Fairey Rotodyne

Wallpaper Description:

The Fairey Rotodyne was a 1950s British compound gyroplane designed and built by Fairey Aviation and intended for commercial and military applications.

A development of the earlier Gyrodyne which had established a world helicopter speed record, the Rotodyne featured a tip-jet-powered rotor that burned a mixture of fuel and compressed air bled from two wing-mounted Napier Eland turboprops.

The rotor was driven for vertical takeoffs, landings and hovering, as well as low-speed translational flight, and autorotated during cruise flight with all engine power applied to two propellers.

Although promising in concept and successful in trials, the Rotodyne program was eventually cancelled when a combination of politics and lack of commercial orders arising from concerns over high levels of rotor tip-jet noise doomed the project.

General characteristics

Crew: two
Capacity: 40 passengers
Length: 58 ft 8 in (17.88 m)
Wingspan: 46 ft 6 in (14.17 m)
Height: 22 ft 2 in (6.76 m)
Wing area: 475 sq ft (44.1 m2)
Gross weight: 33,000 lb (14,969 kg)
Powerplant: 2 × Napier Eland N.El.7 turboprops, 2,800 shp (2,100 kW) each
Powerplant: 4 × rotor tip jet burning compressed air/fuel , 1,000 lbf (4.4 kN) thrust each
Main rotor diameter: 4× 90 ft 0 in (27.43 m)
Main rotor area: 6,362 sq ft (591.0 m2)

Performance

Maximum speed: 190.9 mph (307 km/h; 166 kn) (speed record)
Cruise speed: 185 mph (161 kn; 298 km/h)
Range: 450 mi (391 nmi; 724 km)