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Old 22nd Nov 2002, 16:10
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ShyTorque

Avoid imitations
 
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Wandering the FIR and cyberspace often at highly unsociable times
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Donut King,

Are you thinking of the Piasecki 16H Pathfinder?

That was a compound helicopter, a 5 seater with a 3 bladed main rotor. It had a wing mounted beneath the fuselage and a ducted airscrew in the tail, with vertical vanes to deflect the efflux laterally to counteract torque reaction.

It was flying at up to 170mph in the early 1960s, powered by a 510 hp Pratt & Whitney PT6B-2. There was a proposed twin engined version but I'm afraid my spotter's knowledge finishes here!

I would be interested to hear how this "new" (it's been considered before) design of aircraft gets over the age-old problems of excessive retreating blade stall and advancing blade compressibility at the proposed high speed of 350 kts......
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