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Bensen Mid Jet

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Manufacturer
  
Bensen Aircraft

Designer
  
Igor Bensen

The Bensen Mid-Jet (a pun on "Midget jet") was a small helicopter developed by Igor Bensen in the United States in the early 1950s in the hope of attracting the interest of the United States Navy. It was a single-seat, open framework machine based on the B-5 rotor kite with small, gasoline- or fuel oil-burning ramjets mounted as tipjets on the rotor blades. Tests carried out in 1954 showed it to be able to lift four times its own weight and cruise at 75 mph (120 km/h).

Specifications

General characteristics

  • Crew: One pilot
  • Main rotor diameter: 15 ft 0 in (4.57 m)
  • Height: 5 ft 4 in (1.63 m)
  • Main rotor area: 176 ft2 (16.4 m2)
  • Empty weight: 100 lb (45 kg)
  • Gross weight: 500 lb (227 kg)
  • Powerplant: 2 × ramjets, equivalent to 20 hp (15 kW) each

    • Performance

  • Cruise speed: 75 mph (120 km/h)

    • References

    Bensen Mid-Jet Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA