Fairey Rotodyne

The Fairey Rotodyne was a 1950s British compound

gyroplane designed and built by Fairey Aviation and Rotodyne
intended for commercial and military uses.[1] A
development of the earlier Fairey Jet Gyrodyne,
which had established a world helicopter speed
record, the Rotodyne featured a tip-jet-powered rotor
that burned a mixture of fuel and compressed air bled
from two wing-mounted Napier Eland turboprops.
The rotor was driven for vertical takeoffs, landings
and hovering, as well as low-speed translational
flight, but autorotated during cruise flight with all
engine power applied to two propellers. Rotodyne XE521 in flight

One prototype was built. Although the Rotodyne was General information
promising in concept and successful in trials, the Type Compound gyroplane
programme was eventually cancelled. The termination National origin United Kingdom
has been attributed to the type failing to attract any
Manufacturer Fairey Aviation
commercial orders; this was in part due to concerns
over the high levels of rotor tip jet noise generated in Status Cancelled 1962

flight. Politics had also played a role in the lack of Number built 1
orders (the project was government funded) which History
ultimately doomed the project.
First flight 6 November 1957
Developed from Fairey Jet Gyrodyne
Development

Background
From the late 1930s onwards, considerable progress was made on
an entirely new field of aeronautics in the form of rotary-wing
aircraft.[2] While some progress in Britain had been made prior to
the outbreak of the Second World War, wartime priorities placed
upon the aviation industry meant that British programmes to
develop rotorcraft and helicopters were marginalised at best. In the
immediate post-war climate, the Royal Air Force (RAF) and Royal
Navy elected to procure American-developed helicopters in the
A wind tunnel model of the Fairey
form of the Sikorsky R-4 and Sikorsky R-6, known locally as the
Rotodyne
Hoverfly I and Hoverfly II respectively.[2] Experience from the
operation of these rotorcraft, along with the extensive examination
that was conducted upon captured German helicopter prototypes, stimulated considerable interest within
the armed services and industry alike in developing Britain's own advanced rotorcraft.[2]
Fairey Aviation was one such company that was intrigued by the potential of rotary-wing aircraft, and
proceeded to develop the Fairey FB-1 Gyrodyne in accordance with Specification E.16/47.[3] The
Gyrodyne was a unique aircraft in its own right that defined a third type of rotorcraft, including autogyro
and helicopter. Having little in common with the later Rotodyne, it was characterised by its inventor, Dr
JAJ Bennett, formerly chief technical officer of the pre-Second World War Cierva Autogiro Company as
an intermediate aircraft designed to combine the safety and simplicity of the autogyro with hovering
performance. Its rotor was driven in all phases of flight with collective pitch being an automatic function
of shaft torque, with a side-mounted propeller providing both thrust for forward flight and rotor torque
correction. On 28 June 1948, the FB-1 proved its potential during test flights when it achieved a world
airspeed record, having attaining a recorded speed of 124.3 mph (200.0 km/h).[4] The programme was not
trouble-free however, a fatal accident involving one of the prototypes occurring in April 1949 due to poor
machining of a rotor blade flapping link retaining nut.[4] The second FB-1 was modified to investigate a
tip-jet driven rotor with propulsion provided by propellers mounted at the tip of each stub wing, being
renamed the Jet Gyrodyne.[5]

During 1951 and 1952, British European Airways (BEA) internally formulated its own requirement for a
passenger-carrying rotorcraft, commonly referred to the Bealine-Bus or BEA Bus.[6] This was to be a
multi-engined rotorcraft capable of serving as a short-haul airliner, BEA envisioned the type as being
typically flown between major cities and carrying a minimum of 30 passengers in order to be economical;
keen to support the initiative, the Ministry of Supply proceeded to sponsor a series of design studies to be
conducted in support of the BEA requirement. Both civil and government bodies had predicted the
requirement for such rotorcraft, and viewed it as being only a matter of time before they would become
commonplace in Britain's transport network.[6]

