A-10 Warthog to go?

Is the A-10 Wartog about to be retired?

For decades, the A-10 Thunderbolt II has been the favorite jet at airshows and grunts on the ground.

It’s slow. It’s ugly. But, it’s effective. A flying tank.

US Air Force officials have confirmed they are looking at complete cuts of entire fleets of aircraft because of tightening budgets. Single-purpose mission planes are at the top of the list, putting the A-10 right in the cross-hairs. The A-10 has almost exclusively been used for close-air support since it was introduced in 1977.

A vertical cut: Several USAF officials have confirmed the A-10 is a likely target for eliminating an aircraft fleet under continued budget pressure. Removing the entire fleet instead of continuing to retire squadrons, called a “vertical cut” is more likely to save money in the long term because it also removes the infrastructure behind the jet. “You only gain major savings if you cut an entire fleet,” Welsh said. “You can cut an aircraft from a fleet, but you save a lot more money if you cut all the infrastructure that supports the fleet.”

Air Combat Command has planned for the possibility of divesting the entire A-10 fleet by 2015, according to an internal ACC slide outlining future fighter force structure. The ACC plan also calls for retirements of some, but not all, F-15s and F-16s as the service obtains more F-35s.

ACC Commander Gen. Mike Hostage said he talked to Army leaders about the prospect of cutting the entire Thunderbolt II fleet, a decision that isn’t likely to be popular with ground troops who rely on close-air support and hold the A-10 in high regard.

Even the A-10’s success at close-air support during more than a decade of war may not be enough to save it. It is slow, it is not stealthy and it cannot easily protect itself from surface-to-air missiles. With a smaller force, the Air Force needs planes that handle multiple roles and work in a non-permissive environment, Welsh said.

Targeting the Guard
Eliminating the A-10 fleet is likely to face a tough road in the US Congress. Lawmakers are speaking out against it, though it has not been officially proposed. ““It’s kind of a disarming of America that bothers me a great deal,” said Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., at a Sept. 19 Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.

The Air National Guard flies 107 A-10s and will face the closure of several squadrons if it loses its A-10s. Congress has blocked cuts to protect flying missions in their home states in previous years, but Guard officials seem resigned to letting the A-10s go in exchange for a new mission, such as cyber warfare or remotely piloted aircraft.

Lt. Gen. Stanley Clarke, the director of the Air National Guard, spent seven years of his Air Force career flying the A-10, including as an instructor pilot at the Air Force’s weapons school. But despite his experience in the jet, it may be time for it to go because of the future threats the Air Force will face.

“It is highly effective,” Clarke said.” But you have to operate in a fairly permissive environment. We’ve been somewhat fortunate that the ground threats we faced in Iraq and Afghanistan aren’t the same than even what we faced in southeast Asia. ... It’s not important to get an aircraft to a target. It’s important to get the munitions to the target, to get the sensor to the target.”

The coming replacement? 

The F-35A is expected to be the next era of close-air support, along with the other roles the fighter is tasked with taking on. The Defense Department expects to field more than 1,700 of the jets with the planned initial operating capability in summer 2016.

The A-10 flew at an operational cost per flying hour of $17,564 in 2012, which is cheaper than each of the US Air Force’s other fighters. The next cheapest is the F-16, at $22,500. The F-35A’s sustainment affordability target will be double that of the A-10, at $35,200, according to the Government Accountability Office.

The F-35A will carry 18,000 pounds of ordnance in a non-stealth role, along with a GAU-12 Equalizer internal gun, capable of firing up to 4,200 rounds per minute. But it will only be able to carry 180 rounds.

By comparison, the A-10 can carry up to 16,000 pounds of ordnance. But the A-10’s most impressive feature is its gun, the General Electric GAU-8 Avenger .30 mm cannon that can carry 1,170 rounds.

Its place in the fight
For the guys on the ground, especially the joint terminal attack controllers who coordinate with aircraft for close air support, sending all A-10s to the boneyard seems “ridiculous” while U.S. troops are still on the ground in Afghanistan, said Charlie Keebaugh, a retired tactical air control party airman and president of the TACP Association.The jet is also much more capable at spending more time on the target and being able to spot the enemy, because of its slow speed.

Air Force officials are quick to point out, however, that while the A-10 is famous for its close-air support prowess, it isn’t the only jet that supports ground troops.

