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Friday, September 10, 2010

Convertiplane





Here are some images of Glencoe/ITC McDonnell 1/32 scale XV-1 Convertiplane from the late 1950's molds. From Wikipedia "

The McDonnell XV-1 was an experimental compound helicopter, designated as a convertiplane, developed for a joint research program between the United States Air Force and the United States Army to explore technologies to develop an aircraft that could take off and land like a helicopter but fly at faster airspeeds, similar to a conventional airplane. The XV-1 would reach a speed of 200 mph (322 km/h), faster than any previous rotorcraft, but the program was terminated due to the complexity of the technology which gave only a modest gain in performance.

Built mostly from aluminum, the XV-1 fuselage consisted of a streamlined tube mounted on skid landing gear, with a rear-mounted engine and a pusher propeller. It also had high aspect ratio, tapered, stub wings mounted high on the fuselage. In turn, twin tailbooms and twin vertical surfaces, inter-connected by a horizontal stabilizer elevator, were mounted to the wings. A three-bladed main rotor powered by blade tip pressure jets was mounted on top of the fuselage, above the wing roots.

The convertiplane featured a single Continental-built R-975 radial piston engine that powered twin air compressors. The compressors pumped air via ducts to the main rotor for vertical flight, while the engine drove the two-bladed pusher propeller for horizontal flight. During forward flight the main rotor is permitted to autorotate, which provides some additional lift.

The cabin was covered almost entirely with Plexiglas windows providing visibility in all directions, except directly underneath the aircraft. The cockpit consisted of tandem pilot and copilot stations, or the aircraft could accommodate a pilot and three passengers, or a pilot and two stretchers.

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