Hellesen-Kahn double-plane-rotor(?) helicopter

... Using two plane fuselages as rotor-wings!

It first flew in 1925, though apparently not very successful.




Pictures UKS - Stingray's Archive:

Thanks. Very radical and interesting idea. But I don't want to go on board this super machine. ;D 　

Seems very similar in concept to the Isaaco Helicogyre...


"Victor Isacco was an Italian who, after collaboration
with de Pescara in Spain and France from 1919-25,
designed and had manufactured in France between 1926
and 1929, versions of his Helicogyre machine with
torqueless rotor drive.
Interest in this was also displayed by the Air Ministry
Directorate of Scientific Research who in 1928 placed an
order with Saunders-Roe for the manufacture of one machine
for testing at Farnborough as a result of a tender
submitted early in the year,
The rotor was driven by four Bristol Cherub engines,
driving four-bladed airscrews, mounted at the tips.
A fifth engine was mounted conventionally in the fuselage
nose for forward propulsion.
The controls were extremely complex and this was
recognised by Isacco as a defect,of the design,
to be the subject of development.
The machine was delivered to Farnborough towards
the end of 1929 but it is not known whether it was ever
possible to persuade all five engines to run simultaneously
or if the machine, which was overweight, left the ground.
The centrifugal force adversely affected the lubrication of
the horizontally opposed twin cylinder engines, the outer
cylinders receiving an excessive supply of oil, neither
could control of the fuel feed to the carburettors be
achieved during the tests
The Helicogyre No. 3 was scrapped in 1932."

Source :- 'From Sea to Air', Tagg/Wheeler, pp. 45,152.

cheers,
Robin.

Sting, the type that you're showing in the plan is quite different from the one in the retouched photo. The former shows two full-fledged aircraft being used as rotor-components, while the latter shows rotor blades fitted with only the nose section. In the photo, the part of the blades between the engine and the main rotor is warped, while the plan shows a perfectly normal wing plan.

Stargazer2006 said:

Sting, the type that you're showing in the plan is quite different from the one in the retouched photo. The former shows two full-fledged aircraft being used as rotor-components, while the latter shows rotor blades fitted with only the nose section. In the photo, the part of the blades between the engine and the main rotor is warped, while the plan shows a perfectly normal wing plan.

Click to expand...

Good eye, but it is still the same aircraft and concept. Just like original plan of the Polish SM-5 (Mi-2.1) was to have tricycle-type wheel landing gear, but the mockup was built instead with skids.

robunos said:

Seems very similar in concept to the Isaaco Helicogyre...

Click to expand...

Yes, you're right! Thanks for the pics and info, by the way.

There was also a Czech homebuilt project with two-stroke motorcycle engines positioned at the rotor hub, also similar to this layout:

https://sites.google.com/site/stingrayslistofrotorcraft/maier-helicopter

Not to mention the Curtiss-Bleecker SX5-1, which somehow reminds me of it too.

A nice photo of the Hellesen-Kahn HK-1:

Stargazer2006 said:

A nice photo of the Hellesen-Kahn HK-1:

Click to expand...

Great find Stargazer,


and anther one picture from front.


http://kulturserver-nds.de/home/hubtest/medien/ACD-allNAILS%20bis%201936.pdf

Try as I might, I cannot find any reference to the country where this Hellesen-Kahn type was developed. The name sounds German of course, but I guess it could also be Swiss, Austrian, Belgian or French. Neither my books nor the web were of any help... :-[

Does anyone here have a clue? Thanks in advance!

The designer is actually French. Christian Hellesen is the inventor along with MM. Elie Lang. The patent for this aircraft is FR585574A which I've attached here.

Excellent, hikoki1946. Thank you so much for solving this riddle!

I found this short article from The Straits Times, 6 February 1926.

Hi,


I think the Hellesen design in this picture,differ a little from we have,am I right ?.


http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6568218x.image

hesham said:

I think the Hellesen design in this picture,differ a little from we have,am I right ?.

Click to expand...

The picture shows no background at all and the helicopter itself has quite thick contours. I would
think, that it is either a really heavily retouched photo or a drawing, so maybe not really suitable
for comparison with the other photos.

Or may be Artist drawing to it my dear Jens,


frankly,I don't know !.

Hi,

http://www.avia-it.com/act/biblioteca/periodici/PDF%20Riviste/Ala%20d'Italia/L'ALA%20D'ITALIA%201925%20012.pdf