“People seem to assume that 100 percent of the close-air support being done in Afghanistan today is being done by the A-10,” Welsh said at a Sept. 18 House Armed Services Committee hearing. “That’s not even close to the truth. It’s actually a small percentage of the close-air support that’s being done by many, many other platforms.”

Mission capable
The Air Force currently flies 326 A-10Cs, with an average age of just over 32 years. In fiscal 2013, the jet flew at a 75 percent mission capable rate — the highest in the past five years. The rate at which the aircraft is fixed within 12 hours is 71 percent , the third highest in the Air Force behind the EC-130H Compass Call and MQ-1B Predator.The A-10’s mission capable rate is higher than the fighter fleet, except for the F-15E Strike Eagle. No mission capable rates were released for the F-35A because the initial operating capability is still three years away.

Last year, the US Air Force flew 348 of the A-10s, but the service this year closed the Reserve 917th Fighter Group at Barksdale Air Force Base, La., and the active-duty 81st Fighter Squadron at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany. The 188th Fighter Wing at Fort Smith, Ark., began retiring its A-10s this month.

The Air Force tried to shut down more A-10 squadrons in its fiscal 2013 budget proposal. The goal was to retire 102 jets. However, Congress worked to protect the A-10s assigned to the 122nd Fighter Wing at Fort Wayne, Ind., and the 127th Wing at Selfridge Air National Guard Base, Mich. While the fiscal 2014 budget has not been released, Air Force officials have repeatedly said cuts are coming, and that more A-10s would likely be decommissioned even if some of the fleet is spared.

In 2010, Boeing Co. began assembling replacement wings for the A-10, with the total contract worth up to $2 billion. Work is expected to continue through 2018, with the most recent order of $212 million placed on Sept. 4. Boeing says the upgrade will help the A-10 improve its mission availability by 4 percent and save the service an estimated $1.3 billion in maintenance for the next 30 years.

And pilots assigned to the 74th Fighter Squadron at Moody Air Force Base, Ga., earlier this year became the first to fly with a new helmet, featuring a Helmet Mounted Cueing System. The system, the product of a $12.6 million contract with Raytheon, features a full-color display and includes optical motion tracking, head-steered weapons, day and night capability and can be attached to older helmets.

RNZAF De Havilland Vampires

RNZAF De Havilland Vampires

I went to the Soutward Car Museum in Paraparaumu, New Zealand with some visitors on Saturday, and found myself delighted to see a Vampire Aircraft suspended from the ceiling!

The aircraft is a Vampire (DH 100) FB.5 (NZ5770)

The aircraft is NZ5570, late of the RNZAF and Former Royal Air Force WA444

Previously WA444 delivered to RAF 20 July 1951 and served with Nos. 145 and 234 Squadrons and No. 2 Tactical Air Force Communications Support Unit. SOC with RAF on 17 May 1956.

 Shipped to New Zealand on 'Hertford". BOC 25 June 1956. Took part in Exercise Silver Bullet the farewell tour of New Zealand to mark the withdrawal of the Vampire during late 1972. 

Flown to Woodbourne for storage 15 December 1972 and sold by GSB tender number DO1523 16 March 1973. To Swedish Museum but sale fell through and aircraft was retendered.

Sold to Southward Motor Museum, Paraparaumu. Presently on display at Southward Motor Museum, Paraparaumu.

Also on display is this Bleriot replica, used in he 1960's movie 

'Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines'.

Other Kiwi Vampires:

(Copyrights as indicate, and happy to credit if notified)

Clip-on train: Voila! Regardez: A plane ! The Clip-Air project

The Clip-on Train becomes a plane

The Clip-Air project envisions an airplane consisting of a single flying wing onto which capsules carrying passengers or freight can be attached. More than a new type of flying device, its innovative concept could revolutionize the airports of the future.

Check this Out:

Click on link for video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=wRpX6gLQlsA#!

Go to the train station to take the plane. Board on a capsule to reach the airport by rail, and then - without leaving your seat - fly to another city. The Clip-Air project, being developed at EPFL since 2009, envisions a modular aircraft consisting of a flying wing onto which it is possible to attach one, two or three capsules as required. Its concept allows us to take a glimpse at the air transportation of tomorrow, which is meant to be more flexible, closer to our needs, more efficient and less energy-consuming. For the first time, a model of the Clip-Air plane will be presented at the Paris Air Show from 17 to 19 June 2013.

