Early VTOL Aircraft (before 1967)

By Dennis Hawkes

Early vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) aircraft is the subject of this free ebook. Written in 1967 it has been produced in its present electronic form by its author Professor Hawkes in the hope that it will inform and stimulate interest in this exciting topic. The chapters include ones on the autogyro and the true helicopter, the earliest developments and the current (in 1967) developments. Some fixed wing VTOL aircraft that had been developed and flown by then are also considered. Finally some predictions about the future as seen in 1967 are given, some of which came to into being while others failed to develop. The original document was written before the use of computers and now the Internet would provide all of this information very easily but it was thought useful to reproduce the original as a free ebook for the modern reader.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Dennis Hawkes
• Release date: Jun 17, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310244872

Dennis Hawkes

Emeritus Professors Dennis and Freda Hawkes live in Wales, UK and have lectured and jointly led a research team at a university until retirement. They are members of an evangelical church where Dennis was a church leader until retiring and have taught the bible for many years, mostly to students and young professionals. Their experience has led them to offer these resources to help other people to start to read and understand the bible.

Book preview

Early VTOL Aircraft

(before 1967)

Published by Dennis Hawkes at Smashwords

Copyright 2014 Dennis Hawkes

ISBN 9781310244872

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Smashwords Edition, License Notes

Thank you for downloading this ebook. This book remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy from their favourite authorized retailer. Thank you for your support.

Contents

Preface

Chapter 1. Early Beginnings

Chapter 2. The Leap Forward

Chapter 3. The Autogyro

Chapter 4. The Helicopter

Chapter 5. Vertical Take-Off and Landing Aircraft [written in 1967]

Chapter 6. The Future [as seen in late 1967]

Postscript

About the Author

Preface

I was throwing away a document that somehow had survived many years in the back of a bookshelf when my wife who glanced at it suggested I might like to publish it on the Internet instead of just throwing it out. As I read through what I had written over 40 years ago in the late ‘60s I realised that it did contain some information that some aircraft enthusiasts may find interesting. Produced before the use of word processors on a typewriter in Courier font I have now scanned the typed pages and using the OCR app ABBYY FineReader Sprint to produce a Word document for Smashwords. The information and the illustrations (10 x 8 glossy black and white photos) were obtained by writing to magazines and companies including Westland Aircraft, now AgustaWestland, where I used to work. In the text comments in square brackets have been added in this eBook version.

The original title pages were:

‘HELICOPTERS AND VERTICAL TAKE-OFF AND LANDING AIRCRAFT: Their development and the social and technical factors that are likely to influence their future.

This study investigates the history and development of vertical take-off and landing aircraft in particular the helicopter. An attempt has been made to include reference to the social and technical factors which have influenced their development and the study concludes with some thoughts on their future in Britain.’

Like all novices we began with the helicopter (in childhood) but soon saw that it had no future and dropped it. The helicopter does with great labour only what the balloon does without labour, and is no more fitted than the balloon for rapid horizontal flight. If the engine stops it must fall with deathly violence, for it can neither float like the balloon nor glide like the aeroplane. The helicopter is much easier to design than the aeroplane but is worthless when done.

Wilbur Wright 1905.

The aeroplane won't amount to a damn until they get a machine that will act like a humming bird. Go straight up, go forward, go backward, come straight down, and light like a humming bird. It isn't easy. I worked at it once, but got busy with something else. Somebody is going to do it

Thomas A. Edison 1908.

Figure 1. Cover Photo. The Dassault Mirage IIIV evolved from the flying test bed 'Balzac' represents the operational version of the first supersonic VTOL aircraft. The main engine is a Snecma T.F. 306C; hovering during takeoff and landing is made possible by eight RB.162 jet engines. [The first flight was in1965, only 2 were built.]

Chapter 1. Early Beginnings