Cessna Aircraft Company acquired the Seibel Helicopter Company (pronounced "See-bull") of Wichita, Kansas on 14 January 1952 through a stock swap with Seibel investors. All equipment from the Seibel Helicopter Company, including the Seibel S-4B, was moved to Cessna's Pawnee Plant in Wichita and work began on the CH-1 design during the summer of 1952. Charles Seibel, who became the new Helicopter Division's chief designer as part of the acquisition, believed that the S-4B with a Cessna body would make an excellent helicopter. Cessna pilots test flew Seibel's S-4B for several months to familiarize the engineers with helicopters, and then it was scrapped.
A quarter-size wind tunnel model of the CH-1 was created and tests were conducted at Wichita State University. The first full-size machine did not have an enclosed fuselage or cowling, nor a horizontal stabilizer. This test bed skeleton (referred to by the company as CH1-1) first hovered in July, 1953, eventually making test flights as high as 10,000 feet. The actual prototype CH-1 was built based on modifications made to the test bed aircraft and this second ship made its first flight in 1954, at the Prospect plant.
The CH-1 Skyhook is the only helicopter ever built by the Cessna Aircraft Company. The single, twin-bladed main rotor helicopter used a front-mounted reciprocating engine which gave the aircraft a stable center-of-gravity (CG). Its semi-monocoque airframe greatly resembles its light airplane siblings built by Cessna. The helicopter was named Skyhook for the civil market, similar to the marketing names used in the Cessna single engine airplane line, such as Skyhawk, Skylane and Skywagon. The CH-1's military designation for the United States Army was the YH-41 Seneca. The Skyhook would achieve several helicopter "firsts" and set a world record, but ultimately, it would never be a commercial or military success.
The prototype CH-1 had a turbocharged Continental FSO-470 engine rated at 260 h.p. at 3200 rpm. The turbocharger and cooling fans were driven by belts. Cessna had a long relationship with Continental who provided engines for their light airplanes, but the use of the Continental engine in a helicopter was considered as much of a test as Cessna's foray into the helicopter market itself, especially in a time when most other light helicopter manufacturers were using Lycoming engines.
The CH-1 external design was created by Richard Ten Eyck, an industrial designer for Cessna. It was a low profile streamlined aircraft-style body, featuring the engine in front and cabin seating behind the powerplant. The forward engine location provided "ease of access,...efficient cooling, and frees the center of gravity behind the cockpit for use in disposable load," but also presented a problem for how to vent the exhaust which would prove to be a problem throughout the aircraft's life. Additionally, the tail boom size, resulting from the airplane-style fuselage, created aerodynamic problems in hover and forward flight that would have to be solved by later aerodynamic structural changes.
The CH-1 established many firsts. The CH-1A was the first helicopter to land on Pikes Peak, at an altitude of 14,110 feet on 15 September 1955,[2] it had a higher cruise speed than comparable machines, and a CH-1B, modified with a FSO-526-2X engine, set an official FAI world altitude record for helicopters of 29,777 feet (Cessna's instrumentation showed 30,355 feet) on December 27, 1957.[2] The previous record had been set by a turbine powered Aérospatiale Alouette II and was later broken by another Alouette II, but the record set by the CH-1B remains the highest altitude ever achieved by a piston-powered helicopter.[1] The CH-1C was the first helicopter to receive IFR certification by the FAA.
Source: Wikipedia
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July 28, 2007
Cessna CH-1 helicopter
July 25, 2007
Northwest Airlines will hire more pilots
The Northwest Airlines has announced that they will cut a schedule and hire more pilots. This is because of the raising of canceled flights, so Northwest Airlines made this decission.
As reported in the news release from Detroit News, The Eagan, Minn.-based airline, which uses Detroit Metropolitan Airport as one of its hubs, canceled 43 flights Tuesday, including 15 that were scheduled to depart from Detroit.
Northwest also operates major hubs out of Minneapolis and Memphis, Tenn.
As of 9:30 a.m., Northwest has canceled 16 flights today, including two that were scheduled to take off from Detroit. The data comes from www.FlightStats.com.
The memo said that up to 300 new pilots will be hired over the next year after Northwest hires back hundreds more pilots that have been on furlough for months. It also outlined a 3 percent schedule reduction in August.
That follows a promise of 3 percent reduction this month, though it's unclear if that change was fully implemented or what effect, if any, it had.
Yesterday's cancellations followed 62 cancellations on Monday and more than 200 since last Thursday. Northwest initially blamed the grounded flights late last week on strong storms that pushed through the Midwest, but by the beginning of this week, it elected to make no comment on the situation.
Officials at the Air Lines Pilot Association, which represents more than 5,000 active and furloughed pilots at Northwest, said the problem stemmed from a serious staffing shortage, which was the cause of more than 1,000 cancellations at the end of June.
Some furloughed pilots were rehired by Northwest after last month's grounded flights caused a public stir among customers whose travel plans were disrupted.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. You can reach Nathan Hurst at (313) 222-2293 or nhurst@detnews.com.