Despite its being a very futuristic project, the scientists behind it work under rigorous constraints to maintain its technical feasibility. "We still have to break down several barriers but we do believe that it is worth to work in such a concept, at odds with current aircraft technology and which can have a huge impact on society," said Claudio Leonardi, in charge of the Clip-Air project.
The Clip-Air project’s main contribution would be to provide rail transport’s flexibility to air transport. On the one hand, the Clip-Air plane includes a support structure made up by the wing, engines, cockpit, fuel and landing gear. On the other hand, there is the load to be carried: passengers and/or freight. Hence, the capsule would be equivalent to a real airplane’s fuselage, but without its usual attributes. The flying wing can accommodate up to three capsules with a capacity of 150 passengers each.

New generation fuel
Theoretical studies show Clip-Air’s potential in terms of transportation capacity thanks to a more efficient and flexible fleet management, a more efficient loading rate, increased flexibility of supply and the possibility of no more empty flights. Further advantages would come from savings in maintenance, storage and management.

Clip-Air also aims to address current environmental concerns as wells as the objectives set by the ACARE (Advisory Council for Aeronautics Research in Europe) to reduce by 50% CO2 emissions by the year 2020. Clip-Air aircrafts’ conventional fuel consumption would be reduced since they can carry as many passengers as three A320 with half the engines. In other words, flying with three modules under the same wing in a 4000 km flight would be cheaper - in terms of fuel consumption - than three aircrafts of the same capacity flying independently and with equal speed and altitude.

Then again, Clip-Air’s ambition also envisages other types of fuels, less polluting than the ones currently consumed. Several possibilities (liquid hydrogen, biofuels and conventional fuel) have been studied and have demonstrated the relevance of modular structures in terms of overall consumption.

A revolution in mobility
A Clip-Air aircraft could fit in an airport as it is conceived today. With its autonomous capsule, the size of a railroad car - about 30 meters long and 30 tons heavy - its design is compatible with rail tracks. Therefore, it could eventually revolutionize airport configuration and multimodal mobility. The boarding of either cargo or passengers in the capsule could be done not only at airports but also directly in rail stations or production sites.

In technical terms, initial studies have shown that the project is feasible, even though there are still many challenges ahead. “The development of the concept requires performing more advanced aerodynamic simulations and testing a 6 meters long flying model powered by mini-reactors in order to continue to explore the concept’s flight performance and to demonstrate its overall feasibility”, added Claudio Leonardi.

For now, a 1.20 meters long model of the Clip-Air plane will be presented at the Normandy Aerospace stand at the Paris Air Show, from 17 to 19 June 2013. At the moment the project involves researchers from three EPFL laboratories (TRANSP-OR, LIV and ICOM). It is coordinated by EPFL’s Transportation Center.

Source EPFL's site

Horten Ho 229 Flying Wing

Horten Ho 229 Flying Wing

Role: Fighter/Bomber
Manufacturer :Gothaer Waggonfabrik
Designer: Horten brothers
First flight: 1 March 1944
Primary user: Luftwaffe
Number built: 3

The Horten H.IX, RLM designation Ho 229 (often wrongly called the Gotha Go 229 due to the identity of the chosen manufacturer of the aircraft) was a German prototype fighter/bomber designed by Reimar and Walter Horten and built by Gothaer Waggonfabrik late in World War II. It was the first pure flying wing powered by jet engines.

It was given the personal approval of Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, and was the only aircraft to come close to meeting his "3×1000" performance requirement of 1943 (see later)

Since the appearance of the B-2 Spirit flying wing stealth bomber in the 1990s, its similarities in role and shape to the Ho 229 has led many to retrospectively describe the Ho 229 as "the first stealth bomber".

 A static reproduction of the only surviving Ho 229 prototype, the Ho 229 V3, in American hands since the end of World War II was later tested by the US military who found the basic shape and paint composition of the mock copy would provide for 20% reduction in detection range against the Chain Home radar of the 1940s, but no significant stealth benefit against most other contemporary radar systems.

Design and development

In the early 1930s, the Horten brothers had become interested in the flying wing design as a method of improving the performance of gliders. The German government was funding glider clubs at the time because production of military and even motorized aircraft was forbidden by the Treaty of Versailles after World War I.
The flying wing layout removes any "unneeded" surfaces and, in theory at least, leads to the lowest possible weight. A wing-only configuration allows for a similarly performing glider with wings that are shorter and thus sturdier, and without the added drag of the fuselage. The result was the Horten H.IV.

