Not Only, But Also....

[Pchristy]

No, not Pete & Dud, but a radio controlled helicopter from the 50s! And it uses a single stick Tx!!!





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Pete

[Wayne_H]

Great find Pete, thanks for sharing

[iflylilplanes]

Loved it, yes, a great find.

[albertthedragon]

The Kaman HTK-1 also appeared on the cover of the May 1955 issue of “Model Aviation” (The old UK one, not the US one) And there’s some info on this at https://armyaviationmagazine.com/kaman- ... elicopter/
There’s still a couple of HTK-1s on display, One at the New England Air Museum, a few miles from Kaman’s Premises, and another at the Tillamook Air Museum in Oregon.
I spent 4 and ½ years at Kaman as a design, integration and flight-test engineer on the somewhat ill-fated Kaman SH2G helos for the Australian and New Zealand Navies.
A rather good analysis of the very ambitious, but flawed, project is at http://rumourcontrol.com.au/super-seasp ... ent-wrong/
It’s the short “Executive Summary “at only 26 pages, but is pretty accurate.

The Australian Auditor-General also produced a comprehensive report of 352 pages on the whole matter, with the Kaman response starting at page 298. It’s a master-class in what not to do. See https://www.anao.gov.au/sites/default/f ... 009_41.pdf
It’s an interesting read if you’re so inclined.

But the HTK-1 was not the first, that honour goes to Arthur Young, who first flew a remote-controlled (albeit by wire) helo in the early 1940s

Barry

[Pchristy]

Thanks for that info, Barry! Always nice to hear from someone with first hand knowledge of some of the machinery involved!

Yes, many of is know of Arthur Young's experiments. Somewhere I've got a DVD with quite a lot of footage of his experiments.

A lesser known one was the Lockheed RC helicopter, built as a technology demonstrator for their rigid rotor + flybar system back in the 50s. Apparently it was powered by a McCoy 61 and used reed RC gear. I've seen some video of it supposedly flying, but that video must have been a lot later as it appears to be controlled by an early digital (twin-stick) RC system - so probably early 60s?

But that Kaman is the earliest full-size version of an RC helicopter I've seen!

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Pete

[Spike S]

Not the Kaman device but I did encounter the Gyrodyne torpedo-carrying drone (DSN-1) when Joined my minesweeper in Malta in 1967. We had just woken the Queen up (raised the ensign) with a mixed international fleet in harbour. Having patiently waited for all the anthems to cease, including the Stars & Stripes, the blissful Sunday morning silence was soon shattered by one of these "DASH" (Destroyer Anti-Submarine Helicopter) drones being run up on the deck of a USN ship in the nearby Kalkara Creek. The ensuing noise-complaints, adjacent to the RN Hospital on what was supposed to be a rest & recreation weekend, generated some unwelcome Staffwork !

The thought of getting one of these UMA safely down onto a moving deck at sea in anything other than perfect weather begged some incredulity. I never saw another one - perhaps resigned to the "Seemed like a good idea at the time" category ? We received the Westland WASP manned ASW chopper, with its sewing-machine engine, not long after that time. Considering the weaponry then available, even the WASP in its War role was regarded as a 'once-only' measure !