Curtiss-Bleecker SX-5-1 Helicopter

Curtiss-Bleecker Helicopter
Role	Helicopter
National origin	United States of America
Manufacturer	Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company
Designer	Maitland B. Bleecker
First flight	1926
Number built	1
Unit cost	$250,000 in 1930

The Curtiss-Bleecker Helicopter was a prototype rotary wing aircraft with thrust distributed from a central mounted engine to propellers on each rotor.

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.^[1] 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.^[1]

Operational history

Testing on the Bleecker helicopter was stopped after the failure of a drive shaft on a test flight in 1929.^[2] By 1933 the project was abandoned following vibrational issues in further tests.^[3]

Specifications

Data from NASA^{[citation needed]}

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 and Whitney Wasp radial piston, 420 hp (310 kW)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 70 mph (110 km/h; 61 kn)
• Rate of climb: 1,000 ft/min (5.1 m/s)

See also

• Hellesen-Kahn helicopter
• Isacco helicogyro
  

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "New Plane May Fly Straight Up in Air." Popular Science Monthly, September 1930, pp. 20-21.
2. ^ Peter M. Bowers. Curtiss aircraft 1907-1947. 
3. ^ J. Gordon Leishman. principles of helicopter aerodynamics.