Hiller YROE

The Hiller ROE - 1 Rotor Cycle was a single-seat collapsible small helicopter that should be used for self rescue crashed or downed pilots and as an observation helicopter. Amalgamated it could be transported in a car under the wing of an airplane or on the loading platform of a vehicle. So he could be dropped near the to be rescued pilots with parachute or transported by simple means to the site and made it there without tools in minutes ready to fly.

• 5.1 Hiller XROE -1
• 5.2 Hiller YROE -1

General

The term ROE was derived from the force in the development period designation system for aircraft of the U.S. Navy, where RO stand for small helicopters and E for the manufacturer Hiller Aircraft Corporation. Depending on the level of development of the term ROE was the prefix for X and Y for Experimental Prototype prefixed.

The design of the collapsible small helicopter is described in the patent COLLAPSIBLE AND PORTABLE ROTARY WING AIRCRAFT, which was filed on January 17, 1958 by Edward H. Jacobsen and Stanley O. Nelson as Agents of Hiller Aircraft Corporation. The patent was issued on April 10, 1962 under publication number US3029047 A.

Technology

Rotors

The Hiller ROE -1 rotor cycle was constructed in a conventional tail rotor configuration. Main and tail rotor were designed as a two -bladed rotor. The main rotor equipped with two paddle connected by a shaft control: p 5 Fig. 13 [ About th 1]. These are described in the patent specification HELICOPTER, which was filed on June 3, 1947 by Stanley Hiller Jr. and Joseph Stuart III. The grant of the patent was made on September 13, 1949 under publication number US2482750 A. This control paddle stabilized the helicopter through the damping occurring at the main rotor and self-reinforcing by small control inputs oscillations. This attenuation was achieved by the pilot with his control inputs via the swash plate at first a " rotor actuator " ( the steering paddle ) responded that this cyclic control pulses with small time delay passed on by its deflection to the main rotor. Since not every small control input had a direct effect on the main rotor, a uniform and lower tax sensitivity was achieved, which made the Hiller ROE -1 easily flyable.

Control

The control was basically like other helicopters tail rotor configuration. The stick, with the control inputs to be performed for the cyclic control, was directly attached to the swash plate and is led from the top front of the torso of the pilot. The collective lever with which the control inputs are performed for the collective control was attached to the left of the pilot's seat: p 4 Figure 8 pedals with which the control inputs to the tail rotor ( balancing the torque ) are carried out, were attached to the front strut of the landing and rack were connected via cables to the tail rotor: p 2 Figure 2, 18 to 22

Base frame

The base frame has been designed so that the Hiller ROE - 1 Rotor Cycle of a securing bolt could be ready to fly by simply unfolding the frame parts and plugging. Only the tail boom had to be cultivated.

The landing gear consisted of three struts, which were placed in the base frame mounted, tubular shafts and secured by a bolt ever: p 7 Fig 17, the forward strut was longer than the struts obliquely backwards, so as to ensure the mounting of the pilot 's seat and the time required for the control of tail rotor pedals.

Behind the pilots was the trunk, who received the drive and the rotor shaft.

Due to the downward sloping and removable tail boom, the drive shaft was for the tail rotor: p 5 Figure 12 This was sent by a trained except gear -like plug into a corresponding socket on the drive housing to achieve a rigid connection of the drive shaft to the main drive: p 5 Figure 13

Drive

When driving an air cooled Nelson served H -59 four-cylinder two-stroke boxer engine with an output of 30 kW ( 40 hp). This was connected to a centrifugal clutch with the drive shaft. Based on the initial experience of the stronger Nelson was built H -63 four-cylinder two-stroke boxer engine with an output of 32 kW (43 PS) later.

Specifications

For the Hiller ROE - 1, the following specifications are given:

History

In 1954, the Hiller Aircraft Corporation of the U.S. Navy commissioned to construct a single-seat collapsible small helicopter

• Dropped with a parachute,
• Quickly and without tools assembled,
• Started without aids

Could be, so as to give a shot down or crashed pilots the opportunity to bring about the enemy lines away to safety. In addition, these small helicopters should be able to be used as an observation helicopter. The only competitor for this project was the moment gyro Company of America Incorporated, which developed the small helicopter with coaxial rotor control moment gyro RON - 1 Rotor Cycle (RO for small helicopters and N for the control moment gyro Manufacturer Company of America Incorporation ).

The Hiller Aircraft Corporation built in their factory in Palo Alto two prototypes that were part of the manufacturer referred to as the Model 1033 and used for various ground and flight tests. On the part of the U.S. Navy has been assigned XROE - 1 Rotor Cycle them the name. These received by the Bureau of Aeronautics ( BuAer ) of the U.S. Navy, the numbers 4003 (soil tests) and 4004 ( flight tests). The first flight of a prototype took place on 10 January 1957.

The British aircraft manufacturer Saunders -Roe Limited built ten other small helicopter ROE -1 license. The first flight of the first of these machines was made in October 1959. The first batch of five aircraft was completed in the spring of 1960, the second in December 1961. Five small helicopters have been exported to the USA, where they were subjected to under the name YROE -1 rotor cycle of the operational test. This was carried out by the NASA Ames Research Center Moffett Federal Airfield on and by the United States Marine Corps at the base Naval Air Station Patuxent River. These five small helicopter received the BuAer numbers 4020-4024.

The remaining five small helicopters were sold under the designation Model G- 46 on the civilian Hiller sales agency in Europe ( Helicop - Air).

The Hiller ROE -1 never went into series production because the United States Marine Corps could not accept for military service this small helicopter. Was justified by this

• The low speed,
• The low range,
• The vulnerability to fire with handguns
• The lack of visual reference lines that can cause low-level flight, the pilot in particular can lose raümliche orientation.

Whereabouts

Of the twelve produced Hiller ROE -1 at least six military machines are still preserved. Two small civil helicopter model G -46 should be issued even in German and French museums ..

Hiller XROE -1

The utilized for the ground test prototype ( BuAer number 4003 ) are located in the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos ( California ), intended for flight testing machine ( BuAer number 4004 ) will be exhibited in the United States Army Aviation Museum at Fort Rucker.

Hiller YROE -1

The obtained test samples Hiller YROE -1 are

• In the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos ( BuAer number 4020 and 4021 )
• National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC, on loan at the Patuxent River Naval Air Museum ( BuAer number 4022 )
• Privately owned ( BuAer number 4024 ).

Another Hiller YROE -1 should be in the Evergreen Aviation & Space Museum in McMinnville (Oregon ). However, this has not yet been verified.

Model helicopter

Since there are no kits for building a Hiller ROE -1 rotor cycle, Dominique Bauve and Rainer Hermann a scale, airworthy and radio controlled model helicopter have made ​​this small. As a template, the original design documents were used. The driven by internal combustion engine model helicopter has a rotor diameter of 1.80 meters and a launch mass of approximately 9 kg.