbs. in excess of its designed gross weight. After this test several other flightswere made by Major Bane and Art Smith individually. The maximum height reached was 10 ft. The engine, itmay be noted, was never given full throttle. It is claimed that this machine can travel horizontally as well as vertically,and that it will glide to earth without danger in the event of engine trouble, as the projected area of the blades, whenturning free, slow down the descent to a safe speed. The de Botbezat Helicopter, built by the U.S. Air Service, which recently made several successful flightsat.McCook Field, Dayton. It is fitted with a 170 h.p, Le Rhone engine. -* " ... 125
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