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Curtiss Bleecker SX 5 1 Helicopter

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First flight
  
1926

Curtiss-Bleecker SX-5-1 Helicopter httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

The Curtiss-Bleecker Helicopter was an American prototype rotary wing aircraft, introduced in 1926. The thrust of the aircraft was distributed from a central mounted engine through shafts to propellers mounted on each rotor blade.

Contents

Design and development

The Bleecker Helicopter was designed by Maitland B. Bleecker, a junior engineer from the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. The aircraft was constructed by Curtiss Wright for $250,000 over the course of four years at Garden City.

The aircraft featured a rotary wing design with a single engine. Each rotor, painted silver and yellow, had an individual propeller for thrust and a trailing control surface called a "stabovator" to change pitch of the rotor. The aircraft was controlled by a stick that operated like a modern helicopter collective control. Yaw was controlled with a "Spin Vane" that used downwash from the rotor to pivot the aircraft with foot pedals.

Operational history

Testing on the Bleecker Helicopter was stopped after the failure of a drive shaft on a test flight in 1929. By 1933 the project was abandoned following vibrational issues in further tests.

Specifications

Data from NASA

General characteristics

  • Capacity: 2
  • Wing area: 370 sq ft (34 m2) Area of rotor blades
  • Empty weight: 2,800 lb (1,270 kg)
  • Gross weight: 3,400 lb (1,542 kg)
  • Fuel capacity: 30 US gallons (114 litres)
  • Powerplant: 1 × Pratt & Whitney Wasp radial piston, 420 hp (310 kW)
  • Performance

  • Maximum speed: 70 mph (113 km/h; 61 kn)
  • Rate of climb: 1,000 ft/min (5.1 m/s)
  • References

    Curtiss-Bleecker SX-5-1 Helicopter Wikipedia


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