Short S.C.1
The Short SC1 was the first British fixed-wing VTOL aircraft. Worldwide only led the Bell X -14 was the first starter flat (flat - riser ) made its first flight before the SC1 through. With the experimental plane fundamental investigations into the use of a VTOL aircraft were carried out.
History
First VTOL trials in the UK
The first practical trials in the UK with turbojets as lift engines for vertical take-off led Rolls -Royce in 1953 with a " thrust measurement frame " ( Rolls -Royce Thrust Measuring Rig ). The device has been jokingly referred to as "flying bedstead ". In the frame of two Rolls -Royce Nene were built opposite the exhaust jet was diverted into three beamlines in the focus of the frame about 90 degrees downward. Compressor bleed air that has been blown out on the four sides of the frame tubes on down made for the attitude control in all three axes. The first flights of the two built specimens were held on August 3, 1954 and August 1955.
First Hubstrahltriebwerk
The chief scientist at Rolls- Royce Dr. Griffith was so convinced of the practical usefulness of a direct-acting Hubstrahltriebwerks that does not require beam deflection and the associated loss of thrust that the construction of a specially adapted version was started in 1949. Man holding a thrust -to-weight ratio of 8:1 or 9:1 feasible. About the test engine Soar we arrived at the world's first practical use perpendicular incorporated Hubstrahltriebwerk, which was designated RB.108. The RB.108 reached 1955, a thrust of 9.9 kN (2000 lb) in fact the desired thrust -to-weight ratio of 8:1.
Tendering, ordering and construction
The Ministry of Supply was published in September 1953 with the Specification ER.143 the requirements for the design and construction of a VTOL experimental aircraft. The aircraft should be capable of a vertical launch alone perform with its jet engines to accelerate to normal aerodynamically assisted flight mode, break back to the stationary state of suspension and perform a vertical landing.
Early in 1954 the proposal PD11 (Preliminary Design 11 ) of Short was selected as the most promising and started the construction of SC1. The aim of the work was to construct the smallest cell to accommodate five engines, fuel, and the pilot. Asked early on in the Konstruktionsdetaillierung the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE ), provide for the possibility of rapid change between automatic and manual control. There are three parallel channels incorporated for the control of servo motors. In August 1954, the official order was issued for the construction of two machines ( Werk-Nr. 1814 and 1815, RAF XG900 and XG905 identifiers ).
In the spring of 1955, the construction of the first prototype, which was completed in November 1956 began. Since initially only conventional takeoffs and landings were provided, only the tail engine was installed. This completed his first successful test runs on 7 December 1956.
Testing
The first performed by the Short - Chief Test Pilot Tom Brooke- Smith rolling tests began on 17 December. For the first flight XG900 was brought on board SS Copeland and followed by a road transport from Belfast to Boscombe Down. There, the conventional first flight took place on 2 April 1957.
The second prototype was directly equipped with the Hubtriebwerken that could be rotated by 35 ° to the front and rear. On 3 September 1957, the first static tests of engines took place. The first still tethered hover in Sydenham in Belfast succeeded on 23 May 1958. It took but then another five months before a first unfettered hover could take place on October 25. Only then also received XG900 after returning to Belfast its lift engines.
In the first public demonstration of SC1 on the Airshow 1959 in Farnborough failed the proposed vertical take-off because the grass lying there was first blown away by the freshly mowed lawn and then sucked out of the Hubtriebwerken accumulated on the grid over the engine intakes. This led to such a strong power loss that a lifting was no longer possible. The first complete a transition SC1 succeeded on April 6, 1960 on the basis of the Royal Aircraft Establishment Bedford. XG905 crashed during testing on October 2, 1963 with the pilot JR Green was killed. Cause was the failure of a gyroscope ( gyro instrument) in the control system at low altitude. Despite instant switching to manual control was no longer able Green to regain control. After the reconstruction of the machine both airplanes test operation took until June 1966 again.
Whereabouts
1971 left both prototypes Bedford. XG900 was first shown at the Science Museum and then brought to Yeovilton in the Fleet Air Arm Museum, where they can be visited today. XG905 is located in the Ulster Transport Museum in Holywood.
Construction
The SC1 was a single-seat low-wing aircraft, which was designed as a constructive tailless delta aircraft (no tailplane ). The weight of the vertical take-off was not more than 3495 kg ( 7700 lb). The drive for the vertical flight consisted of four vertically mounted Rolls- Royce RB.108 - jet engines and a RB.108 in the tail for forward flight. The vertical engines were in pairs side by side in the center fuselage, so that the Schubresultierende went almost through the center of gravity of the aircraft. Pivoting the engine about the transverse axis of the machine allowing a change of direction of the thrust vector. The rear engine was installed at an angle of 30 °, since the optimized for vertical operation of the lubrication system RB.108 did not permit horizontal installation.
The position control in all three axes was made in hover over control nozzles, bleed air withdrawals (about 10% of thrust ) from the four Hubtriebwerken and blew out again at the nose, the tail and the wing tips. The tanks were arranged in the front wing and nose area as a blind tanks between the two main spars of the wing.
SC1 had the first fly- by-wire system that has been used in a tiltrotor aircraft. Initially, a Folland - lightweight ejection seat was installed, which was later replaced by a Martin -Baker Mk -4 -Zero -Zero - seat. The inclination of the fixed landing gear could be set on the ground. For the conventional starting the legs were set tilted forward.