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Old 2nd Jul 2013, 23:54
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John Eacott
 
Join Date: Aug 1999
Location: Gold Coast, Australia
Age: 75
Posts: 4,378
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Interesting stuff, considering it was a 1950's experimental design. This video certainly demonstrates the capability and also the post war attitudes toward flying: gear activation in the hover being just one instance!

The tip jet noise was horrendous but was being sorted: silencers were under development to reduce tip jet noise to below that generated by the blades themselves, but politics involving the UK aircraft industry in the 1959-60 era consigned many a promising company and project to the scrap heap. Rotodyne was just one of them which (if fully developed) had the potential to change the course of rotorcraft operations.



Flight magazine had a 1957 article which is also worth reading: remember, this was 56 years ago in answer to a Fairey proposal in 1946 followed by a BEA specification issued in 1951. What amazing foresight and vision, if only we had the like of that in these risk averse times
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