Oddball, Experimental, or One-off

[red750]

The Loire-Nieuport 10 was a 1930s French prototype long-range maritime reconnaissance and combat floatplane produced by Loire-Nieuport, a joint venture between Loire Aviation and Nieuport-Delage. It was an attempt to answer the requirements for the Navy's programme Hydravion éclaireur de combat ("Combat reconnaissance seaplane") for a large floatplane capable of acting as a torpedo bomber or reconnaissance aircraft.

 

Design of the Loire-Nieuport 10 started in 1937, with the resultant aircraft being a twin-engined monoplane of all-metal stressed-skin construction with inverted gull (or W-shaped) wings. It was powered by two Gnome-Rhône 14N radial engines mounted above the wings, with the twin large floats on pylons under the wing, directly beneath the engines. The deep fuselage accommodated a crew of six, with pilot and co-pilot seated in tandem, while a glazed nose was provided for the bomb-aimer/navigator. Defensive armament was a machine gun in the nose, with another firing through a ventral hatch, and a 20 mm cannon in a dorsal turret, while it could carry two torpedoes or 1,200 kg (2,700 lb) of bombs in an internal bomb-bay.

 

[red750]

The Curtiss XF15C-1 is a mixed-propulsion fighter prototype of the 1940s. It was among a number of similar designs ordered by the US Navy before pure-jet aircraft had demonstrated their ability to operate from carriers and the mixed-propulsion designs were abandoned. Only three prototypes were constructed, the first one having crashed in testing while the second was scrapped and the last survives to this day.

 

By the late 1940s, the United States Navy was interested in the mixed-power concept for its shipborne fighters. Jet engines of that era had very slow throttle response, which presented a safety concern in the case of a missed approach on an aircraft carrier as the aircraft might not be able to throttle up quickly enough to keep flying after leaving the end of the deck. This led to orders for a number of mixed-propulsion fighters, including the FR Fireball.

 

As such, an order was placed with Curtiss on 7 April 1944 for delivery of three mixed-power aircraft, designated the F15C. Powered by both a 2,100 hp (1,566 kW) Pratt & Whitney R-2800 Double Wasp propeller engine, and an Allis-Chalmers J36 turbojet, the aircraft was in theory the fastest fighter in the US Navy at that time.

 

The first flight of the first prototype was on 27 February 1945, without the turbojet installed. When this was completed in April of the same year, the aircraft flew several mixed-power trials, however on 8 May, it crashed on a landing approach. The second prototype flew for the first time on 9 July 1945, and was soon followed by a third prototype. Both aircraft showed promise. However, by October 1946, the Navy had lost interest in the mixed-power concept and cancelled further development.

 

[facthunter]

 Suited the times Early jet engines didn't have much thrust.  Neptunes were mixed power but the jet engines used the fuel up fast. They used the same fuel. AVGAS.130/145.

[red750]

The SNCAC NC.2001 Abeille (English: Bee) was a single engine, twin intermeshing rotor helicopter designed and built in France in the late 1940s. Three were completed but only one flew, development ending when SNCAC was closed.

 

The design of the Abeille was directed by René Dorand at the helicopter division of SNCAC. An intermeshing rotor layout was chosen instead of a tail rotor design, following the examples of the 1939 Flettner Fl 265 and the Kellet XR-8 of 1944. Its twin, two blade rotors were driven by shafts which leaned out of the fuselage side-by-side. The rotor blades, which began some way from the hub, tapered strongly. Pitch and roll were adjusted from the control column by altering cyclic pitch via a pair of swashplates and yaw by changing the relative collective pitch of the two rotors with the pedals. Forward tilt of the rotor shafts was automatically linked to forward speed. A single lever controlled both the collective pitch and the throttle through an electrical link. The Abeille was powered by a 429 kW (575 hp) Renault 12S, an inverted, air-cooled V-12 engine.