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Northwest continues to ground flights... by Nathan Hurst
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July 21, 2007
Bristol Sycamore helicopter
Bristol set up its Helicopter Department in after the Allied invasion of Europe in 1944, when engineers from the Airborne Forces Experimental Establishment at Beaulieu became available. The AFEE had been working on the development of helicopter designs under helicopter pioneer Raoul Hafner, but the success of Horsa and Hamilcar gliders during Operation Overlord led to helicopter research being given a priority at AFEE.
The design of the Sycamore commenced in June 1944, and extended over more than two years, with especial emphasis being given to the endurance of the mechanical components. The maiden flight took place on 27 July 1947, with the prototype VL958 powered by a 450 hp Pratt and Whitney Wasp Junior (there being no suitable engine in the Bristol range). The prototype Sycamore Mk.2 was completed in the summer of 1948, powered by a 550 hp Alvis Leonides; this became the standard engine for all subsequent Sycamore production.
Versions of the Sycamore up to and including the Mk.3A kept to the standard two-seat aircraft layout of having the pilot in the left-hand seat and co-pilot in the right. The main production, the Mk.4, switched to the American standard practice of having the pilot's seat on the right. There were also a number of other developments from earlier versions, such as a four-door design, that were standardized for the Mk.4. This version entered RAF service as the H.R.14.
Civil versions did not use the name Sycamore, and were known simply as Bristol Type 171.
The Bristol Type 171 Sycamore was the first British designed helicopter to fly and also the first to serve with the Royal Air Force. Created by the Bristol Aeroplane Company, it was used for search and rescue and anti-submarine warfare.
The Sycamore H.R.14 entered service with 275 Squadron of the RAF in April 1953, and went on to serve with nine squadrons in total. It was used during the Malayan Emergency (1948-1960) for deploying Army foot patrols into the jungle.
A total of 50 Sycamores were delivered to the German Federal Government, and three to the Belgian Government.
The Sycamore also has the distinction of being the second helicopter type to be used by the Australian Defence Forces, when seven were delivered to the Royal Australian Navy.
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Gyroplane Laboratoire helicopter
The aircraft consisted of an open steel tube framework, within which the engine, fuel tank, controls and pilot were situated, together with a tail assembly with plywood tail surfaces. The tail wheel landing gear was installed with the main wheels on outriggers and with an additional small wheel at the front to avoid nosing-over during landing.
Power was provided by a 240 HP Hispano radial engine which propelled the two contra-rotating, coaxial rotors. The coaxial rotor design was chosen because with the rotors turning in opposite directions the torque from one rotor was canceled out by the torque produced by the other rotor.
The two, twin-bladed rotors made of metal were shaped like arrows and incorporated both cyclic and collective pitch blade control, with which movement around the pitch and roll axis was controlled, as well as climb and descent. (see swash plate).
Gyroplane-Laboratoire, 1933
The Gyroplane Laboratoire is considered by some to be the first, practicable helicopter in the world. The frenchman, Louis Breguet, had already experimented with rotorcraft in 1909, however, he chose to concentrate on airplanes until the end of the 1920s. In 1929 he announced a set of patents which addressed the flight stabilization of rotorcraft. In 1931, Breguet created the Syndicat d'Etudes de Gyroplane (French for "Syndicate for Gyroplane Studies"), together with Rene Dorand as technical director. Their goal was the development of an experimental helicopter, which was called "Gyroplane Laboratoire".
The Bréguet Dorand aircraft was finished in 1933, after ground tests and an accident. The first flight took place on 26 June 1935. Within a short time the pilot, Maurice Claisse, was setting records with the aircraft:
The amount of attention received by the German Fw 61 from experts and the public, even though it came several years later, has detracted from the historical prestige of the Gyroplane Laboratoire, which, until the outbreak of World War II continued to fly and conduct further experiments. The only prototype was destroyed in 1943 during an allied air attack on the airport Villacoublay.
Source: Wikipedia
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Brantly B-2 Helicopter
Brantly B-2 helicopter is an American two-seat light helicopter produced by the Brantly Helicopter Corporation.
After the failure of his first design, the Brantly B-1, N.P. Brantly decided to design a simplier and less complicated helicopter for the private buyer. The Brantly B-2 had a single main rotor and an anti-torque tail rotor and first flew on 21 February 1953. This was followed by an improved second prototype that first flew on 14 August 1956. The B-2A was introduced with a modified cabin, and the B-2B had a larger 180hp fuel-injected engine.
The B-2B has a three-blade main rotor and an all-metal fuselage, it can be operated with skid, wheel or float landing gear. Unusually, to save room, the engine is fitted vertically in the fuselage behind the cabin.
The basic design remained in production for over 30 years. The United States Army evaluated the B-2 (designated the YHO-3) in 1958, although it was not ordered. An improved larger version with five seats was designated the Brantly 305.
Other Variants of Brantly B-2 Helicopter
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