The BEA Bus requirement was met with a variety of futuristic proposals; both practical and seemingly
impractical submissions were made by a number of manufacturers.[6] Amongst these, Fairey had also
chosen to submit its designs and to participate to meet the requirement; according to aviation author
Derek Wood: "one design, particularly, seemed to show promise and this was the Fairey Rotordyne".[6]
Fairey had produced multiple arrangements and configurations for the aircraft, typically varying in the
powerplants used and the internal capacity; the firm made its first submission to the Ministry on 26
January 1949. Within two months, Fairey had produced a further three alternative submissions, centring
on the use of engines such as the Rolls-Royce Dart and Armstrong Siddeley Mamba.[6] In October 1950,
an initial contract for the development of a 16,000 lb, four-bladed rotorcraft was awarded.[7] The Fairey
design, which was considerably revised over the years, received government funding to support its
development.[8]

Early on in development, Fairey found that securing access to engines to power its design proved to be
difficult.[7] In November 1950, Rolls-Royce chairman Lord Hives protested that the design resources of
his company were being stretched too thinly across multiple projects; accordingly, the initially-selected
Dart engine was switched to the Mamba engine of rival firm Armstrong Siddeley. By July 1951, Fairey
had re-submitted proposals using the Mamba engine in two and three-engine layouts, supporting all-up
weights of 20,000 lb (9.1 t) and 30,000 lb (14 t) respectively; the adopted configuration of pairing the
Mamba engine to auxiliary compressors was known as the Cobra.[7] Due to complaints by Armstrong
Siddeley that it too was lacking resources, Fairey also proposed the alternative use of engines such as the
de Havilland Goblin and the Rolls-Royce Derwent turbojet to drive the forward propellers.[7]
Fairey did not enjoy a positive relationship with de Havilland however, so instead they chose to use D.
Napier & Son and its Eland turboshaft engine in April 1953.[7] Following the selection of the Eland, the
basic design of the rotorcraft, known as the Rotodyne Y, soon emerged; it was powered by a pair of Eland
N.El.3 engines furnished with auxiliary compressors and a large-section four-blade main rotor, with a
projected all-up weight of 33,000 lb.[7] At the same time, a projected enlarged version, designated as the
Rotodyne Z, outfitted with more powerful Eland N.El.7 engines and an all-up weight of 39,000 lb, was
proposed as well.[9]

Contract
In April 1953, the Ministry of Supply contracted for the building of a single prototype of the Rotodyne Y,
powered by the Eland engine, later designated with the serial number XE521, for research purposes.[5] As
contracted, the Rotodyne would have been the largest transport helicopter of its day, seating a maximum
of 40 to 50 passengers, while possessing a cruise speed of 150 mph and a range of 250 nautical miles. At
the time of the award, Fairey had estimated that £710,000 would cover the costs of producing the
airframe.[5] With a view to an aircraft that would meet regulatory approval in the shortest time, Fairey's
designers worked to meet the Civil Airworthiness Requirements for both helicopters and similar-sized
twin-engined aircraft. A one-sixth scale rotorless model was extensively wind tunnel tested for fixed-wing
performance. A smaller (1/15th-scale) model with a powered rotor was used for downwash
investigations.[10]

While the prototype was being built, funding for the programme reached a crisis. Cuts in defence
spending led the Ministry of Defence to withdraw its support, pushing the burden of the costs onto any
possible civilian customer. The government agreed to maintain funding for the project only if, among
other qualifications, Fairey and Napier (through their parent English Electric) contributed to development
costs of the Rotodyne and the Eland engine respectively. As a result of disagreements with Fairey on
matters of policy, Dr Bennett left the firm to join Hiller Helicopters in California; responsibility for the
Rotodyne's development was assumed by Dr George S Hislop, who became the firm's chief engineer.[5]

The manufacturing of the prototype's fuselage, wings, and rotor assembly was conducted at Fairey's
facility in Hayes, Hillingdon, West London, while construction of the tail assembly was performed at the
firm's factory in Stockport, Greater Manchester and final assembly was performed at White Waltham
Airfield, Maidenhead.[5] In addition, a full-scale static test rig was produced at RAF Boscombe Down to
support the programme; the static rig featured a fully operational rotor and powerplant arrangement
which was demonstrated on multiple occasions, including a 25-hour approval testing for the Ministry.[11]

While construction of the first prototype was underway, prospects for the Rotodyne appeared positive;
according to Wood, there was interest in the type from both civil and military quarters.[12] BEA was
monitoring the progress of the programme with interest; it was outwardly expected that the airline would
place an order shortly after the issuing of an order for a militarised version of the rotorcraft. The
American company Kaman Helicopters also showed strong interest in the project, and was known to have
studied it closely as the firm considered the potential for licensed production of the Rotodyne for both
civil and military customers.[12]