 

The Abeille had a pod and boom, all-metal fuselage. The nose was fully glazed with two side by side crew seats ahead of a cabin with a bench seat for three passengers. The engine and gearboxes were behind them. Aft, a high mounted boom carried the empennage, which on the first prototype consisted of a tall T-tail with a narrow fin. On the second machine the tailplane was lowered to the top of the fuselage and had a pair of fins at its extremities, each roughly elliptical and mounted from its top.

 

The tails was wooden, with fabric covered. The Abeille's fixed main landing gear had two wheels on a single axle positioned a little behind the rotor shafts and mounted on broad, single struts to the mid-upper fuselage, together with a smaller nose wheel.

 

Three examples of the Abeille were built. The first was destroyed by fire before it had flown. The second made its first flight on 28 June 1949, piloted by Claude Dellys. SNCAC was closed in that month, its assets distributed between three remaining state owned firms and as a result the Abeille programme was abandoned; the second machine did not fly again and the third never flew.

 

[red750]

Claude Auguste Joseph Givaudan's iconic and weird aircraft

 

The French engineer Claude Givaudan (1872-1945) designed his first aeroplane with circular wings in tandem. A unique design which later became famous in aviation history. His design was granted a patent. Givaudan designed his tandem circular wing around 1909. To get the machine to fly higher or lower the front wing could be pivoted up and down. The wing at the back could move left and right for directional orientation.

 

The Givaudian design was built by the automobile factory Usines Vermorel, where Givaudan was employed. Power was delivered by a Vermoral engine rated at 50 hp.

 

Although this design of Givaudan was not succesfull he had a long career in cars and aviation. He finally became at the end of his life the president of the Aéro Club de Rhône.

 

[red750]

One-off B-17 Flying Fortress conversion with Rolls Royce Dart turboprops, used for firefighting.

 

[red750]

The Yokosuka R2Y Keiun (景雲 - "Cirrus Cloud") was a prototype reconnaissance aircraft built in Japan late in World War II.

 

Commissioned for the Imperial Japanese Navy after the R1Y design was cancelled due to its disappointing performance estimates, the R2Y used coupled engines driving a single propeller and also featured a tricycle undercarriage.

 

Completed in April 1945, the prototype made a short flight on 8 May, but was destroyed in a US air raid only a few days later, thus ending development.

 

[red750]

The Horton Wingless aircraft was invented by William Horton of Huntington Beach, California in 1952. He called the strange-looking plane “wingless” because he claimed the entire craft was a simple air foil with vertical fins and utilized all surfaces for lift. Unfortunately, Horton did not have the money to develop it, but was able to get into a partnership with billionaire Howard Hughes and Harlow Curtis.

 

The plane had a successful, but short, test flight. The venture failed not because the airplane didn't fly, but because Hughes wanted to take full credit for the patents and production rights, which Horton refused to allow. Hughes sued Horton which effectively stopped any further development of the aircraft.

 

Hughes managed to have the prototype and partially-constructed production version destroyed. One aspect of the law suit was a statement that the aircraft could not fly, which witnesses, photographs and video obviously show not to be true. At one point, Horton served jail time for selling stock in a company for an airplane that "couldn't fly" and had several violent confrontations with people associated with Hughes and Curtis because of the law suit and resulting injunctions." 

 

[red750]

The Grumman XP-50 was a land-based development of the shipboard XF5F-1 Skyrocket fighter, entered into a United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) contest for a twin-engine heavy interceptor aircraft. The USAAC placed an order for a prototype on 25 November 1939, designating it XP-50, but it lost the competition to the Lockheed XP-49.

 

[red750]

The Airbus RACER (Rapid and Cost-Effective Rotorcraft) is an experimental high-speed compound helicopter developed by Airbus Helicopters from the Eurocopter X³. Revealed at the June 2017 Paris air show, final assembly will start in mid-2020 for a 2021 first flight. Cruising up to 400 km/h (216 kn), it aims for a 25% cost reduction per distance over a conventional helicopter.

