{"id":497,"date":"2013-09-17T16:59:49","date_gmt":"2013-09-17T20:59:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.fantasyofflight.com\/collection\/?page_id=497"},"modified":"2013-09-19T14:17:41","modified_gmt":"2013-09-19T18:17:41","slug":"1956-hiller-hornet","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.fantasyofflight.com\/collection\/aircraft\/currently-not-showing-in-museum\/korean-war-post-wwii\/1956-hiller-hornet\/","title":{"rendered":"1956 Hiller Hornet"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ramjet engines have no moving parts and develop their thrust from the expansion of the burning fuel; therefore, they are very simple.<\/p>\n

The Hornet was not designed to stay in the air very long; it goes through its 45 gallon fuel capacity in about 25 minutes. The high fuel consumption was acceptable in exchange for simplicity of maintenance in the field. However, one drawback of operating the Hornet in combat conditions was that the engines proved to be extremely loud and gave off a fiery glow that could be seen at night. It would not have gone unnoticed by an enemy!<\/p>\n

Another drawback was that if the engines should quit, the drag of the engines on the rotor-tips made it difficult to maintain rotor speed to make an emergency landing. Helicopters can safely \u201cauto-rotate\u201d down by maintaining forward speed in a steep glide. This maintains the blade inertia so that the helicopter can safely land. Because of the additional drag with the engines at the rotor tips, the blade angle must be lowered to a NEGATIVE ANGLE to keep the blades spinning, effectively creating a VERY fast descent rate. No pilot ever survived an auto-rotation that started above 100 feet! After 17 aircraft built, production was stopped.<\/p>\n

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