Due to army and RAF interest, development of the Rotodyne had been funded out of the defence budget
for a time.[13] During 1956, the Defence Research Policy Committee had declared that there was no
military interest in the type, which quickly led to the Rotodyne becoming solely reliant upon civil budgets
as a research/civil prototype aircraft instead.[13] After a series of political arguments, proposals, and
bargaining; in December 1956, HM Treasury authorised work on both the Rotodyne and Eland engine to
be continued until the end of September 1957. Amongst the demands exerted by the Treasury were that
the aircraft had to be both a technical success and would need to acquire a firm order from BEA; both
Fairey and English Electric (Napier's parent company) also had to take on a portion of the costs for its
development as well.[14]

Testing and evaluation

On 6 November 1957, the prototype performed its maiden flight,
piloted by chief helicopter test pilot Squadron Leader W. Ron
Gellatly and assistant chief helicopter test pilot Lieutenant
Commander John G.P. Morton as second pilot.[16] The first flight
had originally been projected to take place in 1956; however,
delay was viewed as inevitable with an entirely new concept such
as used by the Rotodyne.[14]
The Fairey Rotodyne prototype circa
On 10 April 1958, the Rotodyne achieved its first successful 1959[15]
transition from vertical to horizontal and then back into vertical
flight.[14][17] On 5 January 1959, the Rotodyne set a world speed
record in the convertiplane category, at 190.9 mph (307.2 km/h), over a 60-mile (100 km) closed
circuit.[18][19] As well as being fast, the rotorcraft had a safety feature: it could hover with one engine shut
down with its propeller feathered, and the prototype demonstrated several landings as an autogyro. The
prototype was demonstrated several times at the Farnborough and Paris air shows, regularly amazing
onlookers. In one instance, it even lifted a 100 ft girder bridge.[20]

The Rotodyne's tip drive and unloaded rotor made its External image
performance far better when compared to pure
Rotodyne lifting a bridge (http://www.jefflewi
helicopters and other forms of "convertiplanes." The
s.net/graphics/aircraft/alpha8_Fairey_Rotodyn
aircraft could be flown at 175 kn (324 km/h) and
e_3.html)
pulled into a steep climbing turn without
demonstrating any adverse handling characteristics.

Throughout the world, interest was growing in the prospect of direct city-to-city transport. The market for
the Rotodyne was that of a medium-haul "flying bus": It would take off vertically from an inner-city
heliport, with all lift coming from the tip-jet driven rotor, and then would increase airspeed, eventually
with all power from the engines being transferred to the propellers with the rotor autorotating. In this
mode, the collective pitch, and hence drag, of the rotor could be reduced, as the wings would be taking as
much as half of the craft's weight. The Rotodyne would then cruise at speeds of about 150 kn (280 km/h)
to another city, e.g., London to Paris, where the rotor tip-jet system would be restarted for landing
vertically in the city centre. When the Rotodyne landed and the rotor stopped moving, its blades drooped
downward from the hub. To avoid striking the vertical stabilisers on startup, the tips of these fins were
angled down to the horizontal. They were raised once the rotor had spun up.

By January 1959, British European Airways (BEA) announced that it was interested in the purchase of
six aircraft, with a possibility of up to 20, and had issued a letter of intent stating such, on the condition
that all requirements, including noise levels, were met.[21] The Royal Air Force (RAF) had also placed an
order for 12 military transport versions. New York Airways signed a letter of intent for the purchase of
five at $2m each, with an option of 15 more albeit with qualifications, after calculating that a larger
Rotodyne could operate at half the seat mile cost of helicopters;[21][22] however, unit costs were deemed
too high for very short hauls of 10 to 50 miles, and the Civil Aeronautics Board was opposed to rotorcraft
competing with fixed-wing on longer routes.[23] Japan Air Lines, which had sent a team to Britain to
evaluate the Rotodyne prototype, stated it would experiment with Rotodyne between Tokyo Airport and
the city itself, and was interested in using it on the Tokyo-Osaka route as well.[14][24]

