Page Content (OCR)
Above right: Produced in the early 1950s, this is an early SNECMA design for a VTOL jet fighter, which was clearly influenced by VTOL turboprop projects undertaken by Lockheed and Convair for the US Navy. SNECMA craft and in mid-1958 the company received official approval to proceed, with the airframe being sub-contracted to Nord Aviation (who became Aerospatiale and then EADS). This combined all the features developed during the ATAR Volant programme with the annular wing, which Zborowski had patented and sold to SNECMA. Designated C.450, it was then named Coléoptére, which had started out as a combination of Greek words Koleos for ‘sheath’ and Pteron for ‘wing’, but finally became the French word for Flying Beetle. The C.450 airframe was completed at Chatillon in 1958. Its overall dimensions were a length of 26ft 4in (8.03m) and diameter 14ft 9in (4.50m), which provided a wing area of 304.6ft? (28.3m*). The SNECMA engineering team then spent the best part of another year installing the engine and all of the systems. Power was provided by a single Atar 101 E-5V gas turbine delivering 7,700 Ib (34.2kN) of sta- tic thrust. The aircraft weighed 4,870Ib (2,209kg) empty and had a maximum of weight of 6,613 Ib (3,000kg). External details varied slightly and the C.450 was sometimes equipped with a nose probe and later carried the letter Y on the forward fuselage (thought to signify an experimental vehicle). Tilting vanes in the engine’s exhaust nozzle pro- vided control during the hover while the small tail fins took over in forward flight. Two extendable strakes were built into the nose, which assisted in the transition to and from the vertical position. The C.450 made its first tethered hover at Villaroche on 17th April 1959 and undertook its first free hover, which lasted for several minutes, on 3rd May 1959. During the ninth flight on 25th July 1959, the test pilot Auguste Morel climbed to an altitude of 2,000ft (610m). He achieved a transition to about 35° and then returned to the vertical position. But =SNECMA executives it was decided to call ita the aircraft suddenly became unstable and day and abandon any further development of Morel couldn’t regain control, finally havingto _a project that no longer appeared to have any eject at 150ft (45m). The C.450 continued to —_ useful military application. pitch and roll for several seconds before A higher-performance production version finally crashing into ground. Later, it was sug- _ of the C.450 had been expected to succeed gested that the throttle control had jammed. _ the C.450 and this VTOL interceptor was to be The C.450 was totally destroyed and Morel powered by a SNECMA TF104 (modified Pratt was seriously injured. After a meeting of & Whitney TF30) supplemented by ramjet Fans and Ducts 145 Above: Model of BTZ Hanneton IIIA ducted fan annular wing light utility aircraft. via Bill Rose Right: The SNECMA C.400 P.1 and P.2 (manned) experimental VTOL test vehicles. SNECMA