Radi(c)al Thinking

The early helicopter and radial piston engine were a meeting of minds. Unlike airplanes of the time, which required a crank-shaft lying prone driving a propeller, helicopters would need a drive-shaft in the perpendicular and the pancake outline of the radial engine was ideal for laying flat on the floor as can be seen here on the left in one of the earliest helicopters in the shape of the Bristol Sycamore; in fact it could be argued that the radial engine was a better fit in helicopters than in fixed-wing aircraft.

Nonetheless pitched around the centre of gravity it clearly occupied much of the space that might be given over instead to payload, and as a solution to this problem in another early helicopter in the form of the Wessex Whirlwind it occupied the nose instead, from where its drive-shaft passed between the two crew: with the benefit it took up less space altogether. And though it would add a deal of weight forward, this would be compensated by the rearward extension of that area given over to payload in the form of additional crew or passengers.

Looking at each installation however ~ and notwithstanding the gear-box at the top end beside a complex rotor-head and tail-rotor assembly ~ one can see how simple an electrical multi-copter is instead. Given an analogy I would say it is like comparing the movement of a conventional watch with the quartz oscillator and battery that more or less replaced it, except among those who wear unnecessarily complex watches by way of an investment or fashion statement.

Perhaps this is the fate of the conventional helicopter?

Ring a Bell?

Used as a child to watch these things crop-spraying and making death-defying turns at either end of the field at tree-top height... Bell's inimitable 47. The plexiglass bubble that became its 'signature' was an early addition, at suggestion of someone familiar with the relatively recent introduction of plexiglas.

South Yorkshire Aircraft museum.

Kit's Buhel

What is most remarkable about this footage is that unless otherwise enlightened we nowadays take it for granted, as with every other aerial shot featured in films or on TV.

From the outset aerial video was seen as a 'killer app' for drones that might otherwise serve few purposes beyond entertaining RC modellers traditionally viewed as geeky ~ whereas nowadays dramas and documentaries are regarded as incomplete without a sequence shot from above interwoven with those from ground-level.

And in the way that this has snuck upon us largely unnoticed over the past ten years or so, drones large enough to carry people are likely to reiterate the same evolutionary path.

Or will do if I have my way.

VFS

For some people it stands for Visa Facilitation Service but for cognoscenti it's for the Vertical Flight Society and their database of practically six hundred separate projects around the world connected to electrical means of vertical flight. Between us we've called this latest outline the Mark V if only because I don't see another any time soon, what with it having ticked all my boxes the hard way.

It is actually listed as the Mark V (scale) as I don't want a proliferation of marques that would only confuse the public, if they not already confused enough by a dazzling array of projects worldwide. Once scaled up to adult proportions it will therefore be called the Mark V (beta) and thereafter and in fully-fledged form, simply the Mark V.

On one hand it's a naming convention I wish I'd thought of sooner, but on the other the V and IV marques of Spitfire were supposedly the best... so who's complaining?

https://evtol.news/teledrone-mark-v-scale

Gone Fishin'

As part of a crowdfunding campaign in 2022 set to enlarge the prototype to include an adult, the blog continues at medium.com where development to date is recounted, commencing here:

https://medium.com/@colinhilton

Walter G. Sonneborn

A benefit of having taken part in the GoFly Challenge is having been teamed up with a pair of mentors, one in the US Army (with whom I've lost touch and regretfully did not get to meet due circumstances largely beyond our control) and another in the form of Walter: who invariably replies to emails with an informative and informed response. 

He is of that generation having the time of day for people, and which we are sadly set to hear less from as our lives move inexorably online:

https://vertipedia.vtol.org/biographies/getBiography/biographyID/371

As regards our most recent test-flight too, here's what he had to say: Congratulations on a very nice video, showing excellent controllability and performance.

What I call a qualified opinion.

Happy Holidays, Walt.

Creative Vacuum

How many of those in the worlds of SPACs and flying taxis have to break off to get the vacuum working again?

Globalisation's the reason we're going to hell in a handcart, as it's as cheap to buy one assembled in China as it is to replace a motor from Germany. Miele's have made it symmetrically so, at £169 in each event.

And as a further effort to replace the fish in the sea with plastic, they've two more means: assembly with screws that nobody has a driver for, and snap-fit parts which work best in one direction only.

Happy ending though, only a blocked impeller. If you build drones, you can do a Miele!

The link I shall send to Miele UK themselves, who'll be sucking lemons come Monday.