In 1943,  Göring issued a request for design proposals to produce a bomber that was capable of carrying a 1,000 kilograms (2,200 lb) load over 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) at 1,000 kilometres per hour (620 mph); the so-called "3 X 1000 project".

Conventional German bombers could reach Allied command centers in Great Britain, but were suffering devastating losses from Allied fighters. At the time, there was no way to meet these goals — the new Junkers Jumo 004B turbojets could provide the required speed, but had excessive fuel consumption.

The Hortens concluded that the low-drag flying wing design could meet all of the goals: by reducing the drag, cruise power could be lowered to the point where the range requirement could be met. They put forward their private project, the H.IX, as the basis for the bomber. The Government Air Ministry (Reichs Luftfahrt Ministerium) approved the Horten proposal, but ordered the addition of two 30 mm cannons, as they felt the aircraft would also be useful as a fighter due to its estimated top speed being significantly higher than that of any Allied aircraft.

The H.IX was of mixed construction, with the center pod made from welded steel tubing and wing spars built from wood. The wings were made from two thin, carbon-impregnated plywood panels glued together with a charcoal and sawdust mixture. The wing had a single main spar, penetrated by the jet engine inlets, and a secondary spar used for attaching the elevons. It was designed with a 7g load factor and a 1.8 x safety rating; therefore, the aircraft had a 12.6g ultimate load rating.

The wing's chord/thickness ratio ranged from 15% at the root to 8% at the wingtips. The aircraft utilized retractable tricycle landing gear, with the nose gear on the first two prototypes sourced from a He 177's tail wheel system, with the third prototype using an He 177A main gear wheel rim and tire on its custom-designed nose gear strut work and wheel fork.

A drogue parachute slowed the aircraft upon landing. The pilot sat on a primitive ejection seat. It was originally designed for the BMW 003 jet engine, but that engine was not quite ready and the Junkers Jumo 004 engine was substituted. nd more graceful control of yaw than would a single spoiler system.[1]

The first prototype H.IX V1, an unpowered glider with fixed tricycle landing gear, flew on 1 March 1944. Flight results were very favorable, but there was an accident when the pilot attempted to land without first retracting an instrument-carrying pole extending from the aircraft. The design was taken from the Horten brothers and given to Gothaer Waggonfabrik. The Gotha team made some changes: They added a simple ejection seat, dramatically changed the undercarriage to enable a higher gross weight, changed the jet engine inlets, and added ducting to air-cool the jet engine's outer casing, so as to prevent damage to the wooden wing.

The H.IX V1 was followed in December 1944 by the Junkers Jumo 004-powered second prototype H.IX V2; the BMW 003 engine was preferred, but unavailable. Göring believed in the design and ordered a production series of 40 aircraft from Gothaer Waggonfabrik with the RLM designation Ho 229, even though it had not yet taken to the air under jet power. The first flight of the H.IX V2 was made in Oranienburg on 2 February 1945.

All subsequent test flights and development were done by Gothaer Waggonfabrik. By this time, the Horten brothers were working on a turbojet-powered design for the Amerika Bomber contract competition, and did not attend the first test flight. The test pilot was Leutnant Erwin Ziller. Two further test flights were made between 2 and 18 February 1945. Another test pilot used in the evaluation was Heinz Scheidhauer.

The H.IX V2 reportedly displayed very good handling qualities, with only moderate lateral instability (a typical deficiency of tailless aircraft). While the second flight was equally successful, the undercarriage was damaged by a heavy landing caused by Ziller deploying the brake parachute too early during his landing approach. There are reports that during one of these test flights, the H.IX V2 undertook a simulated "dog-fight" with a Messerschmitt Me 262, the first operational jet fighter and that the H.IX V2 outperformed the Me 262.

Cockpit

Two weeks later, on 18 February 1945, disaster struck during the third test flight. Ziller took off without any problems to perform a series of flight tests. After about 45 minutes, at an altitude of some 800 m, one of the Jumo 004 turbojet engines developed a problem, caught fire and stopped. Ziller was seen to put the aircraft into a dive and pull up several times in an attempt to restart the engine and save the precious prototype.

