A 1966 Boeing concept for a civilian version of the Chinook. Viet Nam veterans I’ve known who rode in Chinooks of that era have stories that make me suspect that *substantial* structural stiffening would have been required for such a craft to be fully accepted by the public; apparently, looking forward towards the cockpit and watching the while cabin twist back and forth was slightly disconcerting. A cruise speed of 200 mph seems slightly optimistic.
There have been a lot of “personal air vehicles” designed over the last decade, most designed for VTOL operations and many with purely electric propulsion systems. One such design – which I can’t vouch for on either technical or financial fronts – is the Delorean DR-7 from Delorean Aerospace, founded by the nephew of *that* Delorean.
Their website, lean on details:
http://www.deloreanaerospace.com/
An article from 2017:
And a patent (US9862486B2):
From the mid 1960’s, a Bell illustration of a 12-ton (presumably referring to payload weight) cargo or military transport hovercraft derived from the “SK-9” design.
A design from 1963 that used four Bristol-Siddeley vectored-thrust Pegasus engines (same as used by the Harrier) and ten lift jets to give an otherwise fairly conventional cargo transport jet aircraft VTOL capability.
A circa 1957 Hiller quadcopter apparently designed for military roles. The cockpit seems to seat two side-by-side, with a twin-gun emplacement underneath. Other than that, not much can be determined from this piece of art.
A 1957 design for a flying crane quadcopter from Hiller.
Once again Patreon seems to be becoming unstable. So I’ve got an alternate: The APR Monthly Historical Documents Program
For some years I have been operating the “Aerospace Projects Review Patreon” which provides monthly rewards in the form of high resolution scans of vintage aerospace diagrams, art and documents. This has worked pretty well, but it seems that perhaps some people might prefer to sign on more directly. Fortunately, PayPal provides the option not only for one-time purchases but also monthly subscriptions. By subscribing using the drop-down menu below, you will receive the same benefits as APR Patrons, but without going through Patreon itself.
Cutaway artwork of the early CH-53A transport helicopter from the mid 1960’s.
A 1967 magazine ad depicting a then-contemporary Bell Helicopter design for a multi-mission tiltrotor. This vehicle was similar in both design and intent to the V-22 Osprey, though with a single central vertical stabilizer, and with a wing mounted near the top of the fuselage but not *above* the fuselage. Consequently, with that tall tail and un-movable wing, this vehicle would not have been foldable for storage on an aircraft carrier.
Dating from late 1965-early 1966, the Ryan “Disk Rotor” was pretty much what it sound like. A helicopter had three rotor blade for vertical takeoff and hovering; as the aircraft gained speed with the use of a pusher prop, the rotors would stop rotating and would fold within a large diameter thin central disk. the disk would serve as an aerodynamic fairing, reducing drag at high speed. The aircraft, for which I’ve spent about 30 years searchign for data on, was apparently meant to be a counter insurgency plane along the lines of the OV-10.
