Shipbucket

Great!
Though for some reason I prefer the looks of actual AEW.3.

The Westland OR.358 VTOL transport in the markings of 46 Squadron, RAF, circa 1968.

In 1962, Westland proposed this tilt-engine VTOL transport to fulfil OR.358 (a joint RN/ RAF requirement as NASR.358) for a medium helicopter for both services. I know no details but it is the first of a series of convertiplane VTOL transports designed by Westland. Westland did propose a tandem-rotor helicopter to NASR.358, the WG.11. The VTOL transport doesn't seem to have a WG project number.

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That is one big ass rotor..
Great drawing

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I'm guessing conventional landings weren't in the cards.

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“Close” only counts with horseshoes, hand grenades, and tactical nuclear weapons.
That which does not kill me has made a grave tactical error

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Source Materiel is always welcome.

Very strange, but very interesting.
Great work!

Westland Supersonic Rotor Helicopter 1973

Only the rotors of this design were supersonic!
In the 1970s Westland designed a number of supersonic rotor helicopters, most were compound helicopters, but this design from 22 June 1973 is probably among the first proposed. The rotor diameter was 49ft 3in, loaded weight 33,500lbs and it would have three Avco Lycoming LTC.4V1 turboshafts. The plan shows armament of one Sidewinder balanced by a fuel tank on the other stub wing. Whether this design had ASW capability I'm not sure but it seems to have space for 3-4 crew so might have carried A/S torpedoes etc. in pods and a pure fighter-use seems unlikely, but self-defence might be useful as well as dealing with any Ka-25/27 it comes across in the GIUK gaps. The noise of the rotors would have been incredible and this is just one a series of amazing ideas Westland have come up with. I hope to show more in forthcoming posts.

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Interwar RN Capital Ships
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Never-Were British Aircraft

I wonder how they managed to get the blades to work at those speeds. Regardless of the technology it is a lovely looking little thing.

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Blood and Fire

Great drawings, I had never seen the 1973 project before.Not knowing a great deal about helicoptors to my shame. Is it possible to make a rotor blade go supersonic cos of the aerodynamic drag

Yes. In fact keeping them from doing so is a major headache on modern high performance helicopters. Hence all the weirdly shaped rotorblades you see on modern helicopters.

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“Close” only counts with horseshoes, hand grenades, and tactical nuclear weapons.
That which does not kill me has made a grave tactical error

Worklist

Source Materiel is always welcome.

Incredibly ambitious for the time. Only now do we have something really like it.