Planemike

One of it's sister ships G-APJJ is on display at Midland Air Museum Baginton (aka Coventry Airport).

Planemike

A30yoyo

Lovely colour record of the 1958 RAeS Annual Garden Party at Charles Hughesdon's home at Dunsborough Park, Ripley. Flight report on
unsborough park | widgeon g-aktw | florence desmond | 1958 | 0785 | Flight Archive

Shane101

HELICOPTER PARTY - British Pathé

Savoia

C16: One should love to have seen some more evidence of this event!

LOZZ: These are wonderful images, bravo! As EricFerret mentioned, the little yellow craft is the Fairey Ultra-Light, some further details here:

The Fairey Ultra-Light was a two-seat helicopter which used a Turbomeca Palouste turbine engine for propulsion. Air from the centrifugal compressor was sent to the blade tips where it was mixed with the same fuel as was supplied to the turbine to create additional thrust using tiny combustion chambers. The project was originally developed to meet a British Army specification for an aerial observation platform and, in September 1956 and again in 1957, was displayed at Farnborough, operating from the back of a standard truck. It demonstrated outstanding capabilities, in particular, a rate of climb of 6.75m/s and a rate of descent in autorotation of 20m/s. Subsequent development included trials with the Royal Navy, operating from the deck of a destroyer, HMS Undaunted, but the project was eventually cancelled in 1959.


Fairley Ultra Light G-APJJ during trials with the Royal Navy


Fairley Ultra Light G-AOUJ being displayed at the 1957 Farnborough Airshow

And another shot of G-APJJ (the craft menioned by Planemike):


Fairey Ultra Light G-APJJ aboard a truck (location unknown). (Photo: The Tony Clarke Collection)

But .. VFR440 was not far off because the Djinn was an earlier contemporary of the Ultra-Light with the two helicopters sharing several similarities:

The SNCASO (Société Nationale des Constructions Aéronautiques du Sud-Ouest or more commonly, Sud-Ouest) Djinn was the world's first production helicopter to make use of the 'cold jet' principle of propulsion.

The term 'cold jet' indicating that compressed air from the gas turbine engine was ducted through channels inside the rotors and expelled through nozzles at their tips without further combustion. The air itself was evidently warm enough to provide a certain measure of blade de-icing, not that one imagines this to have been a priority. As the Djinn did not require a tail rotor, the aircraft was fitted instead with two out-rigger fins and a large central rudder which was situated in the line of residual thrust from the exhaust (noticeable from the 'soot' marks in the first picture below). Unlike the Ultra-Light, the Djinn went into production with a total of 178 units manufactured.


Sud-Ouest Djinn


More Djinn - this unit 'may' have been delivered to the Argentinian Police (still awaiting confrimation of this detail)


The Djinn saw action in the form of utility work across several European nations including France and Switzerland

Shane: Your clip first debuted on the thread on page 10 courtesy of Hofmesiter, but its great to see it again! Additional details about Charles Hughesdon and his rotary garden parties appear on pages 10 and 20 plus a black and white photo from Speechless Two's album on page 65 depicting Charles' party from 1963.

vfr440

Hey S. thx the expansion. An encyclopaedic knowledge indeed Somewhere in the back of my memory is the suspicion that the forerunners to Dollar (BEAS perhaps?) had a couple of these and carried out some crop-spraying trials with them? Maybe wide of the mark there, though

Felice Nuovo Annee ~ VFR

Savoia

VFR: Grazie amico mio, Buon anno!


Sud-Ouest Djinn F-BHOU fitted with spray gear in a field near Wolverhampton c. 1960

Planemike

Fairey Ultra Light G-APJJ aboard a truck (location unknown). (Photo: The Tony Clarke Collection)

An intriguing photograph as much for what is in the background, deH 86B G-ACZP. My guess for location would be either Kidlington or Baginton....a Vigors or Shackleton sales weekend?

On to the Djinns, vfr440 is indeed correct, seven SO-1221 Djinns were registered in the UK, G-AXBX, G-AXFO, G-AXFP, G-AXFR, G-AXFS, G-AXFT & G-AXFU. All were registered to Agricultural Air Services Ltd. with a London address but based at Kidlington. They all arrived from the French register in Spring 1969 departing back to the same register in 1970. Strangely most acquired new marks rather than being restored to their previous marks. I am pretty sure Agricultural Air Services had a very strong link to BEAS (subsiduary company ??).

