Sep 092011
The Hawker-Siddely 803. A short-range “airbus” seating 58 passengers, equipped with helicopter rotors on the wingtips. The rotors stop in forward flight, and two of them fold back… but one, rather distressingly, projects forward. This would *not* work well, as anything vaguely resembling a wind gust or change in angle of attack would tend to try to bend the rotor back.
Drawing from the late 1960’s. It’s pretty awful quality, but what do you want? It’s free, ya mooches. Feel free to hit that “Donate” button over there on the right.
2 Responses to “H.S. 803 VTOL airliner”
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It’s a little strange in layout, as you could have done it with four-bladed rotors and have them stop at a “X” angle, with the two front blades swept back at forty-five degree angle.
Also, the overall aerodynamics don’t suggest a terribly fast top speed with the rotors folded.
>Also, the overall aerodynamics don’t suggest a terribly fast top speed with the rotors folded
I have a book with a drawing in of a fixed-wing version of this, designated the HS.806, from 1967-8.
It was a HSA Manchester study, derived from the HS.478 feederliner, leading to what eventually became the BAe 146…