Farnborough Airshow 1959

[dodger]

Hi,

I came across this while searching,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D1DCyJxHfOo

I was there this year and in 1958 and looking at the film now in one way it's great to see all these latest developments in aviation but sad as to what this country could have done with it but did'nt to it's full potential,

Sounds familiar!

Anyway Enjoy,

Roger.

[Vancouver]

Some marvellous imagery there. Particularly the Gnats and the Rotodyne, why that never succeeded I don't know. When was it that Britain lost its genius for independent innovation?

[Molyned]

Most enjoyable - but keep a hankie close by ready to mop up any tears of nostalgia which might escape.
The Rotodyne was fiendishly noisy with its blade -tip mounted jets and might not have been well received in the urban environment for which it was designed to operate. I last saw a fuselage in a hangar at Cranfield in the late '60s when I was on a course there. They also had a TSR2 fuselage there.
Cheers
Dave M(oly)

[Garry Russell]

The Rotodyne was designed to fly in and out of city centres. with an airliner load. it was far too noisy and city centre airports as such didn't happen then anyways. They may have got the noise down to acceptable levels...for the time...though I doubt it, but that was then and soon it would have far exceeded noise levels of later days.

In addition Westland was working on the Westminster but pulled that when they took on the Rotodyne. Enthusiasm wayned and the project was allowed to fade away as they concentrated of licenced built Anglised helicopters

Personally I think they should have abandoned the civil versiona nd concentrated on a miltary model where noise etc was not a problem in getting the job done. Then, later when further developed into a more efficient and perhaps quieter machine a civil version could have folled then.

The concept was good...and it was very practible even in it's early prototype forms, but there was not really the need for centre to centre travel at the cost of envoirnmental issues.

It was not a failure, a lot was learned from it

Even today, combination helicopters have issues and extra complexity to do a specialst role. In the case of the Rotodyne it was too specialst to be a commercial success...but they should have at least tried to develpe an assult version for the miltary.

The sad thing is that it was a difficult project as so much new ground was broke. They overcame the early problems and made a giant step forwards in the technology of such macines.

Like so many British projects of the time, it was the perfect answer to a question that no one was really asking.

[Garry Russell]

Dave slipped in during my lenghty typing session.......noise and envoironment

[airboatr]

Garry , I'd image it'd be convenient to land downtown , next to all the shops and sidewalk pubs dining ... white table cloth even.

..
..... hang on to your hat though!

By the way , I really like the look of jet AC that build the wing around the engine....

[Garry Russell]

Hi Joe

Wing root engines was the Brit style in the fiftes but there is a problem with that.

It looks neat, but, even the slightest change of engine meanes a complete redesign of the inner wing and wing root, a very time consuming and costly excercise.

[SkippyBing]

Hi Joe

Wing root engines was the Brit style in the fiftes but there is a problem with that.

It looks neat, but, even the slightest change of engine meanes a complete redesign of the inner wing and wing root, a very time consuming and costly excercise.

You also have to make a stronger, i.e. heavier, wing to resist the aerodynamic twisting, Boeing got round this by hanging the engines off the front to stop the twisting. With a lighter wing you can obviously carry more, which is kind of the point of an airliner.
Mind you it'd be interesting seeing them try to shoehorn a Trent into the wing root of a 777!

[airboatr]

I don't care I like them. None of that matters anyway... I like them so that's that..
And
Thanks to some Great chaps (notice the capital "G" there) I can fly one when ever I w I s h .
so there's that too.

[Chris558]

It looks neat, but, even the slightest change of engine meanes a complete redesign of the inner wing and wing root, a very time consuming and costly excercise.

Also, an engine fire could easily burn through the wing/spar, not to mension the adjacent engine.