 

On 20 June 2017 at the Paris air show, Airbus Helicopters revealed a high-speed demonstrator configuration based on the X3 developed within the Clean Sky 2 research programme. Its aerodynamic configuration was validated in 2017. In February 2018, the 2,500 hp (1,900 kW) Safran Aneto-1X power plant was selected over the RTM322 initially selected, it is 25% more compact for the same power.

 

By October 2018, design of key subsystems was completed before the first components started manufacturing with long-lead items, as the lateral drive shaft production began. GE's Avio Aero in Italy launched procurement and manufacturing of the lateral gear boxes housings, GE Aviation Systems in UK is building the wing’s titanium cradle, INCAS/Romaero in Romania started the design and manufacturing the hybrid structure (metal & composite) of the Main Fuselage and the Firewalls and Aernnova in Spain the tail parts primary structure.

 

It made its first flight on 25 April 2024 in Marignane. By its third test flight in May, it had performed aggressive manoeuvres and reached 165 kn (305 km/h), using 300 kW (400 hp) less power than a conventional helicopter, while both engines were at 50% torque at 160 kn (300 km/h). It should reach 220 kn (410 km/h) later in 2024 and the “eco-mode” with one engine shut down in cruise should be flight tested in 2025, along mission demonstrations.

 

[IBob]

Looks like the one on the right is POC?
Then the LH one they've ditched the lower struts and gone from pusher to tractor.....

[Marty_d]

Interesting design.  Guessing that the lack of tail rotor is because the side motors are used to balance out rotational forces from the main rotor - in which case you could only ever stop one side motor (and the same side too).

 

[IBob]

I wonder what the drive mechanism is to those props???

[Marty_d]

3 minutes ago, IBob said:

I wonder what the drive mechanism is to those props???

"Lateral drive shaft" is mentioned.

 

[IBob]

You're right Marty. And gearboxes.
 

[onetrack]

More info in the links below. Looks like a typical, extremely complex, European design machine to me, complete with all the normal reliability problems that come with them.

 

In depth: Airbus’ Racer fast helicopter set for 2020 test flight

WWW.AEROSPACETESTINGINTERNATIONAL.COM

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With one year to go before its maiden flight, Airbus Helicopters' Racer technology demonstrator, which aims to reach speeds of up to 400km/h (250mph) is innovating in terms of its design and flight testing

 

Advanced Assembly Solutions for the Airbus RACER Joined-Wing Configuration - Mobility Engineering Technology

WWW.MOBILITYENGINEERINGTECH.COM

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The Rapid And Cost Effective Rotorcraft (RACER) demonstrator is being developed by Airbus Helicopters (AH) to further validate the compound rotorcraft configuration.

 

[BrendAn]

t

[BrendAn]

1 minute ago, BrendAn said:

t

similar concept to the rotordyne, whats old is new again. the rotordyne used jet powered rotor tips to hover and take off vertically, it was an autogyro.

Edited July 31 by BrendAn

[Red]

On 28/07/2024 at 11:24 PM, Marty_d said:

Interesting design.  Guessing that the lack of tail rotor is because the side motors are used to balance out rotational forces from the main rotor - in which case you could only ever stop one side motor (and the same side too).

 

Unless of course it had a reverse pitch function on the props as most Turboprops do for braking, then you could lose one side and still have control of Yaw

(Also I imagine both props could be powered by either engine...the whole drive system will likely be linked )

Edited July 31 by Red

[spacesailor]

Fairey Rotodyne .

There was no ' torque ' from those rotors .

As an " autogyro " it was able to ' glide ' to a safer landing than most aircraft of that time .

