"Jim Atkins" wrote in message
et...
Aren't there severe weight problems involved with separate vertical and
horizontal systems? Seems I recall things like Dornier's transport (Do
31?)
with dedicated lift jets that could just barely transport the weight of
the
crew.

--
Jim Atkins
Twentynine Palms CA USA


Yeah but the rotodyne didnt really have separate systems except
for the tipjets

It was a large autogyro but the engines that drove it horizontally
could be tapped for bypass air which when fed to tipjets and burned
allowed it to function as a helicopter.

Its flight tests were succesful and it lifted a respectable load, its
real limitation, as with any helicopter is top speed. Due to the
problems of imbalanced lift between advancing and lagging rotors
it will never match a fixed wing aircraft for speed.

Keith