Kellett Postwar Prototypes and Projects

 
Allow me to add to the Kellett mysteries with this mention of a Kellett KH-13 Rocket (along with a picture that is undecipherable).

Source: http://www.dtic.mil/cgi-bin/GetTRDoc?Location=U2&doc=GetTRDoc.pdf&AD=ADA108091

The same designation is found elsewhere for the "Stable Mable" (although other sources give the latter as the KH-15): http://www.helicopteros.com.br/hist10.asp
 

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This from Aerofiles:

1929: (W Wallace & Roderick G) Kellett Autogiro Co, Philadelphia PA. 1943: Kellett Aircraft Corp. 1970: Kellett Corp. c.1987: Bankruptcy, some parts and equipment sold to Piasecki.

And from the same source re KH-15:

KH-15 1954 = USN. 1pOH propelled by small hydrogen-peroxide rockets at the rotor tips; ff: 5/13/54. POP: 1 for testing by the Office of Naval Research [140957].

A KH-15 is also enclosed.
 

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Thanks Jos. Despite the more than lousy quality of the image, the KH-13 Rocket also appears to feature counter-rotating tip-jet rotors, like the KH-15, and may therefore have been a prototype for it.
 
Does anyone have access to the Journal of the American Helicopter Society Vol 1/Issue1? It has a 3-page article entitled 'History of Kellett Helicopter Development', by FK Meek, then Kellett's Chief Weight Engineer.
 
I happen to have that scanned - let me get those pages printed and rescanned and I'll post them shortly.

Enjoy the Day! Mark
 
Here you go....

Anyone know of drawings for the Kellett XH-10 Synchropter? Looks interesting!

Enjoy the Day! Mark
 

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Drawings, no. But photos you'll find a few on the web if you search for "Kellett XR-10" instead of the later "XH-10" redesignation which was not used for very long. You can also find the earlier XR-8 Synchropter, which greatly influenced the design of the XR-10 (dubbed the Eggbeater).


Here are a few links for you:

http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/kellett_xr-8.php
http://www.aviastar.org/helicopters_eng/kellett_xr-10.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kellett_XR-10
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sdasmarchives/4563936997/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sdasmarchives/4563937005/


Production:

XR-8-KE: Kellett KH-1 Synchropter, one Franklin O-405-9 engine, one built [USAAF s/n 43-44714]
XR-8A-KE: Kellett KH-1 Synchropter, one Franklin O-405-9 engine, one built [USAAF s/n 44-21908]
XR-10-KE (XH-10): Kellett KH-2X-C "Eggbeater", two Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Junior engines, two built [45-22793,22795]

Second XR-10 may never have been completed.
Production version was to be built by Hughes as the R-10A-HU (H-10A) but this was cancelled.

4563936997_133e4f7833.jpg
 
Thanks for the links - we have the Air Enthusiast at the Museum so will look at that but will have to hunt for the helicopter book referenced.

Enjoy the Day! Mark
 
Mark: thanks for the JAHS article. Alas, no mention of that elusive KH-13.

Stéphane: elsewhere you mentioned that KH stood for Kellett Hughes. I'm wondering if it wasn't Kellett Helicopter -- in line with KD/Kellett Direct-control?
 
Apophenia said:
Stéphane: elsewhere you mentioned that KH stood for Kellett Hughes. I'm wondering if it wasn't Kellett Helicopter -- in line with KD/Kellett Direct-control?
Click to expand...

No, no! I NEVER claimed that "KH-" stood for "Kellett Hughes"! All I said was that the KH-2 was supposed to be produced by Hughes!
Of course KH- meant Kellett Helicopter.
 
I pulled a copy of the JAHS article, too, and it's interesting for its references to the Hughes XH-17 heavy lift helicopter...according to the article, Kellett originated the concept, but it was turned over to Hughes in 1948 for development. The KH-15 was built under a US Navy research contract to pursue Kellett's goal of developing automatic stabilization for helicopters -- a real challenge. The article (dtd Jan 1956) says that the KH-15 had been flown for up to four minutes "hands off."

Note on nomenclature. Stéphane's correct. USAAF helicopters were designated as "R-x" (for Rotary Wing) until 1948, and "H-x" thereafter. In either case, the "X" prefix indicated that the aircraft was a prototype. It's clear from the article that Kellett's internal designation system used "KH-x" (for Kellett Helicopter) throughout.
 
For KH-2A,please see;

http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,5175.msg41047.html#msg41047
 
Mock up of a commercial version XH-10.
 

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Since Kellett didn't build any production model after their pre-war autogyros, the presence of this topic in the "Aviation & Space" section is inappropriate, since all the types discussed were either projects or prototypes. Therefore the topic must be moved to the "Postwar Projects" section.
 
Interavia July 1949 artilcle on the XH-10.
 

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