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was suffering from almost continual daytime attacks on its airfields and was finding it almost impossible to conduct large-scale operations. Their preferred solution was to introduce some sort of VTOL interceptor that could be launched from any open location, and there were many proposals for such a
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VTOL aircraft designed in the late 1950s, inspired by the French SNECMA Coléoptère. After some early successes, the Army demanded a series of changes that continued to increase the size and weight of the platform, which introduced new stability problems. These generally required more size and power
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The Model 49 was based on a tri-turbine design featuring counter-rotating propellers within a shroud. Exposed areas were armored to withstand 12.7mm fire. The two-man crew was located in an articulated capsule which could either point forward of the shroud when horizontal or at right-angles to it
462:. All of the weapons could be used in either horizontal or vertical configuration, as well as while grounded. The turrets were mechanically prevented from firing "up" at the crew capsule while in vertical configuration. The side turrets could feature either 7.62 mm
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In the immediate post-war era, most VTOL research involved helicopters. As the limitations of the simple rotary wing became clear, teams started looking for other solutions and many turned to using jet engines directly for vertical thrust. SNECMA, now
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when vertical, and pilot controls were limited to engine speed, blade angle and directional control. The design was believed by its manufacturers to be inherently more reliable than that of conventional helicopters.
447:, the Model 49 was intended to take off from a vertical orientation before transitioning to horizontal orientation for flight. Once at its destination it could transition back to vertical mode to hover and provide
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This emerged as the Hiller VXT-8 which was significantly similar to the SNECMA design, although it used a propeller instead of a jet engine. However, the introduction of turbine-powered helicopters like the
386:. The Coléoptère first flew on 6 May 1959, but crashed on 25 July and no replacement was built. Even in this limited testing period, the design showed several serious problems related to the high
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so significantly improved their performance over piston-powered designs that the Navy lost interest in the VXT-8 in spite of even better estimated performance. Only a mock-up was completed.
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The center turret carried an XM-140 30mm cannon with 1000 rounds, with the option for a second 30mm cannon, or 500 WASP rockets. Any of the four hardpoints could carry three
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The design was intended to be capable of carrying multiple armament configurations, with all weapons being remotely controlled by the gunner from the crew capsule. Its
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to correct, and no satisfactory design came from these efforts. Instead, Hiller approached the Navy with the idea of building a full coleopter design.
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106mm recoilless rifle with 18 rounds. As an alternative, the hardpoints could mount up to 1,200 gallons of additional fuel in tanks.
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For full-size aircraft with powered rotors the rotor is normally tilted to achieve thrust (e.g. in a helicopter). Some toys (e.g.
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programs. The Wespe intended to use a Benz 2,000 hp turboprop engine, but these were not forthcoming and the Lerche used two
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aircraft functions as an aeroplane during normal (horizontal) flight and as a helicopter during low-speed flight.
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of the entire aircraft. Generally they appear to be a large barrel-like extension at the rear, with a small
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AAFSS asked for a new high-speed helicopter design for the attack and escort roles. Submissions included
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Convair advanced designs. II, Secret fighters, attack aircraft, and unique concepts 1929-1973
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The first design of an aircraft clearly using the coleopter concept was developed during
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832:) do have a powered rotor with no means to tilt the rotor to produce horizontal thrust.
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for further development. In the end only scale models of the model 49 were ever built.
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consisted of two side turrets, a center turret, and two hardpoints each for two of the
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build an annular wing and adapted it to the last of the Volant series to produce the
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had been working on a number of ducted fan flying platforms originally designed by
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selected the coleopter layout for their Model 49 proposal, entered into the
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531:"Convair Model 49 helicopter - development history, photos, technical data"
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series during the 1950s. To further improve the design, SNECMA had
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area suspended above it. Coleopters are generally designed as
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554:"Convair Model 49 | Strange Vehicles | Diseno-Art"
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piston engines instead. Nothing ever came of either design.
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Deemed overly complicated, the Army instead selected the
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Description of and plans for building a model coleopter
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conducted a series of design studies as part of their
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As a "tail-sitter" design, and like its forebear the
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178:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
631:Footage of the scale model of the Convair Model 49
105:but its sources remain unclear because it lacks
276:, which gave its name to the coleopter category
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589:. Specialty Press Publishers and Wholesalers.
