As Ascend Charlie had made reference to a “flip flop tail rotor” on the Huey / Bell 205 in the thread regarding the recent ditching of Bell 204B VH-EQW (though not necessarily related to the ditching), it made me aware of the various Huey tail rotor configurations which I hadn't been aware of before. Rotorheads has at least two threads on this topic, including this one. Info posted on the web and in at least one text book indicates tail rotors rotating aft over the top provide better control authority and require somewhat less power.
It is interesting to see that on the UH-1Y Venom (and AH-1Z with its common drivetrain) Bell has reverted to a “Huey” with tail rotor on left side but now turning aft over the top. Perhaps this is the optimum overall configuration where the tail rotor wake doesn’t impinge on the vertical stabiliser?
Last edited by helispotter; 30th Sep 2023 at 07:03.