May 1958: the collapsible helicopter
Small enough to be carried beneath an aircraft’s wing or on a car’s roof rack the Hiller XROE 1 rotorcycle — a collapsible singe-seat helicopter — generated great excitement when it was demonstrated in London in 1958.READ ALL ABOUT THE COLLAPSIBLE HELICOPTER HERE
The one-man helicopter, which was originally built for the United States Marine Corps, was demonstrated on various occasions during its visit to the UK, including a Royal Marine exercise at Eastney. ’It is intended that, if the machine is put into production, it would be built by a European firm, but the original engine, an air-cooled, two-stroke Nelson flat-four of 43 h.p., would be retained,’ wrote The Engineer.
The prototype aircraft had an unladen weight of 300 Ib, a maximum rate of climb of 1160ft per minute, and a top speed of 70mph.
The machine was designed to be not only portable but air-droppable, and a special trolley had been developed to support it during and after folding. ’The machine can be stowed and folded without even draining the fuel tank, while there is, of course no engine sump. Assembly involves only the fitting of fourteen self-locking “Pip” pins, and can be performed in about four minutes,’ explained the article.
Register now to continue reading
Thanks for visiting The Engineer. You’ve now reached your monthly limit of premium content. Register for free to unlock unlimited access to all of our premium content, as well as the latest technology news, industry opinion and special reports.
Benefits of registering
-
In-depth insights and coverage of key emerging trends
-
Unrestricted access to special reports throughout the year
-
Daily technology news delivered straight to your inbox
Comment: The UK is closer to deindustrialisation than reindustrialisation
"..have been years in the making" and are embedded in the actors - thus making it difficult for UK industry to move on and develop and apply...