According to rumours, the U.S. Army was also interested in buying around 200 Rotodynes.[25] Fairey
was keen to secure funding from the American Mutual Aid programme, but could not persuade the RAF
to order the minimum necessary 25 rotorcraft needed; at one point, the firm even considered providing a
single Rotodyne to Eastern Airlines via Kaman Helicopters, Fairey's U.S. licensee, so that it could be
hired out to the U.S. Army for trials. All Rotodynes destined for US customers were to have been
manufactured by Kaman in Bloomfield, Connecticut.[26]

Financing from the government had been secured again on the proviso that firm orders would be gained
from BEA. The civilian orders were dependent on the noise issues being satisfactorily met; the
importance of this factor had led to Fairey developing 40 different noise suppressors by 1955.[27] In
December 1955, Dr Hislop said he was certain that the noise issue could be 'eliminated'. According to
Wood, the two most serious problems revealed with the Rotodyne during flight testing was the noise
issue and the weight of the rotor system, the latter being 2,233 lb above the original projection of
3,270 lb.[12]

Issues and cancellation

In 1959, the British government, seeking to cut costs, decreed that
the number of aircraft firms should be lowered and set forth its
expectations for mergers in airframe and aero-engine companies.
By delaying or withholding access to defence contracts, the British
firms could be forced into mergers; Duncan Sandys, Minister of
Aviation, expressed this policy to Fairey and made it known that
the price of continued government backing for the Rotodyne
would be for Fairey to virtually withdraw from all other initiatives
in the aviation field.[25] Ultimately, Saunders-Roe and the
helicopter division of Bristol were incorporated with Westland; in
May 1960, Fairey Aviation was also taken over by Westland. By
this time, the Rotodyne had flown almost 1,000 people for 120
hours in 350 flights and conducted a total of 230 transitions
between helicopter and autogiro — with no accidents.[25][28] One of the few surviving parts of the
dismantled prototype
By 1958, the Treasury was already expressing its opposition to
further financing for the programme.[14] The matter was escalated
to Harold Macmillan, the then Prime Minister, who wrote to Aubrey Jones, the Minister of Supply, on 6
June 1958, stating that "this project must not be allowed to die". Considerable importance was placed
upon BEA supporting the Rotodyne by issuing an order; however, the airline refused to procure the
aircraft until it was satisfied that guarantees were given over its performance, economy, and noise
criteria.[14] Shortly after Fairey's merger with Westland, the latter was issued a £4 million development
contract for the Rotodyne, which was intended to see the type enter service with BEA as a result.[25]
As flight testing with the Rotodyne prototype had proceeded, Fairey had become increasingly dissatisfied
with Napier and the Eland engine as progress to improve the latter had been less than expected.[14] For
the extended 48-seat model of the Rotodyne to be achieved, the uprated 3,500 ehp Eland N.E1.7 would
be necessary; of the estimated £7 million needed to produce the larger aircraft, £3 million would be for its
engines. BEA was particularly supportive of a larger aircraft, potentially seating as many as 66
passengers, which would have required a still-far greater sum of money to achieve.[14] Fairey was already
struggling to achieve the stated performance of the Eland engine and had resorted to adopting a richer
fuel mixture to get the necessary power, a side effect of which was to further aggravate the noticeable
noise issue as well as reducing fuel efficiency.[29] As a result of being unable to resolve the issues with
the Eland, Fairey opted to adopt the rival Rolls-Royce Tyne turboprop engine to power the larger
Rotodyne Z instead.[26]

The larger Rotodyne Z design could be developed to take 57 to 75 passengers and, when equipped with
the Tyne engines (5,250 shp/3,910 kW), would have a projected cruising speed of 200 kn (370 km/h). It
would be able to carry nearly 8 tons (7 tonnes) of freight; cargoes could have included some British Army
vehicles and even the intact fuselage of some fighter aircraft that would fit into its fuselage.[30] It would
have also been able to carry large cargoes externally as an aerial crane, including vehicles and whole
aircraft. According to some of the later proposals, the Rotodyne Z would have had a gross weight of
58,500 lb, an extended rotor diameter of 109 ft, and a tapered wing with a span of 75 ft.[31]

