1954 After the war, in 1952, Kayaba returned to rotary wing experimentation with the
"Heliplane". This was a compound helicopter fabricated from the fuselage
and Continental E-180 engine of a Cessna 170 light aircraft, with a rotor
mounted above the cabin roof and low-set stub wings to which the undercarriage
was attached. The three-blade rotor was fitted with small ramjets which were
used for takeoffand landing and the rotor would rotate freely in horizontal
flight when the "Heliplane" was being driven by the normal propeller. It
first flew in 1954. |