[HN Gopher] Sikorsky X-Wing (2013)
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Sikorsky X-Wing (2013)
Author : jeffreyrogers
Score : 86 points
Date : 2022-02-09 19:39 UTC (3 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.sikorskyarchives.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.sikorskyarchives.com)
| wmij wrote:
| Thanks for sharing this. I grew up a few miles away from the
| Sikorsky plant in Stratford, CT. and as a kid remember seeing on
| a couple of occasions some of the experimental helicopters flying
| overhead. A lot of my friends parents worked at Sikorsky and
| sometimes would mention the program, in particular the ABC
| (advanced blade concept). It was mainly hushed but after what
| seemed like many years the experimental programs were moved out
| of Stratford or maybe scrapped. Then all the overhead traffic
| everyday were from the Blackhawk and Super Stallion programs the
| company was focused on to keep themselves going.
|
| I still marvel at the Sikorsky Skycrane, IMO one of the most
| underrated aircraft ever produced. Whenever I see one I'm
| transported back in time seeing them flying over my neighborhood
| thinking that it was like a big giant wasp in the sky.
| lizknope wrote:
| If you are an 80's kid there was a G.I. Joe toy based on this.
|
| https://www.3djoes.com/skystorm.html
| Pxtl wrote:
| I totally had that toy. The mechanism for extending/retracting
| the rotor always felt like it was about to finally break the
| next time you used it.
| jkaptur wrote:
| I guess they worked hard to make it realistic ;)
| neuronexmachina wrote:
| Likewise! For some reason my clearest memory of the toy was
| putting the little sticker-decals on.
| sandworm101 wrote:
| Sikorsky was attempting to bolt a helicopter atop a fixed-wing
| aircraft. Rather than the best of both worlds they wound up with
| the worst problems of each. A more interesting idea was the F-104
| VTOL concept. Rather than put helo blades on a fighter, take the
| delta wing of a fighter and spin it like a helicopter blade. Take
| off with it spinning then fix it in place when flying forwards,
| potentially at supersonic speeds. The concept was never built but
| would have avoided the inherent inefficiencies of Sikorsky's
| approach. And a supersonic rotary-wing aircraft would be very
| cool.
|
| https://elpoderdelasgalaxias.wordpress.com/2014/03/28/f-104-...
|
| https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/lockheed-f-104-%C2%...
| gorgoiler wrote:
| If you think it's cool with the .uk site, could you link
| directly to some of the images in the thread?
|
| They currently require a forum login.
| multiplegeorges wrote:
| I'm not so sure that F-104 concept would've worked out. It
| wasn't called the Widowmaker for nothing and the added weight
| for the rotating wing assembly would've been quite substantial.
|
| As for bolting a helicopter to a fixed wing aircraft, they
| bolted two rotors to the V-22 and it's working out pretty well,
| despite early, deadly failures.
|
| Also, both the SB-1 Defiant helicopter and the S-97 Raider are
| in development for fast helicopters.
|
| But, the X-wing concept looks like the coolest one of them all.
| I would've loved to see it fly. It could have enabled city to
| city fast transport without the need for local, urban runways.
| trhway wrote:
| >they bolted two rotors to the V-22 and it's working out
| pretty well, despite early, deadly failures.
|
| my favorite which seems to have worked much better (and one
| can say was a preview of the minimum what one can expect from
| the current Cambrian explosion of modern multicopters) yet
| didn't make it into production
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_X-22
| multiplegeorges wrote:
| Yeah, that's a beautiful aircraft. The ducted fans look
| more modern and sleek despite being decades older than the
| V-22.
| brimble wrote:
| I'm not an aeronautical engineer or anything... but the downwash
| from the rotors onto the large fixed undermounted wings on the
| RSRA test model is some serious WTF, no?
| engineer_22 wrote:
| The test aircraft was designed to see whether the coanda effect
| would produce the lift and controllability they desired. The
| rotor for that aircraft would be fixed. They didn't intend for
| VTOL with the model that had fixed wings, they would fly it
| like a regular airplane and see how she handled.
| brimble wrote:
| Ah, that's less crazy, just probably drank fuel really fast
| (which, test craft, so who cares)
| wanderer_ wrote:
| Ok, that's wicked. I guess I'm a kid at heart because I only
| looked at the pictures :)
|
| Although looking at that render (erm, drawing) at the top it
| looks like a lot of the thrust of the rotor would be eliminated /
| redirected by the fuselage. It doesn't look like that later, so I
| guess that was more a visual effects decision than a design one.
| echelon wrote:
| I'm not familiar with aviation, so I have no idea what I'm
| talking about, but that rotor looks to me a lot like the
| "stealth" helicopter remains from the Abbottabad / bin Laden
| crash:
|
| https://www.wired.com/2011/05/aviation-geeks-scramble-to-i-d...
|
| Much different than this design:
|
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikorsky_UH-60_Black_Hawk
| dogma1138 wrote:
| This concept was eventually developed into the S-97/RAIDER
| X/Defiant line of helicopters..
|
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikorsky_S-97_Raider
|
| https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sikorsky-Boeing_SB-1_Defiant
|
| This is very much likely to be the template for the US next
| generation of assault and recon helicopters.
| carabiner wrote:
| The X-Wing was very different from these concepts. The X-Wing
| flew with a single _fixed main rotor_ with blowers to attach
| the flow via the Coanda effect. The S-97 uses two conventional
| contra-rotating rotors. The X-wing was much more radical
| whereas the S-97 configuration has been in production usage for
| decades in the Kamov helicopters.
| Gravityloss wrote:
| https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eurocopter_X%C2%B3 this is more
| like it
| carabiner wrote:
| Not sure you guys get it. The X-Wing could fly with a
| _fully stopped_ main rotor. The rotor was completely still
| in forward flight, but then could start rotating for hover
| flight.
| dogma1138 wrote:
| The innovation of the S-97 and it's kin isn't the main rotor
| but the pusher propellor which allows it to operate at speeds
| and altitudes far above what a conventional helicopter can
| achieve but it's not fast enough for the main rotors to be
| locked in a fixed wing position, mainly because it's not a
| good trade off for the roles which these fill.
|
| It overall it kept quite a few design elements from the X
| wing such as the rigid wings on the main rotor and that the
| forward propulsion is achieved by a pusher rotor instead of
| the jet exhaust on the X wing.
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(page generated 2022-02-09 23:00 UTC)