However, the Tyne engines were also starting to appear under-powered for the larger design. The
Ministry of Supply had pledged to finance 50 per cent of the development costs for both the Rotodyne Z
and for the model of the Tyne engine to power it.[25] Despite the strenuous efforts of Fairey to achieve its
support, the expected order from the RAF did not materialise — at the time, the service had no particular
interest in the design, being more focused on effectively addressing the issue of nuclear deterrence.[31] As
the trials continued, both the associated costs and the weight of the Rotodyne continued to climb; the
noise issue continued to persist, although, according to Wood: "there were signs that silencers would later
reduce it to an acceptable level".[31]

While the costs of development were shared half-and-half between Westland and the government, the
firm determined that it would still need to contribute a further £9 million in order to complete
development and achieve production-ready status.[31] Following the issuing of a requested quotation to
the British government for 18 production Rotodynes, 12 for the RAF and 6 for BEA, the government
responded that no further support would be issued for the project, for economic reasons. Accordingly, on
26 February 1962, official funding for the Rotodyne was terminated in early 1962.[8][32] The project's
final end came when BEA chose to decline placing its own order for the Rotodyne, principally because of
its concerns regarding the high-profile tip-jet noise issue. The corporate management at Westland
determined that further development of the Rotodyne towards production status would not be worth the
investment required.[33] Thus ended all work on the world's first vertical take-off military/civil transport
rotorcraft.[34]
After the programme was terminated, the prototype Rotodyne itself, which was government property, was
dismantled and largely destroyed in a fashion reminiscent of the Bristol Brabazon. A single fuselage bay,
as pictured, plus rotors and rotorhead mast survived, and are on display at The Helicopter Museum,
Weston-super-Mare.

Analysis
The one great criticism of the Rotodyne was the noise the tip jets made; however, the jets were only run
at full power for a matter of minutes during departure and landing and, indeed, the test pilot Ron Gellatly
made two flights over central London and several landings and departures at Battersea Heliport with no
complaints being registered,[35] though John Farley, chief test pilot of the Hawker Siddeley Harrier later
commented:

From two miles away it would stop a conversation. I mean, the noise of those little jets on the
tips of the rotor was just indescribable. So what have we got? The noisiest hovering vehicle the
world has yet come up with and you're going to stick it in the middle of a city?

— [36]

There had been a noise-reduction programme in process which had managed to reduce the noise level
from 113 dB to the desired level of 96 dB from 600 ft (180 m) away, less than the noise made by a
London Underground train, and at the time of cancellation, silencers were under development, which
would have reduced the noise even further — with 95 dB at 200 ft "foreseen",[37] the limitation being the
noise created by the rotor itself.[38] This effort, however, was insufficient for BEA which, as expressed by
Chairman Sholto Douglas, "would not purchase an aircraft that could not be operated due to noise", and
the airline refused to order the Rotodyne, which in turn led to the collapse of the project.

It is only relatively recently that interest has been reestablished in direct city-to-city helicopter transport,
with aircraft such as the AgustaWestland AW609 and the CarterCopter/PAV. The 2010 Eurocopter X3
experimental helicopter shares the general configuration of the Rotodyne, but is much smaller. A number
of innovative gyrodyne designs are still being considered for future development.[39]

Design
The Fairey Rotodyne was a large hybrid rotorcraft termed compound gyroplane. According to Wood, it
was "the largest transport helicopter of its day".[5] It featured an unobstructed rectangular fuselage,
capable of seating between 40 and 50 passengers; a pair of double-clamshell doors were placed to the rear
of the main cabin so that freight and even vehicles could be loaded and unloaded.[5]

The Rotodyne had a large, four-bladed rotor and two Napier Eland N.E.L.3 turboprops, one mounted
under each of the fixed wings.[5] The rotor blades were a symmetrical aerofoil around a load-bearing spar.
The aerofoil was made of steel and light alloy because of centre of gravity concerns. Equally, the spar
was formed from a thick machined steel block to the fore and a lighter thinner section formed from folded
and riveted steel to the rear. The compressed air was channelled through three steel tubes within the
blade.[40] The tip-jet combustion chambers were composed of Nimonic 80, complete with liners that were
made from Nimonic 75.
For takeoff and landing, the rotor was driven by tip-jets. The air was produced by compressors driven
through a clutch off the main engines. This was fed through ducting in the leading edge of the wings and
up to the rotor head. Each engine supplied air for a pair of opposite rotors; the compressed air was mixed
with fuel and burned.[41] As a torqueless rotor system, no anti-torque correction system was required,
though propeller pitch was controlled by the rudder pedals for low-speed yaw control. The propellers
provided thrust for translational flight while the rotor autorotated. The cockpit controls included a cyclic
and collective pitch lever, as in a conventional helicopter.[33]

