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The Fairey Rotodyne was a 1950s British compound gyroplane designed and built by Fairey Aviation and intended for commercial and military applications.〔("Rotodyne, Fairey's Big Convertiplane Nears Completion: A Detailed Description." ) ''Flight'', 9 August 1957, Number 2533 Volume 72, pp. 191–197.〕 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. One prototype was built. Although the Rotodyne was promising in concept and successful in trials, the programme was eventually cancelled. The termination has been attributed to the type failing to attract any commercial orders; this was in part due to concerns over the high levels of rotor tip-jet noise generated inflight. Politics - the development was government funded - had also played a role in the lack of orders, which ultimately doomed the project. ==Design== The Rotodyne had a large, four-bladed rotor and two Napier Eland N.E.L.3 turboprops, one mounted under each of the fixed wings. For takeoff and landing, the rotor was driven by tip-jets. The air was produced by compressors driven through a clutch off the main engines. This was fed through ducting in the leading edge of the wings and up to the rotor head. Each engine supplied air for a pair of opposite rotors; the compressed air was mixed with fuel and burned.〔''Flight'' August 1957, p. 197.〕 As a torqueless rotor system, no anti-torque correction system was required, though propeller pitch was controlled by the rudder pedals for low-speed yaw control. The propellers provided thrust for translational flight while the rotor autorotated. The cockpit controls included a cyclic and collective pitch lever, as in a conventional helicopter.〔Winchester 2005, p. 97.〕 The transition from helicopter to autogiro took place around 60 mph〔 (other sources say 110 knots)〔Gibbings 2004, page 568〕 by extinguishing the tip-jets, and up to half the lift was provided by the wings, enabling higher speed.〔 The rotor blades were a symmetrical aerofoil around a load-bearing spar. The aerofoil was made of steel and light alloy because of centre of gravity concerns. Equally, the spar was formed from a thick machined steel block to the fore and a lighter thinner section formed from folded and riveted steel to the rear. The compressed air was channelled through three steel tubes within the blade.〔''Flight'' August 1957. p. 196.〕 The tip-jet combustion chambers were made from Nimonic 80 with liners made from Nimonic 75. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Fairey Rotodyne」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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