GAS TURBINE HELICOPTER
BRITISH PLANE OFF SECRET LIST
(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 7 p.m.) LONDON, December 13. Britain’s first gas turbine helicopter, the Rotodyne,. came off the secret list today. Designed to carry 50 passengers or an 11,0001 b weight payload, the Rotodyne is being developed by the Fairey Aviation Company for*inter-city travel. The machine is claimed to combine the best features of an ordinary aircraft and existing helicopters. Besides a four-bladed Fotor driven by compressed air jets in the tips, it has two propeller turbine engines set in the wings. These give it a cruising speed of 150 miles an hour and a top speed of 200 miles an hour.
A spokesman of the Fairey Company said that two models are being built for the Ministry of Supply. One should be flying late next year. A twobladed research helicopter, the Gyrodyne. -built to test certain features of the Rotodyne, made its first flight last January.
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume XC, Issue 27533, 15 December 1954, Page 16
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156GAS TURBINE HELICOPTER Press, Volume XC, Issue 27533, 15 December 1954, Page 16
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