Fairey Aviation Co: Rotodyne

1954.

December 1957.

1959.

Helicopter Museum, Somerset, 2018. Rotor blade with tip jet, used in ground trials

Rotor blade used in ground trials. Note manifold to connect with three air supply pipes in blade

Outboard end of rotor arm used in flight

Inboard end of rotor arm used in flight. Note roller bearings

Inboard end of rotor arm used in flight. Note chamfer at entry to large hole, which contacts....

... one of the spherically seated air connections seen between the trunnions of the hubs

A flight blade removed with a cutting torch

A tip jet. Sitting in section of fuselage

Drawing of tip jet

Rotor head pylon. Note the two curved ducts taking air from the compressor to the hub

Note: This is a sub-section of Fairey Aviation Co.

Rotodyne

A large compound gyroplane intended for commercial and military applications in the 1950s and early 1960s.

For vertical take-off and landing and transition to forward flight, the rotor blades were driven round by jets on the tips. With this arrangement there was no torque reaction, so there was no need for a tail rotor or contra-rotating blades. The jets were fed with air from the compressors by pipes passing through the blades, to be mixed with fuel (kerosene) and ignited. In normal flight the rotors were unpowered, and 'windmilled'.

Fairey had been developing the concept for the Fairey Jet Gyrodyne (first flight January 1954) and the Fairey Ultra-light Helicopter (first flight August 1955).

The Rotodyne had two Napier Eland engines, each rated at 2800 SHP. These drove controllable pitch propellors in normal flight. To drive the rotors for take-off and landing, each engine drove a compressor via a clutch (fluid coupling), and each compressor supplied air to one pair of tip jets. By using tip jets, 7000 HP was available for take-off and landing, without the weight and complexity of engine-driven rotor blades.. Clearly there was a penalty in fuel consumption, but this mode was only used for short periods during take-off and landing.

First flew in November 1957, and subsequently widely demonstrated in Britain and Europe.

1959 Established world speed record for 'convertiplanes', at 307 km/hr (190.0 mph).

1962 Project abandoned for a variety of reasons, including politics and government funding cuts. There was also the problem of excessive noise, although developments were underway to reduce this.

Only one Rotodyne was built, and it was scrapped following cancellation of the programme. Fortunately some components were saved, and these are on display at the Helicopter Museum in Somerset. The surviving items are: the rotor head pylon; parts of blades; section of cabin; one of the Napier Eland engines; two wind tunnel models; a ground test rig blade. See photos.

For comprehensive information, see Wikipedia entry.

See Also

Loading...