Fairey Rotodyne: An Ingenious Blend of Airplane and Helicopter

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The Rotodyne established a world speed record on January 5, 1959, for ‘convertiplane’ type aircraft of 190.9 mph, exceeding the old record by 30 mph. The prototype’s capabilities were publicly demonstrated for military and commercial officials the following June at the Paris Air Show. Prospective orders were negotiated with operators in Britain, Canada and Japan. An American company, Kaman Aircraft Corporation, arranged for a sales and service contract in the United States, as well as a license to manufacture the aircraft.

The Rotodyne’s most promising potential customer, apart from BEA, was New York Airways (NYA). The world’s first scheduled airline to use rotary-wing craft exclusively, NYA specialized in commuter flights between downtown New York and various airports on the outskirts of the city. NYA’s service involved the operation of passenger helicopters to and from the roof of the Pan Am Building in the heart of Manhattan. NYA signed a letter of intent for five Rotodynes in March 1959, with an option to acquire 10 more, at $1.5 million apiece. It was calculated that the Rotodyne, with its generous passenger capacity, could reduce the airline’s operating cost per seat/mile by at least 50 percent over the helicopters.

The NYA order was, however, contingent upon the availability of a larger and more powerful 65-passenger version of the Rotodyne. Fairey estimated the development of that aircraft would require an additional expense of 8 to 10 million pounds sterling. And at that point, the entire project began to go awry. A British government offer to loan Fairey half of the development cost of the new model was further contingent on a firm order for that aircraft from BEA. In order for the BEA and NYA orders to be confirmed, however, the new prototype had to be flying by the autumn of 1961.

The Rotodyne was also having difficulty meeting minimum noise-level requirements, a new problem that the British aviation industry later would encounter again with the Concorde supersonic jetliner. Although none of the Rotodyne’s remaining technical problems appeared to be insoluble, time and money were rapidly running out.

Matters were complicated further when the British helicopter industry was amalgamated into a single entity in February 1960. Fairey’s aircraft division was merged with Bristol and Westland, and the prototype was flown thereafter with ‘Westland’ emblazoned on its fuselage. Corporate reorganization diverted attention from Rotodyne development at a critical juncture. Prospective customers got the impression that Westland’s enthusiasm for the Rotodyne was waning, and their own interest began to waver. Rotodyne development continued in a desultory manner until February 1962, when–after four years of flight testing and the expenditure of 11 million pounds–the entire project was canceled.

There have been many experiments with convertible aircraft since the Fairey Rotodyne. They have come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, of which the Bell­Boeing V-22 Osprey is the latest. The one factor they all seem to have had in common was their respective designers’ conviction that, with the expenditure of just a little more time, effort and money, they had the potential for revolutionizing the aviation industry. With the exception of the Hawker Siddeley Harrier ‘jump jet’ fighter-bomber, the Fairey Rotodyne probably came closer to commercial success than any of those interesting aircraft. But for a little more time, effort and money.

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