MikeBoyette
Gold Member
- Joined
- Oct 30, 2003
- Messages
- 3,671
- Location
- Plant City, Fl
- Aircraft
- Dominator
- Total Flight Time
- 200+
When I was a teenager I loved going to Bensen Days because I usually got another week out of school. Our Spring break rarely aligned with Bensen Days it usually was at the same time as Sun N Fun. This year was no exception.
Dad and I always since I can remember would arrive at the fly-in the Sunday before it started. He always liked doing this because it gave us a chance to hang out with our fellow club members before the work begins. Dad had to tend to potential customers as his rotor blade business was just beginning and I had club duties to tend to that I was voluntold to do. He and I would actually spend some quality time together flying sometimes and other times just hangar flying with our friends. It’s nice to get that time together before the yelling screaming and him insulting me would begin. Anyone who has been around us at a Fly-in during my teenage years and up until recently knows what I’m talking about. That’s a story for another day.
We got to Okeechobee early Sunday morning about 9. It was about a 2.5 hr drive from our new place in Plant City. He and I hop out and this is when BD’s was still held near or around Igor’s actual birthday. So it was mid march. The air had a crispness to it. He and I love that feel. When we get out of the van and stretch to assess the situation as to which of our friends from up North had made it. The first we always noticed was Gary Goldsberry. I don’t remember if he and Sue were together yet or not. I saw a very odd trailer sitting a few spots down from us. It had an egg shaped gyro painted on the side and it said RAF 2000 on it. I told dad hey let’s go check these new guys out.
Turns out they were in fact not new to gyros just new to us. We both went up and introduced ourselves as good hosts would do. The man we first encountered was a mountain of a man Dan Haslow (not sure of the spelling). He was very gracious and shook our hands. He introduced his brother Peter to us and explained that he was the test/demo pilot for their new gyro and his brother was the Engineer. We asked a few questions about their sharp looking egg shaped machines. Dad noticed a few things he would have done different but considered it just a different way of doing things and didn’t say anything.
The one thing that was glaring to him was the fact that the RAF 2000 was powered by what appeared to be a free air two stroke. It was four cylinders. We asked what engine it was, because we hadn’t seen or even heard of a Hirth. Despite us later on finding out we were very familiar with the German engine’s American cousin the McCullough. That too is a story for another time. We walked around the two machines and Chuck Beaty and Charlie Presnell showed up. They saw us came over and were checking them out as well. We all walked away and immediately said almost in harmony those engines aren’t going to work behind that big egg of a body. They will fry.
Dad also noticed that as they were puttting the big fiberglass blades together they appeared to be twisted. He asked Peter about it he confirmed they were indeed twisted to help efficiency. Dad was to debut the first production run Dragon Wings Rotor Blades. He also had a new long legged machine that others kept calling the Florida Mosquito this was due to its high seating and long gear. We hadn’t come up with a marketable name for the aircraft yet and called it gooney bird lovingly. We asked our friends and potential customers to come up with a name for the center line thrust machine. It was swinging a 72” prop and had a landing gear with 9” of travel on the main gear. The nose wheel was also sprung with 4” of travel. We thought it would be fun to challenge anyone willing to show us how to get in it. That too is for another story. I must get back on track.
Dad, myself, Chuck and Charlie went out of ear shot to discuss the two glaring, what we considered as, design flaws. The first being the free air engine behind a huge cabin in the Florida heat and humidity. The second being the fact that the rotor blades were twisted the wrong direction for autorotation. They were twisted exactly opposite of what Dragon Wings were. For those who are not familiar with the concept. A twist in the blades for an auto gyro helps the stalled section of the disk be reduced, thus making more of the blade work. This allows for a slightly smaller disk carrying the same weight. The twist is negative at the root and positive at the tip. If you look at a disk while flying a typical 8H12 non twisted blade from above and was able to freeze it with the areas of the disk showing what percentage of the work each area was doing. The inner third was basically doing nothing except providing structural support to the other two thirds of the blade. The second third or the middle did a little more. The heavy lifter was the outer third was were all the lift came from for the disk. A good illustration would look like a donut. The hole in the center being the root out one third.
By twisting the blade in the manner described you speed the air up toward the center of the disk. This allows that hole to become smaller thus smaller disk same lifting ability. It’s not a whole bunch or dramatic but every little bit helps.
The problem we all observed with the RAF blades was they were twisted the opposite direction like a driven rotor such as a helicopter. Chuck gave us a quick class on the origins of twisting the blades and it went back to the windmills in Denmark and Holland. They were wind driven rotors and through experimentation they established the best direction to twist for optimal use of the wind available. Chuck explained that Cierva and Pitcairn also twisted their blades the direction in which the new Dragon Wings were twisted. So it was decided that one of the adults, I despite my 17 years around gyros and my good understanding of the aerodynamics of this I was not going to be received well. My father volunteered, in retrospect probably not the wisest choice because of his sarcastic way of speaking. End of part 1
Dad and I always since I can remember would arrive at the fly-in the Sunday before it started. He always liked doing this because it gave us a chance to hang out with our fellow club members before the work begins. Dad had to tend to potential customers as his rotor blade business was just beginning and I had club duties to tend to that I was voluntold to do. He and I would actually spend some quality time together flying sometimes and other times just hangar flying with our friends. It’s nice to get that time together before the yelling screaming and him insulting me would begin. Anyone who has been around us at a Fly-in during my teenage years and up until recently knows what I’m talking about. That’s a story for another day.
