First introduced to the market about 64 years ago, Rotodyne was intended as a new public transportation vehicle. Because this plane The fastest way to travel from one city center to another but it didn’t go as expected.

Well, the test with a hybrid aircraft between helicopter and airplane What drove Rotodyne into the abyss?

Essentially, helicopters use engine power to spin the rotor blade, which pushes the air down to create lift.

The tilt of this rotor blade is an important part of what makes the helicopter move in a certain direction, but that’s not how the Rotodyne works. On this plane The large rotor is not driven and is not even connected to the motor.

Instead, as air flows naturally through the rotor blades, ensures that the rotor turns like a pinwheel. This rotation creates the lifting force.

However, the Rotodyne has wings and a twin-turboprop engine, similar to an airplane, but the rotor spins without power during forward flight. It lifts more than half the weight of the aircraft.

This unique design allowed Rotodyne to fly faster and be far more efficient than any helicopter of its time.

Also like any helicopter It could float vertically in the air, take off and land. The reason for this was that there was a small dot of gelatin at the tip of each rotor blade.

Fuel and compressed air supplied by the turboprop engine during takeoff and landing, It was fired to spin the rotor. Once in forward flight, the end jets would close and the rotor would begin to spin freely again.

This aviation wonder from 1959 a revolution in intercity traffic It began to attract worldwide attention for its promise.

In general, intercity air travel increased in the 1950s and 1960s.

But while the plane ride from New York to Boston only took an hour, traveling to and from the airport would almost double that time. One of the solutions at this point was the use of helicopters. So by the 1960s Helicopter airlines in America’s major cities popped up.

However, none of these helicopters were profitable and the Rotodyne project was abandoned. thanks to greatly improved speed and rangeit would make helicopter airlines more profitable. It would also open up a new way of intercity travel by connecting one city center to another.

On the other hand, if a forceless and freely rotating rotor were added to the Rotodyne, it would be possible to fly slower at will, which would mean it would be safer.

So in 1957, Rotodyne took to the skies with the support of the British government. It can carry 40 passengers over a distance of 700 km and could reach speeds of more than 300 kilometers per hour. Furthermore, the aircraft could easily land and take off in an area not much larger than itself.

Ultimately, after 350 successful test flights, this aircraft proved to be safe and practical. However, all of these features that make Rotodyne beneficial are Unfortunately it was nothing compared to the cons.

First of all, the tip jets of this plane made a lot of noise, and this would cause a lot of problems in the middle of the city.

However, there are questions about whether the audience can tolerate this sound. Rotodyne is aware of this problem and continues its development It has reached a capacity of 75 passengers and promises to avoid this noise.

Manufacturers have spent years developing noise canceling technology in tip jets. Although progress took quite some time, the team was in 1960 This reduced the noise by about 15%, but even this was not enough for the Rotdyne to survive to this day.

Because Rotodyne still needs to continue this production. He had to rely on the British government and sufficient financing could not be provided. The reason for this was that the aviation industry in England was in complete chaos in the 1960s.

At that time there were many aircraft manufacturers, but aircraft production was very limited because it depended on government financing.

This problem forced several airlines to gather under one roof and Rotodyne In competition with other helicopter projects He was in the middle of this chaos.

On the other hand, production of this aircraft also slowed due to problems in supplying more powerful engines. Finally, in 1962, the British government faced economic pressure suddenly completely stopped financing this airline.

The result was this half-helicopter, half-plane that once promised to revolutionize intercity travel was placed on the dusty shelves of history.

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