Fairey Rotodyne

[kitnut617]

  The USN just tends to design REALLY, REALLY, BIG ONES as a matter of course

I think that's because the USN tend to land REALLY, REALLY BIG aircraft on them ---- 

[Mossie]

I prefer civil choppers -- don't know why a Rotodyne Firebomber didn't suggest itself to me !?

Snap!   Have a look at my profiles thread from page 3 onwards, there are several civil schemes:
http://www.whatifmodelers.com/index.php/topic,12245.30.html

That picture suggests a drawback of the Rotodyne design for firefighting: the propeller tips would get awfully close to the water.

More clearance than a CL215, Raafif's profile shows an umbilical & that was the plan for mine as well, it's just not in the pic.  It'd make sense to use the Rotodyne in the hover, rather then try & skim.

[raafif]

mice profiles Mossie -- looks like I'll have to spend the $1,000 & get broadband if I don't want to wait 20mins for each page to load 

Why not an amphibious Rotodyne ?  Wing-tips fold down as floats like the Catalina.
    (spot the differences ?)
         and the Navy version ....

[PR19_Kit]

Ahah, that Seadyne would go a long way to solve the 'engine bashing the rear fuselage' problem I mentioned above. Fold the props, add a little dihedral and we're there.

Mind you, it'll end up looking just like a V-22 with a tip-jet rotor on the roof! 

[jcf]

Go for large airfoil cross-section sponsons that contain the landing gear and you can ditch the wingtip floats.

[Stargazer]

Mind you, it'll end up looking just like a V-22 with a tip-jet rotor on the roof! 

Now that's a thought!! 

Mind you, it will end up looking very much like a Groen Bros. design... LOL

[tigercat]

What about a Shorts Skyvan with a Jet Tip Rotor for your smaller Gyrodyne needs including carrier based.

[PR19_Kit]

What about a Shorts Skyvan with a Jet Tip Rotor for your smaller Gyrodyne needs including carrier based.

Heheh, a RotoShed!  

[Mossie]

Found a few bits of info on Secret Projects that seem to relate to Kaman studies on the Rotodyne.

The first one is an artists concept, note the fuselage fairings for the undercarriage, ducted fans & roof mounted intakes (similar to the K-140 below), otherwise it's clearly a Rotodyne.
http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,1084.0.html



Kaman K-140.  Heavier than Rotodyne Z (all up weight for the Z was around 50,000lb), there are some differences in details such as the intakes on the roof (for tip jet gas exchangers?), slightly longer nose, different wing, tail & ramp arrangement.  Difficult to tell but overall dimensions seem slightly larger.
http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,731.msg5794.html#msg5794



Kaman K-141.  Similar to K-140, but with a conventional shaft driven rotor & long boom with twin tail rotors on a V-Tail.  I suspect it was a comparison to the K-140 using understood technology?

[Stargazer]

Very, very interesting. Thanks for sharing! 

[Mossie]

Your welcome!  Those drawings part-answered a question I had, would the Kaman built version have been a straight copy to US specs, or would they have tailored the design to the needs of the US Army.  I don't know if these were actual proposals or just studies, or just how related they were to the Rotodyne but it hints at the latter.

Just a note, I mentioned the Rotodyne Z as 50,000lb all up weight.  This was from a web source (http://www.letletlet-warplanes.com/2008/06/15/the-fairey-rotodyne/), the book on the Fairey Rotodyne by David Gibbings has it as 68,300lb.  Still, it's 14,500lb lighter than the K-140.

[PR19_Kit]

What about a Shorts Skyvan with a Jet Tip Rotor for your smaller Gyrodyne needs including carrier based.

Heheh, a RotoShed!  

Hm, I've just found a part built Skyvan and most of an old Revell undersize 'dyne in The Loft........... 

[Mossie]

The voices whisper... do it, do it....

[raafif]

Are they twin-rotors on the tail of the Kaman-141 ?? ?? why ?

[Maverick]

raafif,

The 'conventional' Kaman aircraft is shaft driven, as such it would require a tail rotor to counteract the force of the main rotor operating just like a normal helo because the shaft is moving instead of the 'normal' Rotodyne rotor freewheeling with the tipjets.

Regards,

Mav