We got to Okeechobee early Sunday morning about 9. It was about a 2.5 hr drive from our new place in Plant City. He and I hop out and this is when BD’s was still held near or around Igor’s actual birthday. So it was mid march. The air had a crispness to it. He and I love that feel. When we get out of the van and stretch to assess the situation as to which of our friends from up North had made it. The first we always noticed was Gary Goldsberry. I don’t remember if he and Sue were together yet or not. I saw a very odd trailer sitting a few spots down from us. It had an egg shaped gyro painted on the side and it said RAF 2000 on it. I told dad hey let’s go check these new guys out.
Turns out they were in fact not new to gyros just new to us. We both went up and introduced ourselves as good hosts would do. The man we first encountered was a mountain of a man Dan Haslow (not sure of the spelling). He was very gracious and shook our hands. He introduced his brother Peter to us and explained that he was the test/demo pilot for their new gyro and his brother was the Engineer. We asked a few questions about their sharp looking egg shaped machines. Dad noticed a few things he would have done different but considered it just a different way of doing things and didn’t say anything.
The one thing that was glaring to him was the fact that the RAF 2000 was powered by what appeared to be a free air two stroke. It was four cylinders. We asked what engine it was, because we hadn’t seen or even heard of a Hirth. Despite us later on finding out we were very familiar with the German engine’s American cousin the McCullough. That too is a story for another time. We walked around the two machines and Chuck Beaty and Charlie Presnell showed up. They saw us came over and were checking them out as well. We all walked away and immediately said almost in harmony those engines aren’t going to work behind that big egg of a body. They will fry.
Dad also noticed that as they were puttting the big fiberglass blades together they appeared to be twisted. He asked Peter about it he confirmed they were indeed twisted to help efficiency. Dad was to debut the first production run Dragon Wings Rotor Blades. He also had a new long legged machine that others kept calling the Florida Mosquito this was due to its high seating and long gear. We hadn’t come up with a marketable name for the aircraft yet and called it gooney bird lovingly. We asked our friends and potential customers to come up with a name for the center line thrust machine. It was swinging a 72” prop and had a landing gear with 9” of travel on the main gear. The nose wheel was also sprung with 4” of travel. We thought it would be fun to challenge anyone willing to show us how to get in it. That too is for another story. I must get back on track.
Dad, myself, Chuck and Charlie went out of ear shot to discuss the two glaring, what we considered as, design flaws. The first being the free air engine behind a huge cabin in the Florida heat and humidity. The second being the fact that the rotor blades were twisted the wrong direction for autorotation. They were twisted exactly opposite of what Dragon Wings were. For those who are not familiar with the concept. A twist in the blades for an auto gyro helps the stalled section of the disk be reduced, thus making more of the blade work. This allows for a slightly smaller disk carrying the same weight. The twist is negative at the root and positive at the tip. If you look at a disk while flying a typical 8H12 non twisted blade from above and was able to freeze it with the areas of the disk showing what percentage of the work each area was doing. The inner third was basically doing nothing except providing structural support to the other two thirds of the blade. The second third or the middle did a little more. The heavy lifter was the outer third was were all the lift came from for the disk. A good illustration would look like a donut. The hole in the center being the root out one third.
By twisting the blade in the manner described you speed the air up toward the center of the disk. This allows that hole to become smaller thus smaller disk same lifting ability. It’s not a whole bunch or dramatic but every little bit helps.
The problem we all observed with the RAF blades was they were twisted the opposite direction like a driven rotor such as a helicopter. Chuck gave us a quick class on the origins of twisting the blades and it went back to the windmills in Denmark and Holland. They were wind driven rotors and through experimentation they established the best direction to twist for optimal use of the wind available. Chuck explained that Cierva and Pitcairn also twisted their blades the direction in which the new Dragon Wings were twisted. So it was decided that one of the adults, I despite my 17 years around gyros and my good understanding of the aerodynamics of this I was not going to be received well. My father volunteered, in retrospect probably not the wisest choice because of his sarcastic way of speaking. End of part 1
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![[RotaryForum.com] - Bensen Days 1989](https://data3.rotaryforum.com/attachments/128/128314-89983a7a410b3d28e2aa622484a8e775.jpg?hash=ivKHSpT_ZC "[RotaryForum.com] - Bensen Days 1989")
Don’t you have a straight edge? What’s wrong with you can’t build nothing straight.