 Ziller undertook a series of four 360-degree turns with the wings banked 20 degrees. Ziller did not use his radio or eject from the aircraft. He may already have been unconscious as a result of the fumes from the burning engine. The aircraft crashed just outside the boundary of the airfield. Ziller was thrown from the aircraft on impact and died from his injuries two weeks later. The prototype aircraft was completely destroyed.

Despite this setback, the project continued with sustained energy. On 12 March 1945, the Ho 229 was included in the Jäger-Notprogramm (Emergency Fighter Program) for accelerated production of inexpensive "wonder weapons". The prototype workshop was moved to the Gothaer Waggonfabrik (Gotha) in Friedrichroda. In the same month, work commenced on the third prototype, the Ho 229 V3.

The V3 was larger than previous prototypes, the shape being modified in various areas, and it was meant to be a template for the pre-production series Ho 229 A-0 day fighters, of which 20 machines had been ordered. The V3 was meant to be powered by two Jumo 004C engines with 10% greater thrust each than the earlier Jumo 004B production engine used for the Me 262A and Ar 234B, and could carry two MK 108 30mm cannon in the wing roots. Work had also started on the two-seat Ho 229 V4 and Ho 229 V5 night-fighter prototypes, the Ho 229 V6 armament test prototype, and the Ho 229 V7 two-seat trainer.
During the final stages of the war, the U.S. military initiated Operation Paperclip, an effort to capture advanced German weapons research, and keep it out of the hands of advancing Soviet troops.

A Horten glider and the Ho 229 V3, which was undergoing final assembly, were secured for sending to the United States for evaluation. En route, the Ho 229 spent a brief time at RAE Farnborough in the UK while it was considered if British jet engines could be fitted, but the mountings were incompatible due to the available British engines of the time only using centrifugal compressors with their comparatively larger diameter compressor sections, and not the slimmer axial-flow turbojet power plants the Germans were using.

When U.S. troops captured Gotha's Friedrichsroda plant on April 14, 1945, the partly completed Ho 229 V3 was found and transported to the U.S. and, as shown here, was held in storage at NASM's Silver Hill facility.

Survivors
The only surviving Ho 229 airframe, the V3 — and indeed, the only surviving German jet prototype still in existence — is at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum's Paul E. Garber Restoration Facility in Suitland, Maryland. In December, 2011, the National Air and Space Museum had moved the Ho 229 into the active restoration area of the Garber Restoration Facility and is currently being reviewed for full restoration and display. The center section of the V3 prototype was meant to be moved to the Smithsonian NASM's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in late 2012 to commence a detailed examination of it before starting any serious conservation/restoration efforts

Stealth technology 
After the war, Reimar Horten said he mixed charcoal dust in with the wood glue to absorb electromagnetic waves (radar), which he believed could shield the aircraft from detection by British early warning ground-based radar that operated at 20 to 30 MHz (top end of the HF band), known as Chain Home.
A jet-powered flying wing design such as the Horten Ho 229 will have a smaller radar cross-section than conventional contemporary twin-engine aircraft. This is because the wings blended into the fuselage and there were no large propeller disks or vertical and horizontal tail surfaces to provide a typical identifiable radar signature.

Engineers of the Northrop-Grumman Corporation had long been interested in the Ho 229, and several of them visited the Smithsonian Museum's facility in Silver Hill, Maryland in the early 1980s to study the V3 airframe. A team of engineers from Northrop-Grumman ran electromagnetic tests on the V3's multilayer wooden center-section nose cones. The cones are three quarters of an inch (19 mm) thick and made up of thin sheets of veneer. The team concluded that there was indeed some form of conducting element in the glue, as the radar signal attenuated considerably as it passed through the cone.



Northrop-built reproduction 
In early 2008, Northrop-Grumman paired up television documentary producer Michael Jorgensen, and the National Geographic Channel to produce a documentary to determine whether the Ho 229 was, in fact, the world's first true "stealth" fighter-bomber. Northrop-Grumman built a full-size non-flying reproduction of the V3, constructed to match the aircraft's radar properties. After an expenditure of about US$250,000 and 2,500 man-hours, Northrop's Ho 229 reproduction was tested at the company's classified radar cross-section (RCS) test range at Tejon, California, where it was placed on a 15-meter (50 ft) articulating pole and exposed to electromagnetic energy sources from various angles, using the same three frequencies in the 20–50 MHz range used by the Chain Home in the mid-1940s.



