Dobson Convertiplane
Posted by Unlucky-Debt5467@reddit | WeirdWings | View on Reddit | 11 comments
Not many photos exist since it's a very obscure aircraft
Posted by Unlucky-Debt5467@reddit | WeirdWings | View on Reddit | 11 comments
Not many photos exist since it's a very obscure aircraft
Thick_Pineapple8782@reddit
Do want
SchreiberBike@reddit
That's a lot of work for what must be an April Fools Day joke.
SchreiberBike@reddit
Well, I was wrong. It's not totally impossible. With turbine power I think it might actually work.
HalogenFisk@reddit
Page 2 of the patent clearly explains the CoG is addressed:
https://patents.google.com/patent/US2994492
(Source from previous r/weirdwings post https://www.reddit.com/r/WeirdWings/comments/i38l6a/the_dobson_convertiplane/ )
SchreiberBike@reddit
Amazing. So it was intended to take off and land with the pilot looking up at the sky. I suppose that's possible.
Will_at_Worlds_End@reddit
And there's this Wikipedia article (which I wrote!);
Wikipedia - Dobson Convertiplane
:-)
AutonomousOrganism@reddit
Nice find.
Silent film documenting the development: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZSHvgKKU20
It's unclear if it ever flew.
workahol_@reddit
Man that was a wild thing to watch. I can't figure out how they were planning to make the CG work for vertical flight, not to mention the aerodynamic challenges related to having half your rotor disc sitting on top of a big delta wing.
Jessie_C_2646@reddit
There's a remote possibility that the rear half of the rotor thrust flowed over the wing surface in Coanda effect?
There's a larger possibility that the forward half of the rotor thrust yeeteed it over backwards the first time they applied takeoff thrust.
workahol_@reddit
With the entire airframe weight located behind the rotor shaft, yeeting over backwards seems like a guarantee!
Jessie_C_2646@reddit
If the pilot could tilt the proprotors just right as it was being yeeted backwards, it might have been able to take off in a vertical climb and then push forward into level flight assuming greater than 1:1 power to weight ratio.
But I don't see any way it could land.