I also seem to recall other Djinns were used in the UK during the 1960s, as exemplified by Sav's photograph of F-BHOU. All were used for agricultural work so were often noted away from regular airfields.

HNY to all........... Planemike

PS........ Air-Britain : Sud-Ouest SO.1221S Djinn

Savoia

While we are on these little 'ram jet' types I don't suppose (for the sake of posterity) that we should overlook the industry's first 'Kolibri' helicopter.

The SOBEH Foundation (Stichting voor de Ontwikkeling en Bouw van een Experimenteel Hefschroefvliegting) was established in the early 1950's to research and build small ramjet-powered helicopters designed by J. Meyer Drees. The SOBEH-1 helicopter, which flew in 1954, was an open-frame single-seat machine with a skid undercarriage. Two small ramjets were fitted at the tips of the two-blade rotor which embodied an automatic pitch adjustment system. The pilot controlled the machine through a suspended overhead cyclic stick.

The SOBEH-1 was written off through ground resonance, but was succeeded by the SOBEH H-2 (PH-NFT) which was flown in May 1955. The H-2 was an improved version with a large windshield and a tiny strutted tail unit with a small anti-torque tail rotor. It was taken over by Nederlandse Helicopter Industrie N.V. (NHI) which was formed by Aviolanda and Kromhout and based at Rotterdam. There they refined the design into the two-seat NHI-3 (H3) Kolibri.


The Dutch NHI (Nederlandse Helicopter Industrie) Kolibri H3 PH-NHI being test flown near Rotterdam in May 1956


The Kolibri showing its 'subtle' tip jets


All of the early European 'ram jet' helicopters, including the Kolibri, offered spray gear installations


The cockpit arrangement of the H3 Kolibri (Photo: André de Heus)

The photo above is of an example of the Kolibiri which is now housed in the 'Aviodrome' at Lelystad airport in Holland.

And .. courtesy of our friends at British Pathé, a short clip of the Kolibri in action .. being looked upon by a somewhat bemused Prince Bernhard of Holland:

Planemike

Sav.........seems we were both beavering away at the same time !!!

A couple of the NHI H3 Kolibries also made it to the British register, well nearly!! :-
G-APRZ ex PH-ACD (c/n 3009). Returned to Holland and then on the Ecuador.
G-APVB Allocated, ex PH-NIW (c/n 3011). Never registered as the a/c was destroyed 04 June 1959 at St Andrews Fife.
Both a/c were registered to European Helicopters Ltd at Ipswich.

Sav, do you have any idea how many of the machines were built?

Planemike

PS Just checked via Wikipedia, looks like it is eleven. Quite a bit of info available there.

Savoia

Planemike: I was busy scripting my post (above) when yours came in so I didn't see it - otherwise I woud have suspended mine for a time.

Anyway, many thanks for this information. It is great to have the registrations of the 'British Djinns' and to know a little more of what they were up to. Bravo!

How on earth you could make out G-ACZP from that lot I don't know, but well done!


De Havilland Express G-ACZP at Coventry on 12th July 1958

First bought by Jersey Airways in 1934 then onto Railway Air Services (1940), Skytravel (1946), Bowmaker (1948), Lancashire Aircraft Corporation (1951), Silver City Airways (1957) and finally Vivian Hampson Bellamy in 1958.

My late father owned a De Havilland Rapide - flying it solo on one occasion from Stockholm to Casablanca; to visit my mother whom he was courting at the time. He later traded it for a Dove. I remember him saying that the Rapide's radio set was as large as a small set of draws! (The furniture kind).

New Year's greetings indeed!

Savoia

PM: Here's what I can glean:

"The H-3 was assembled at Aviolanda. Subassembly took place at Aviolanda which built the fuselage and at Kromhout which built the engines. Fokker, a subcontractor to NHI, built the rotorblades. Final assembly took place at the newly opened Rotterdam Airport. The initial production run counted ten helicopters of which the first three were used for development, testing and airworthiness tests. The second production run of ten helicopters was undertaken by Aviolanda after Kromhout left the joint venture. This second production run was to be equipped with an uprated ramjet. It is unsure whether the improved ramjet was ever produced."

And ..

"Overall, nine H-3’s were built between 1958 and 1959 by NHI at Rotterdam Airport when Kromhout was still a parent company. After Kromhout left, Aviolanda built another two H-3’s at their Papendrecht plant. The few production models were mainly exported to Israel, Germany, the UK and the Dutch East Indies. A few models stayed in the Netherlands."

