Graviman.....Of course Sikorsky/Schewizer are pursuing a very useful and potentially valuable course and no way would I suggest they should have compromised the design.
What they have is a fine Compound Helicopter ,in the traditions of the Piasecki 16H,Lockheed Cheyenne and similar high speed designs with pusher airscrews ,some of which went faster than contemporary helicopters of the same period but still could not qualify for the absolute title as " The World's Fastest Helicopter" .
Compound is what it means..a mix of powered rotary wing and aeroplane ,unlike the autogyro which is a mix of unpowered rotary wing and powered aeroplane .Further the FAI has a category for Compounds although I admit it isn't published on their website but ....I recall the Rotodyne set up a closed circuit record for compound helicopters in the late fifties so it must exist.
Finally what we are talking about here is not about anyone gaining anything but accuracy and getting things right instead of dumming down technological and historical progress. .
Last edited by heli1; 23rd Aug 2010 at 13:49.
Reason: addition