The transition between helicopter and autogyro modes of flight would have taken place around
60 mph,[35] (other sources state that this would have occurred around 110 knots[42]); the transition would
have been accomplished by extinguishing the tip-jets. During autogyro flight, up to half of the rotocraft's
aerodynamic lift was provided by the wings, which also enabled it to attain higher speed.[35]

Specifications (Rotodyne "Y")

Data from Fairey Aircraft since 1915,[43]Goebel 2015,[44]
Gibbings 2011,[45] Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1958-59.[46]
General characteristics
Crew: two
Capacity: 40-48 passengers
Length: 58 ft 8 in (17.88 m) of fuselage
Wingspan: 46 ft 6 in (14.17 m) fixed wings
Height: 22 ft 2 in (6.76 m) to top of rotor External image
pylon Cutaway drawing of Rotodyne (http://www.fl
Wing area: 475 sq ft (44.1 m2) [47] ightglobal.com/airspace/media/civilhelicoptercu
Airfoil: NACA 23015[48] taways/images/14208/fairey-rotodyne-cutaway.
Empty weight: 22,000 lb (9,979 kg) jpg) from Flightglobal.com (Archive (https://we
Gross weight: 33,000 lb (14,969 kg) b.archive.org/web/20121226131103/http://ww
Fuel capacity: 7,500 lb (3,402 kg) w.flightglobal.com/airspace/media/civilhelicopt
Powerplant: 2 × Napier Eland N.El.7 ercutaways/images/14208/fairey-rotodyne-cuta
turboprops, 2,800 shp (2,100 kW) each [49] way.jpg))
Powerplant: 4 × rotor tip jet , 1,000 lbf
(4.4 kN) thrust each [50]
Main rotor diameter: 90 ft 0 in (27.43 m)
Main rotor area: 6,362 sq ft (591.0 m2) Rotor aerofoil: NACA 0015
Blade tip speed: 720 ft/s (219 m/s)
Disc loading: 6.14 lb/ft2 (30 kg/m2)
Propellers: 4-bladed, 13 ft (4.0 m) diameter Rotol propellers
Performance

Maximum speed: 190.9 mph (307.2 km/h, 165.9 kn) speed record [51]
Cruise speed: 185 mph (298 km/h, 161 kn)
Range: 450 mi (720 km, 390 nmi)
 Service ceiling: 13,000 ft (4,000 m)

See also
Gyrodyne
Related development

Fairey FB-1 Gyrodyne

Fairey Jet Gyrodyne
Fairey Ultra-light Helicopter
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era