So I guess you can take your pick but, it seems around 20 or so.

Must dash .. trying to catch the New Year's Day concert live!

Planemike

Sav.......... Don't get me started on the "86" !!! To me, it was instantly recognisable in that image. Mind you I have to own up, there was only one "four engined Rapide" left in Britain by the late 50s !!

Planemike

Sav........... Away to your concert !!!!

Savoia

Rounding-up our review of tiny 'ram jet' helicopters (prompted by LOZZ's wonderful photographs from Dunsborough House in the late 50's on the previous page) we should also mention the developments across the Atlantic which were taking place at the same time if not slightly before:

The Hiller YH-32 Hornet (company designation HJ-1) was an American ultralight helicopter built by Hiller Aircraft in the early 1950's. It was powered by two Hiller 8RJ2B ramjet engines mounted on the blade tips and which weighed 13lbs each and produced an equivalent of 45 hp delivering a total of 90 hp. Versions of the HJ-1 Hornet were built for the United States Army and the United States Navy in the early 1950's.


Stanley Hiller flies a Hornet testbed in California in 1952 (Photo: John Gutmann)


Stanley Hiller (with a more conventional helicopter prototype) gives his wife, Carolyn, a lesson in hovering in 1946

Another development of the era was the American Helicopter Co. XH-26 Jet Jeep (also known as the XA-8) which was an experimental tip jet helicopter developed in 1951 to meet a United States Army and Air Force (USAF) request for a collapsible and air-droppable observation helicopter.

The XH-26 was constructed of aluminum (except for the aft fuselage which was laminated fiberglass) and possessed a well-glazed, pyramidal-shaped cockpit. When collapsed, its five-by-five foot by fourteen foot container fit on a trailer that could be towed by a military Jeep. If stripped for an air drop the Jet Jeep, which weighed less than 300 pounds, could be assembled by two men in just 20 minutes.


The American Helicopter Co's XH-26 Jet Jeep undergoing flight testing

In my notes further up the page I mentioned the Dutch 'Kolibri' ram-jet helicopter incorrectly citing this as the industry's first Kolibiri and which, upon reflection, was woefully incorrect (my apologies). The industry's first Kolibiri is (I am reasonably confident) the well-known Fletner FL282 which was developed by Anton Fletner in 1940.


The Fletner FL282 Kolibri of the German Luftwaffe during seaborne trials in the early 1940's

The intended roles of FL282 included ferrying items between ships and submarines as well as seaborne and land-based reconnaissance. However, as the war progressed, the Luftwaffe began considering converting the FL282 for battlefield use. The craft originally had accommodation for a single pilot but, a position for an observer was added at the rear of the craft resulting in the B-2 version.

During the Battle of the Bulge a formation of five of Kolibris conducted the world's first helicopter strike against armour. Operating low over the Ardennes Forest they destroyed two American tanks at a loss of two Kolibris. One to a British Spitfire the other to groundfire. Later the B-2 proved useful as an artillery spotting aircraft and in 1945 an observation unit was established comprising of three FL282's and three FA223 (Focke-Achgelis) helicopters.

soggyboxers

Sav,

One of the pilots a couple of courses ahead of me got his wings but never made it through operational training. He got his CPL and spent a few years in Nigeria flying Bell 47Js before returning to fly the Societé Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques du Sud Ouest Djinn, crop spraying. I thought it was with Dollar Helicopters (but it may have been BEAS). They used to have one at the factory in Marseille and one of the technical instructors there told me that it was nicknamed "Le siffleur", presumably because of the sound of the air as it exited the blades.

I last saw one in the Fliegermuseum at Dübendorf airfield when I was visiting Zurich in 2010.

Savoia

Soggy: Great stuff!

There does seem to be a bit of a consensus regarding the Djinn and Dollar/BEAS.

What we know (according to Planemike) is that the UK Djinns were regesterined to Agricultural Air Services (AAS) who were evidently based at Kidlington and which is presumably a close enough association to assume that there may have been a link with BEAS. As Planemike suggested, there was probably a degree of collaboration between AAS and BEAS.

Now .. for some "threading" ..

Soggy has brought-up the fascinating Djinn which we've been looking at on this page and has mentioned that last one he saw was at the “Fliegermuseum” in Dübendorf, Switzerland.