RCS testing showed that a hypothetical Ho 229 approaching the English coast from France flying at 885 kilometres per hour (550 mph) at 15–30 metres (49–98 ft) above the water would have been visible at a distance of 80% that of a Bf 109. This implies a frontal RCS of only 40% that of a Bf 109 at the Chain Home frequencies. The most visible parts of the aircraft were the jet inlets and the cockpit, but caused no return through smaller dimensions than the CH wavelength. Given the high-speed capabilities of the aircraft it would have given the British defences just two and a half minutes to respond, which would not have been enough time. It is believed that, if deployed in great numbers, the Ho 229 could have changed the course of the war.

With testing complete, the reproduction was donated by Northrop-Grumman to the San Diego Air and Space Museum.

Link to doco on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NaJzKjtjZnY

The television documentary, Hitler's Stealth Fighter (2009), produced by Myth Merchant Films, featured the Northrop-Grumman full-scale Ho 229 model as well as CGI reconstructions depicting a fictional wartime scenario where Ho 229s were operational in both offensive and defensive roles.



Data from The Great Book of Fighters:

General characteristics
Crew: 1
Length: 7.47 m (24 ft 6 in)
Wingspan: 16.76 m (55 ft 0 in)
Height: 2.81 m (9 ft 2 in)
Wing area: 50.20 m² (540.35 ft²)
Empty weight: 4,600 kg (10,141 lb)
Loaded weight: 6,912 kg (15,238 lb)
Max. takeoff weight: 8,100 kg (17,857 lb)
Powerplant: 2 × Junkers Jumo 004B turbojet, 8.7 kN (1,956 lbf) each
Performance
Maximum speed: 977km/h (607 mph) at 12,000 metres (39,000 ft)
Service ceiling: 16,000 m (52,000 ft)
Rate of climb: 22 m/s (4,330 ft/min)
Wing loading: 137.7 kg/m² (28.2 lb/ft²)
Thrust/weight: 0.26
Armament
Guns: 4 × 30 mm MK 108 cannon
Rockets: R4M rockets
Bombs: 2 × 500 kilograms (1,100 lb) bombs
See also [edit]

Sounces: Internet, Wikipedia, at al

Vertical Take-off Car a viability? Terrafugia thinks so...

The US Terrafugia company based in Massachusetts has just unveiled the TF-X, a car that comes with vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) capability with electric motors and custom-made quiet rotors.

While the electric motors provide the vertical liftoff, a powerful turbine engine produces the go forward in flight mode.

Terrafugia are the same company that unveiled the Transition prototype last year which was effectively a folding-wing aircraft that required a runway of 500 metres for take-off, but with the wings folded away, it could be driven on the highway, despite looking like a duck out of water.

The Transition, which is struggling for certification in the US but the company has around 100 orders for, currently has a price tag of US$279,000 (NZ$330,000) and the TF-X - which is at least 10 years away from becoming a production reality - is likely to top that.

 Terrafugia Transition:

"The final pricing will not be set until we are much closer to delivery,'' according to Terrafugia.

"The biggest price driver is the cost of production. It is likely that TF-X will be more expensive than a 'normal car' due to the higher costs of the enabling light-weight materials, but with investment in automotive scale production, early studies indicate that it is possible that the final price point could be on-par with very high-end luxury cars of today."

Terrafugia claims the TF-X will be capable of carry four people in car-like comfort, have a non-stop flight range of at least 800 kilometers and be able to fit inside a standard single car garage - although if you buy one you might like to leave it parked outside to show it off.

Powering the TF-X is set to be a plug-in hybrid propulsion system that pairs a 300-horsepower main engine with two 600hp electric motors to drive the outboard propellers. It will be able to recharge its batteries either from its engine or by plugging in to electric car charging stations.

Learning to fly the TF-X is said to be about five hours for the average driver and will come with both manual or automatic modes "between approved landing zones or airports".

The company says that it will be capable of taking off from a clear site of at least 30 meters in diameter and provide true door-to-door convenience.

