Up, Up and Away - The VTOL/Helicopter GB Inspiration thread.

[GTX]

Hiller plan for a ginormous tip-drive helo to recover spent Saturn V stages in flight (that's a 400 ton pickup.... )

http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1045/1

I like!

[Thiel]

Hiller plan for a ginormous tip-drive helo to recover spent Saturn V stages in flight (that's a 400 ton pickup.... )

http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1045/1

Here be insane people. 
Hats off to anyone who builds it though.

[Mossie]

Wow, I'd seen this before & was impressed enough by the scale of the thing when I just thought it was just as a transport for the Saturn V.  I hadn't realised the intenttion was to intercept the first stage in flight!!!

[Hobbes]

The idea was to intercept the first stage while it's hanging from a parachute. Still an achievement, but it doesn't require a more powerful helicopter than when you pick it up off the ground.

[Weaver]

Can you imagine the weight and size of the parachute pack?  No wonder they didn't go for it: there'd have been no payload left for the lunar module!

[Weaver]

Aw man, PURE whiff fodder courtesy of good old Charles Kaman:

K-16B 1960 = Tilt-wing V/STOL. ChwMAm; two 875-1024hp GE T58-2A propjets; span: 34'0" length: 38'4" v: 247/190/0 ceiling (hover): 2500'. Gross wt: 8900#. Fuselage from Grumman JRF-5 Goose.

From here (good site): http://www.aerofiles.com/_k.html

More here: http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/kaman_k-16.php

Prototype still on display at the New England Air Museum: http://www.airliners.net/search/photo.search?aircraft_genericsearch=Kaman%20K-16

How doable is that?  

[Weaver]

Couple of videos of a cool Russian concept, the Zinker:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=visH458XOT4&NR=1

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gSFdd20XTYk&feature=related

[tigercat]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikorsky_S-72

[Weaver]

The Kamov Ka-34 (that is, the original Ka-34):




More engines than a grand prix race.......

[GTX]

Oh, those crazy Russians...

[Stargazer]

Thanks to you all for this brilliant collection of ideas, especially for all the British concepts, and a special mention to joncarrfarrelly for digging out some Pitcairn projects I wasn't previously aware of.

[CANSO]

The development of this beauty started 8 years before I was born, but she still looks very nice to me. In any case better than I...
The dorsal air intakes are gorgeous?

I find the XV-3 better proportioned than the ultramodern X-3.

See detailed walk around here:
http://www.primeportal.net/hangar/bill_spidle3/xv-3_54-0148/index.php?Page=1

[Stargazer]

The XV-3 was (and still is) a thing of beauty... Same with the XV-1. Or the VZ-4... They sure don't make them like they used to!