[red750]

The DuPont Aerospace DP-1 was a subscale prototype for a fixed-wing VSTOL transport aircraft, intended to take off and land like a helicopter and fly like an airplane. The fullscale aircraft, named DP-2, was designed to travel at high subsonic speeds with a greater range than its rotary-wing equivalent, and to allow troops to rappel from the aft cargo ramp. The development of the 53% scale DP-1 aircraft was originally funded in the early 1990s as a backup to the V-22 Osprey program, which was undergoing significant technical and political challenges. During the construction of the test aircraft, program management changed the requirements, and mandated that the vehicle be tested as a UAV. This change added significant cost and time to the project, but in September 2007, the DP-1 autonomous prototype achieved sustained, controlled tethered hovers of 45 seconds at the Gillespie Field test site.

 

On June 13, 2007, the U.S. House Committee on Science and Technology held a hearing about the fate of the DP-2. In August 2007, funding was finally cut, after a total of $63 million spent over nearly two decades.

 

[Red]

On 01/08/2024 at 2:10 AM, spacesailor said:

Fairey Rotodyne .

There was no ' torque ' from those rotors .

As an " autogyro " it was able to ' glide ' to a safer landing than most aircraft of that time .

Was referring to the airbus helicopter  Ss

[red750]

The RUMAS 10 is a strikingly designed light helicopter by the Czech-based RUMAS (Russian Ukraine Maslova) group.

 

The helicopter uses a three-bladed coaxial counter-rotating main rotor system along with a pusher-type tail rotor reminiscent of the Sikorsky S-97 Raider.

 

The 10 is intended primarily for civil use and takes the unmanned future of aviation into account with its design. Unlike most helicopter the 10 has a main rotor that is not tilted during flight, since propulsion is provided by the rear pusher-type propeller. This is a feature that significantly decreases drag. The rear propeller is a high-speed fully reversible unit that can quickly change its thrust vector to accelerate or brake the aircraft. The combination of these different design features results in a helicopter with a guaranteed cruise speed of 155 mph (250 kph) and a designed top speed of 186 mph (300 kph). This is a 75% improvement on the cruising speed of traditional light helicopters. A higher flight speed translates to lower per-hour flight costs, coupled with an asking price estimated at 850 000 USD the 10 becomes a very attractive prospect, as it is in the same price range as a Bell 206 Jet Ranger. An aircraft that tops out at 137 mph (222 kph).

 

Another interesting aspect of the 10 is the choice of power plant. One may have either a single gas turbine engine rated at 220 horsepower or two rotary piston engines for a similar combined rating. The relatively low absolute engine power makes the performance, and therefore aerodynamics, of the 10 all the more remarkable.

 

In terms of design the 10 certainly looks like a 21s century aircraft, with an aesthetic that is more reminiscent of Apple computers than Eastern European design bureaus such as Mil. This is clearly a result of RUMAS’ experience with modern composite materials. In fact, apart from engines and avionics, RUMAS manufactures everything in-house. The cockpit size and design also clearly have comfort in mind, which is another departure from historic vehicle design from this part of the world.

 

Where typical light helicopters assume a pilot weight of about 175 lb (80 kg) the 10 works on an assumption of 265 lb (120 kg). It will also accommodate pilots slightly taller than 6ft (about 190 cm).

 

The Russian and Chinese markets are likely to be the main recipients of 10s when they become available. The Russian market alone has an estimated demand of 30 units per year according to RUMAS. If the helicopter performs as promised at its proposed price it has a good chance at market success.

 

[red750]

Pitcairn PA-36
Developed in 1938, the PA-36 has an all metal fuselage and rear engine.  The front wheels are steerable.

 

Tabular details here,

 

[red750]

The Cierva W.11 Air Horse was a helicopter developed by the Cierva Autogiro Company in the United Kingdom during the mid-1940s. The largest helicopter in the world at the time of its debut, the Air Horse was unusual for using three rotors mounted on outriggers, and driven by a single engine mounted inside the fuselage.

 

Only two aircraft were built, further development by Cierva was stopped after the crash of the first one and little work was done under Saunders Roe before the project was ended and the second aircraft was scrapped in 1951.