Igor Sikorsky and Helicopters: Anniversary of the first successful chopper flight

Igor Sikorsky and the helicopter: Happy birthday today ?
The Aircraft genius at work:

Heard on the radio today that it was the anniversary of Sikorsky's first successful helicopter flight. I've had a look at this extraordinary gentleman's history, and the history of the helicopter in general

                                                


The Russian-born scientist, engineer, pilot and entrepreneur made fixed and rotary wing aviation history with a mix of genius, determination and humanity. An established Russian aviation pioneer, arrived in New York or March 1919. His passport revealed he entered America to "construct aircraft". He made several attempts to re-enter aviation in his new country without success.

Airplanes and engines built for World War I were available at extremely low prices and aviation was described to him by some as a "dying industry". Soon his money was running out and he resorted to teaching Russian immigrants mathematics; later, astronomy and aviation lessons were included.

He also started to lecture to various groups which brought him in contact with people who shared his enthusiasm for aviation and convinced him to start his own aeronautical enterprise. March 5,1923, saw the creation of the Sikorsky Aero Engineering Corporation.

The company was dedicated to building the S-29A (Sikorsky type 29, America) and was based at fellow immigrant Victor Utgoff s farm near Roosevelt Field on Long Island, N.Y.

One biographer summarized that  Igor Sikorsky had three careers in aviation:

• Constructing and flying fixed-wing aircraft in Russia, 
• Constructing and flying fixed wing aircraft , including seaplanes in America, 
• and helicopters, actually his first love. 
• 
  

                                

He was fascinated by science in general, and in many ways was a classical philosopher. It has been said that he was initially inspired by a Jules Verne novel as a very young boy

He passed away peacefully in his sleep in 1972 at the age of 83 after putting in a typical day at his office at Sikorsky Aircraft. Sikorsky Aircraft has a proud and rich history of aircraft design and construction dating to the early part of the last century, making it one of America's pioneering aerospace companies.

A list of Sikorsky's firsts:

In Russia:

1909 H-1, Constructed his First helicopter "This machine was a failure to the extent that it could not fly. In other respects it was a very important and necessary stepping stone."

1910 S-2, Igor Sikorsky Flew for the First time

1911 S-5, Igor's First pilot license issued from the Imperial Aero Club of Russia

1912 S-6A won First place in the Moscow Aircraft Competition, pilot Igor Sikorsky

1913 S-9 First monocoque fuselage constructed in Russia

1913 S-10 establish a Russian Aviation Record flying 500 kilometers in 4 hrs and 56 min

1913 S-12 First Russian aircraft capable of a loop

1913 S-12 Established a Russian Altitude Record of 3,680m

1913 Igor Sikorsky flew the S-21 "Grand" the World's First successful four-engine plane

1913 S-21 set a World's Record for duration and literally set one World's Record after another for a four-engine plane with each fligh

1913 S-10 & S-11 won First and Second place in the Petrograd Military Competition

1914 S-27 set two World Records for payload and flight duration

1914 S-27 with pontoons was the largest seaplane built in the World

1916 S-27G with 880 horsepower was the largest plane produced in the World

LAUNCHING THE FLYING-BOAT IN THE US

1923 Igor founded Sikorsky Aero Engineering Corporation

1924 S-29A First twin-engine airplane capable of flying on one engine and First all metal aircraft

1925 S-29A World's First airplane to broadcast a radio musical program in-flight

1926 S-29A World's First airplane to show a motion picture in-flight

1929 S-37 First airplane to fly over the Andes Mountains

1929 S-38 Used in pioneering Central and South American air routes by Pan American Airways

1929 S-38 Piloted by Charles Lindbergh inaugurated air mail service between the US and Panama

1931 S-40 "American Clipper" was the Worlds largest airliner produced

1934 S-42 First production aircraft with wing flaps: allowed high flight speeds and low landing speeds.

1934 S-42 Established ten World Records, of which eight were set on one flight. This flight of August 1st vaulted the United States into First place holder of World Aviation Records

1935 S-42 First transoceanic air service, flying the first airmail from Honolulu to the mainland.

1937 S-42 made the First regular airline crossing of the North Atlantic Ocean and pioneered the transpacific route to Asia

1936 S-43 Established four World Altitude Records

1937 S-44 (XPBS-1) long range bomber first flown August 13, 1937. It had a max range of 4,000 miles and superior performance but lost out to a lower cost competitor.

1942 VS-44 Civilian version of the S-44 first flew in January 1942. It was the wold's longest range commercial aircraft and the only aircraft to have flown commercial scheduled non-stop across the north and south Atlantic. This was the last fixed wing aircraft built by Sikorsky.