"Don McIntyre" wrote in message
oups.com...
Why did they settle on the 3-blade configuration? Wouldn't a 4-bladed
system allow for a smaller footprint on the ground (or ship)? Or is
there too much thrust loss involved?

More blades = less efficiency.

Shorter blades = less efficiency in vertical flight.

They probably couldn't have absorbed the performance loss from both
increasing the number of blades and reducing blade length.

KB