578:Vertical Challenge: The Hiller Aircraft Story
8:
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401:. The Hiller VXT-8 Coleopter was a proposed
71:Learn how and when to remove these messages
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466:with 12,000 rounds of ammunition each, or
390:of the engine, which made control tricky.
851:with novel thrust / lift solutions (e.g.
256:Learn how and when to remove this message
238:Learn how and when to remove this message
136:Learn how and when to remove this message
684:
847:are not included in the table, nor are
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585:Landis, Tony; Jenkins, Dennis (2000).
27:VTOL aircraft with ducted fan fuselage
7:
176:adding citations to reliable sources
427:Advanced Aerial Fire Support System
25:
580:. University of Washington Press.
470:launchers with 500 rounds each.
52:This article has multiple issues.
867:) or balloon-wing hybrids (e.g.
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163:needs additional citations for
60:or discuss these issues on the
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288:aircraft design that uses a
745:Tethered (static or towed)
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703:Lift: Lighter than air gas
30:For the insect order, see
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334:mockup on display at the
594:Bradley, Robert (2013).
587:Lockheed AH-56A Cheyenne
91:This article includes a
896:Aircraft configurations
490:Lockheed AH-56 Cheyenne
477:TOW missiles, or three
372:Safran Aircraft Engines
120:more precise citations.
841:Ground-effect vehicles
717:Unpowered free flight
506:Focke-Wulf TriebflĂĽgel
338:
336:Hiller Aviation Museum
277:
849:experimental aircraft
709:Lift: Unpowered rotor
576:Spenser, Jay (1998).
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763:(None – see note 2)
740:(None – see note 2)
712:Lift: Powered rotor
598:. Crecy Publishing.
399:Charles H. Zimmerman
345:. From 1944 on, the
172:improve this article
906:Tailsitter aircraft
479:Shillelagh missiles
364:Daimler-Benz DB 605
830:balloon helicopter
621:A Coleopter patent
558:www.diseno-art.com
445:Convair XFY-1 POGO
412:Bell UH-1 Iroquois
376:SNECMA Atar Volant
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318:of the mid-1950s.
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93:list of references
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865:flettner airplane
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384:SNECMA Coléoptère
322:Early experiments
316:SNECMA Coléoptère
304:. The term is an
274:Snecma Coléoptère
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388:angular momentum
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228:December 2022
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189: –
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161:This article
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468:40mm grenade
464:machine guns
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449:fire support
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403:annular wing
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343:World War II
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332:Hiller VXT-8
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302:tail-sitters
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170:Please help
165:verification
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112:Please help
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54:Please help
51:
781:ornithopter
393:In the US,
272:The French
187:"Coleopter"
126:August 2021
118:introducing
901:Rotorcraft
890:Categories
845:hovercraft
796:helicopter
759:Rotor kite
734:, etc. in
732:Helicopter
569:References
456:hardpoints
311:coléoptère
290:ducted fan
198:newspapers
57:improve it
18:Coléoptère
853:coleopter
818:tiltrotor
666:Types of
434:gyrodynes
429:(AAFSS).
347:Luftwaffe
282:coleopter
63:talk page
838:Note 3:
826:Note 2:
814:tiltwing
810:Note 1:
792:Gyrodyne
787:Autogyro
777:Airplane
768:Powered
697:Aerodyne
692:Aerostat
668:aircraft
500:See also
460:nacelles
350:system.
294:fuselage
861:Avrocar
772:Airship
722:balloon
720:(Free)
688:
423:Convair
352:Heinkel
298:cockpit
212:scholar
114:improve
869:kytoon
783:, etc.
727:Glider
672:thrust
602:
483:M40A1C
475:BGM-71
214:
207:
200:
193:
185:
32:beetle
512:Notes
219:JSTOR
205:books
99:, or
871:and
863:and
843:and
754:Kite
676:lift
674:and
600:ISBN
492:and
358:and
286:VTOL
191:news
816:or
174:by
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875:).
859:,
855:,
812:A
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330:A
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