Now it was in Switzerland, on the 3rd March 1955 to be exact, that the Djinn achieved an altitude record of 13,500 ft as follows:

"On 3rd March the French pilot Jean Dabos flying the third prototype of the SNCASO SO. 1221 Djinn F-WGVY (who had arrived in Switzerland with a group of technicians to make high-altitude test flights) made several take-offs and landings from the Kleine Scheidegg.

Flying sos Dabos made a hovering flight above the Mönch (4105 m). That day it was however impossible to make a safe landing so the pilot decided to make just a touch and go. The day after the small two-place helicopter continued the demonstration program and landed with one passenger on the Jungfraujoch. Later Dabos flew to the top of the Mönch where a French flag was fixed in the snow to confirm the success of the flight. Among the eye-witnesses was the famous Swiss Colonel Willy Frei."

[Details courtesy of Markus Herzig]


Sud-Ouest Djinn F-WGVY on the Jungfraujoch in March 1955 (Photo: A. Bazzani courtesy of Markus Herzig)


Sud-Ouest Djinn F-WGVY in front of the 'Sphinx' observatory on the Jungfraujoch at 3'471 m (Photo: Heli-Archive.Ch)

Some more "threading" ..

Now the day before the Djinn F-WGVY reached 13,500 ft in the Swiss Alps .. another piece of rotary-wing history was made, also in Switzerland, this time by a Hiller:

"On March 2 1955 Sepp Bauer, (1918-2000) a Swiss helicopter pioneer, landed a Hiller UH-12B HB-XAH belonging to Air Import SA on the Jungfraujoch (3510 m). That day Bauer landed at first on the Kleine Scheidegg (2100 m) with a passenger. He then contacted the operators of the Jungfrau Railway summit station in order to obtain the wind condition and air temperature. After confirmation that everything was ok, Bauer told the operators to fix a wind flag near the meteo station announcing his intention to make a landing there.

Bauer removed the auxiliary fuel tank to save as much weight as possible and took-off at 14:32 from the Kleine Scheidegg; 20 minutes later he landed without particular problems on the Jungfraujoch at 3520 m, a remarkable event if we think that the helicopter was powered with a 200 hp Franklin engine! After a short conversation with the two operators of the observatory, Bauer took-off and returned to the Kleine Scheidegg where his passenger was anxiously waiting for him."

[Details courtesy of Markus Herzig]


Pilot Sepp Bauer with Hiller UH-12B HB-XAH at Kleine Scheidegg in 1955 (Photo: A. courtesy of Markus Herzig)


Air Import Hiller UH-12B HB-XAH is used to connect the resort of Zermatt which had been cut off after a series of avalanches , with the valley bottom (Photo: Heli-Archive.Ch)

Now .. HB-XAH was the same Hiller filmed by PPRuNer HeliComparator's father as recently showcased on this thread.

Planemike

This photo Air-Britain : G-AXBX was taken at the back of the hangar BEAS used at Kidlington. The tail of one of their Brantlys is visible. My notes show I saw two of the Djinns there in July 1969 ( that was when you could walk around Kidlington at your leisure).



Planemike

ericferret

The current French register lists 13 Djinns.
No idea how often they clean it up but the list says updated till Dec 2012.
So brownie points for a photo of a current Djinn and extra marks for a flying example.
I note there have been a couple for sale in France within the last year.

CharlieOneSix

I certainly remember seeing a Djinn at BEAS - from my various times at Kidlington it was either mid 68 or more likely it was late 70 or very early 71. I also have this vague recollection that Mike Orme was flying it but could well be wrong on that score after all this time.

Edit: thread drift but just had this flashback of a BEAS engineer doing a mag check on a customer's Brantly and suddenly noticing he was almost level with the adjacent hangar roof.......

Savoia

This (rather poor quality) video explains a little about the engineering principle behind the Djinn (and tip-jet driven rotor systems in general).

On the face of it the principle seems sounds and one therefore wonders why this concept wasn't a little more popular but .. I am sure there must be reasons.

vfr440

S, Happy New Year (in English this time LOL)
There will be others who are far more au fait with the limitations of the tip-jet system, but I believe it was noisy, not terribly efficient (ie high fuel consumption) and there were problems sealing the air/gas in it's passage through the M/R hub to the blades. Of course, that may have been in some part due to the limitations of technology and materials for such seals some 60 years ago.

But I'd be interested from an academic point of view if anyone could throw some light on the question - VFR