McDonnell XV-1
Mil Mi-12
Kamov Ka-22
Hiller Hornet
Eurocopter X3
Related lists

List of rotorcraft
List of VTOL aircraft

References
1. "Rotodyne, Fairey's Big Convertiplane Nears Completion: A Detailed Description." (http://ww
w.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1957/1957%20-%201101.html) Flight, 9 August 1957,
Number 2533 Volume 72, pp. 191–197.
2. Wood 1975, p. 108.
3. Wood 1975, pp. 108-111.
4. Wood 1975, p. 111.
5. Wood 1975, p. 118.
6. Wood 1975, p. 116.
7. Wood 1975, p. 117.
8. Justin Parkinson (12 February 2016). "Why did the half-plane, half-helicopter not work?" (htt
ps://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-35521040). BBC. Retrieved 12 February 2016.
9. Wood 1975, pp. 117-118.
10. Flight 9 August 1957, p. 191.
11. Wood 1975, pp. 118-119.
12. Wood 1975, p. 119.
13. Wood 1975, pp. 119-120.
14. Wood 1975, p. 120.
15. Photo: J Thinesen, SFF (http://www.sff.n.se/) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/200908
28113804/http://www.sff.n.se/) 28 August 2009 at the Wayback Machine photo archive
16. "Lt-Cdr Johnny Morton - obituary." (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/10949909/L
t-Cdr-Johnny-Morton-obituary.html) The Telegraph, 6 July 2014.
17. Taylor 1976, p. 97.
18. "FAI Record ID #13216 - Rotodyne, Speed over a closed circuit of 100 km without payload."
(http://www.fai.org/fai-record-file/?recordId=13216) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20
150217223109/http://www.fai.org/fai-record-file/?recordId=13216) 17 February 2015 at the
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Accessed: 29 November 2013.
19. Winchester 2005, p. 96.
20. Promising future (http://dunnbypaul.net/aircraft/rotodyne/)
21. Wood 1975, p. 121.
22. Charnov, p. 12.
23. Harris, Franklin (November 1960), "Appendix G: Project Hummingbird - The Helicopter And
Other V/STOL Aircraft In Commercial Transport Service" (https://web.archive.org/web/20130
216101833/http://rotorcraft.arc.nasa.gov/FINAL_Harris%20Vol%20II_Nov16%202012.pdf)
(PDF), Introduction to Autogyros, Helicopters, and Other V/STOL Aircraft, vol. II Helicopters,
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(PDF) on 16 February 2013, retrieved 21 November 2013
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464.html) Flight International, 13 February 1959. p. 235.
25. Wood 1975, p. 122.
26. Wood 1975, pp. 121-122.
27. Charnov, p. 11.
28. Charnov, p. 14.
29. Wood 1975, pp. 120-121.
30. Wood 1975, pp. 122-124.
31. Wood 1975, p. 124.
32. Wood 1975, pp. 124-125.
33. Winchester 2005, p. 97.
34. Wood 1975, p. 125.
35. Anders, Frank. "The Fairey Rotodyne." (http://www.groenbros.com/FaireyRotodyne.php)
Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20101223043355/http://groenbros.com/FaireyRotody
ne.php) 23 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine Gyrodyne Technology (Groen Brothers
Aviation). Retrieved: 17 January 2011.
36. Hamilton-Paterson, James (2011). "Fighter Jock Heaven". Empire of the Clouds. London:
Faber and Faber Limited. p. 314. ISBN 978-0-571-24795-0.
37. "Requiem for the Rotodyne - An Account of Unusual Problems Met and Solved." (http://ww
w.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1962/1962%20-%201392.html) Flight International, 9
August 1962, pp. 200-203, see page 202.
38. "Who believes in Helicopters." (http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1958/1958%20-
%200364.html) Flight, 21 March 1958. p. 380.
39. "Gyrodyne Technology, The GBA Gyrodyne Concept: The Birth of a New Age of Rotary-
Wing Aviation." (http://www.groenbros.com/gyrodyne_tech.php) Archived (https://web.archiv
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40. Flight August 1957. p. 196.
41. Flight August 1957, p. 197.
42. Gibbings 2004, p. 568.
43. Taylor 1974, p. 426.
44. Goebel, Greg. "Autogiros, Gyroplanes, & Gyrocopters / Fairey Rotodyne (http://www.airvect
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46. Bridgman, Leonard, ed. (1957). Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1958-59. London: Jane's All
the World's Aircraft Publishing Co. Ltd. p. 80.
47. Flight 9 August 1957, p. 193.
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aircraft.html). m-selig.ae.illinois.edu. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
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50. Braas, Nico. "Fairey Rotodyne." (http://www.letletlet-warplanes.com/2008/06/15/the-fairey-ro
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51. Taylor 1974, p. 419.

Bibliography
Charnov, Dr. Bruce H. "The Fairey Rotodyne: An Idea Whose Time Has Come – Again?" (htt
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Charnov, Dr. Bruce H. From Autogiro to Gyroplane: The Amazing Survival of an Aviation
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Gibbings, David. Fairey Rotodyne. Stroud, Gloucestershire, UK: The History Press, 2009.
ISBN 978-0-7524-4916-6.
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Lecture. (https://web.archive.org/web/20131230233827/http://aerosociety.com/News/Publica
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External links
Fairey's promotional video for the Rotodyne on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v
=y9633v6U0wo&NR)
"Rotodyne Report" (http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1957/1957%20-%201865.ht
ml) a 1957 Flight article
Why The Vertical Takeoff Airliner Failed: The Rotodyne Story (https://www.youtube.com/watc
h?v=dkJOm1V77Xg), 9min documentary
`

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