TRICOPTER SKYHOOK (Apr, 1957)
Source: Mechanix Illustrated ( More articles from this issue )
Issue: Apr, 1957
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TRICOPTER SKYHOOK
It’s as simple as an ox yoke and it serves a very similar purpose.
By Frank Tinsley
WHEN a heavy hauling job comes up the idea has always been “Put in more horses.” Now, Raymond A. Young, an ex-Navy aeronautical engineer, has made it possible to harness helicopters in teams. His harness, as uncomplicated as an ox yoke, is a tubular framework that holds the working whirlybirds far enough apart to give them rotor room.
Various adaptations of Young’s basic idea may be used. The one illustrated is a tricopter harness consisting of three girders hinged to a central vertical hoist and braced in a rigid triangle by steel cables. Above the outer end of each girder is a universal coupling which attaches to the bottom of a helicopter with a quick release fastening. Each of the machines is separately flown but all follow the commands of a chief pilot, given over interphones. Young’s multi-copter harness can pick up bridge sections, ferry vehicles and equipment, emplace artillery in otherwise inaccessible positions—using standard copters instead of expensive specialized equipment.
I recall seeing a system like this on some documentary. One of the cables or arms failed, sending the whole mess to the ground.
Flying one chopper is hard enough with a load; coordinating three seems impossible.
Comment by Rick Auricchio — January 21, 2009 @ 1:10 pm
I’ve seen those pictures too but even if it did work no three helicopters would be able to lift something as heavy as a tank.
Comment by StanFlouride — January 21, 2009 @ 2:52 pm
It looks like the three Bf110 Zerstorer towing the Me321
Comment by Sandglass Patrol — January 21, 2009 @ 4:04 pm
Sandglass Patrol: Damn, you beat me to it! I was totally going to say that.
Comment by Charlie — January 21, 2009 @ 4:21 pm
Charlie, once we wrote about ‘aeronautics fashions’, because they are always traying the same things, or re-discovering old concepts. Here we discovered the flying submarine, or de submergible plane. Now DARPA is traying it again. This entry, the 3 ‘chopers’ and the three Zerstorers remembered us that entry in our blog, http://sandglasspatrol.livejournal.com/56807.html
Comment by Sandglass Patrol — January 21, 2009 @ 5:19 pm
What could possibly go wrong?
Comment by LightningRose — January 21, 2009 @ 5:59 pm
An insurgent’s dream… A chance to take out three helicopters and a tank with a single Stinger missile…
Comment by Eliyahu — January 22, 2009 @ 4:09 pm
Also, just looked at the illustration again, and I’m trying to figure out why the Army would paint Air Force emblems on its tanks and helicopters?
Comment by Eliyahu — January 22, 2009 @ 4:11 pm
Lightning – why AirForce marking on Army tanks and choppers? Maybe it’s because it was designed by a Navy engineer.
Comment by Toronto — January 22, 2009 @ 4:42 pm
We have linked you
http://sandglasspatrol.livejournal.com/118511.html
(It is in Spanish)
Comment by Sanglass patrol — January 29, 2009 @ 3:25 pm