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Pterodactyl was the name given to a series of experimental tailless aircraft designs developed by Geoffrey T. R. Hill in the 1920s and early 1930s. Named after the genus Pterodactylus, a well-known type of Pterosaur commonly known as the pterodactyl, all but the first were produced by Westland Aircraft Ltd after Hill joined them. ==History== Captain G.T.R. Hill designed the Pterodactyl in an attempt to develop a safer aircraft: many pilots lost their lives when their craft stalled, went into a spin and flew into the ground, and Hill wanted to develop a design which was resistant to stalling and spinning. His investigations resulted in a tailless type with swept wings in the form of a blunt arrow head. The designs were credited as being inspired by observation of seagulls. Helped by his wife, he constructed a prototype which was flown as a glider in 1926. The machine was later fitted with a 35 h.p. Bristol Cherub engine and taken to Farnborough, where it was demonstrated to the Secretary of State for Air, Sir Samuel Hoare. All subsequent examples were funded under Air Ministry contract and built by Westland Aircraft, who took on Hill for this purpose. The first Westland-built type, the Pterodactyl I, was built to Air Ministry Specification 23/26. It took the form of a braced shoulder-wing monoplane with fully moving wingtips and single pusher propellor. If both tips were moved in the same way they functioned as elevators, in opposite ways then as ailerons. It was designated the Mk. IA or IB according to which engine was fitted. It and subsequent models flew initially from RAF Andover, the Mk. IA flying in 1928. The Mks II and III failed to gain Ministry acceptance.〔 The next model to be built was a three-seat cabin monoplane to Ministry Specification 16/29, in which the all-moving tips were replaced by conventional ailerons. An unusual feature was the use of variable wing sweep to provide longitudinal trim. Designated the Mk. IV, it first flew in 1931. The final Westland-built variant, the Mk. V, flew the next year, in 1932. Built to Ministry specification F.3/32, it was a two-seat fighter powered by a 600 h.p. Rolls-Royce Goshawk engine and differing noticeably from the previous versions in having a sesquiplane lower wing and tractor propeller. The lower wing was unswept and of short span, and braced to the upper wing. The forward propeller position, together with the tailless wing configuration, gave the rear gun turret an outstanding field of fire. Despite its performance and flyability in other respects rivalling its conventional competitor the Hawker Hart it was not accepted for production. Associated with the Mk. V was a complementary Mk. VI design for a pusher variant with front-mounted gun turret, and the intention was to fly a mixed squadron with front-firing machines leading and rear-firing machines behind, but the Pterodactyl programme was cancelled before any order for the Mk, VI had been received.〔 At the time of cancellation, wind tunnel models of a Mk. VII four-engined reconnaissance seaplane had been tested, and a proposal for a Mk. VIII transatlantic airliner was being worked on. After World War II, Hill helped develop the similar NRC tailless glider in Canada. Returning to England, he developed the aero-isoclinic wing and helped Short Brothers develop the Short SB.1 and SB.4 tailless swept-wing test aircraft. 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「Westland-Hill Pterodactyl」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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