Aeroplane – June 2018

and New York Airways issued a

letter of intent for five

examples plus options on a

further 10 for delivery in 1964.

The Kaman Aircraft

Corporation was considering a

licence to produce the

Rotodyne in the USA and the

US Marine Corps was said to

be interested. In Britain BEA,

the army and the RAF

remained potential customers,

but orders remained elusive.

Although the flight test

programme was making good

progress the cost of the

Tyne-engined Z and the

slippage of production targets

to 1961 put the project under

further pressure. The 1957

Defence White Paper had

begun the process of

consolidating the British aircraft

industry and by early 1960

Fairey’s rotary-wing interests

had been absorbed by its main

competitor, Westland.

Inevitably, there was some

scepticism about the Yeovil-

based company’s enthusiasm

for the Rotodyne given that it

had created something of a

niche for itself through the

acquisition of British

manufacturing licences for

US-built Sikorsky helicopters.

But it abandoned its highly-

touted Westminster project to

concentrate on the Rotodyne

and gave an undertaking that it

would continue. Aviation

minister Duncan Sandys

welcomed the Westland

takeover because it would

“strengthen the organisation.”

XE521 was soon flying with

‘Westland Rotodyne’ titles. The

military markings were

intended to highlight service

interest in the aircraft. Early in

1960 Westland and BEA began

serious negotiations on a deal

for six Rotodynes which, with

total military requirements,

would have taken the order

book to 18. But the

negotiations with BEA

continued to be overshadowed

by concerns about noise and

the lack of infrastructure

investment.

By 1961 the noise issue had

reached the point where

Westland felt it was no longer

justified in spending its own

money in fulfilling the orders.

Although some observers

called the noise “shattering”,

Ron Gellatly thought it merely

the subject of “ill-informed

criticism”. He maintained that

the noise of the tip-jets on

take-off and landing had been

reduced to 96db and pointed

out that, in any case, the jets

were lit for only one minute on

take-off and landing. Sandys’

successor as aviation minister,

Peter Thorneycroft, who

ordered tests at Battersea

Heliport, thought the noise was

less than expected. He was

confident that the Tyne-

engined aircraft would be “a

good deal quieter.”

Two flights into Battersea on

a calm morning in 1961

produced mixed results. In his

book Fairey Rotodyne, David

Gibbings observed that at

Battersea the Rotodyne was, “a

very large aeroplane operating

in a very small space”. Seven

noise recording stations were

sited round the heliport and

were in radio contact with the

control tower. Another 30

observers were situated over a

wide area, their job being to

make subjective assessments.

Although there was only one

report of the noise being

“deafening”, there were 18

calling the aircraft “noisy” or

“very noisy”. Yet there were no

complaints from the public and

the only two telephone calls

about the flight were from

people curious about it.

Political indecision,

particularly during the last

three years, “bedevilled all

aspects of the programme”,

Ron Gellatly wrote in August

1962. Programme continuity

was maintained, however, and

all but one of the major test

areas had been covered by the

time aviation minister Peter

Thorneycroft stood up in the

Commons to make the

cancellation announcement.

By then XE521 had flown

455 sorties and carried in

excess of 800 passengers

including a number of airline

bosses, service chiefs and

members of parliament.

“Numerous demonstrations

were made in both military and

civil roles”, Gellatly wrote, “and

these were used to work up

operating flight techniques and

to settle operators’ design

requirements. Often we

demonstrated transitions from

helicopter to autogiro and back

again in cloud at less than

500ft (150m) above the

ground.”

Uniquely, the Rotodyne had

made repeated demonstrations

at up to 200mph (320km/h)

and been pulled into steep

climbing turns with no adverse

handling effects and without

endangering the lives of those

on board. This, Gellatly

maintained, demonstrated the

“inherent safety of this

prototype vehicle of radical

design and emphasised our

faith in the configuration”. He

added, “The Rotodyne Y

demonstrated conclusively that

a large economic transport

VTOL is a practical proposition

today, not in 15 years’ time.”

The ability — or otherwise — of the Rotodyne to operate from

London’s Battersea Heliport was crucial to its practicality. LEONARDO

A major Rotodyne test achievement was the lifting on 26 July 1959 of

this girder bridge section from White Waltham to the Thames. AEROPLANE

George Hislop wrote that the Rotodyne was

something no operator “could afford to ignore”,

but no firm orders were forthcoming

Development

Technical Details

Flight Testing

Cancellation

Insights

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