11/6/2022 0 Comments Westinghouse j34Sam is a controls engineer for Bell Helicopter Textron, assigned to the civilian BA609 tiltrotor program. It seems that all of the early variable-pitch efforts were failures and it took much time to sort out the bugs.Īfter the AM break, we moved on to the Sam Ferguson presentation entitled “The Bell XV-15 Tiltrotor Propulsion System.” NASA’s XV-15 was the forerunner to today’s production V-22 Osprey tiltrotor. That feature could help park the aircraft by backing into spaces on the flight line, and presented a great source of drag for shorter landing distance for heavy bombers. The most advanced had full-feathering (to eliminate windmilling drag with a dead engine) and had reversible pitch. Jeremy took us through the evolution from ground-adjustable types to various mechanically variable types (adjusted in flight), culminating with automatic constant-speed (Curtiss electric and Hamilton Standard Hydromatic) props. The first speaker on the program was Jeremy Kinney, an aeronautics curator with the National Air & Space Museum with a Ph.D in the history of technology, who presented “Shifting Gears in the Air: America and the Variable Pitch Propeller, 1918-1938.” The aero community had long sought a means to vary pitch because the preferred take-off configuration (mild pitch) was not good for cruising at speed (need big pitch for more “bite” of the air, and also to curtail “racing” of the engine). In past conventions, our President restricted introductions to just new attendees, but this year all had an opportunity to talk (which was useful-gave me ideas on who to contact later on special topics of interest). It struck me that so many attendees were mechanical engineers, and many had deep credentials regarding aero engines. The next morning on the 20th, President McCutcheon launched the convention early (0800), with remarks on housekeeping/logistics and introductions all around the room. Members did some catching up, having been a year for many since they talked about their favorite aero-engine subjects. The events kicked off with an evening gathering on May 19th, after we picked up our convention packets, with appetizers and drinks. #Westinghouse j34 plus#The turnout this year at 85 (defined as speakers, paid registered attendees plus spouses) was a record and up sharply from last year’s count of 62 (which was in the depths of an economic recession), including more international participation this year. Thus, for many of us “motorheads” living long distances from Virginia (as on the west coast), this was a well-justified sacrifice. National Air and Space Museum are truly first class with many original and unique items that are hard to find. The theme this year was “more walking, less talking.” In other words, less time was spent at the hotel engaged in oral presentations, with more time on our feet at local Smithsonian facilities (Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles airport and the Garber restoration/storage facility in Suitland, Maryland). Your intrepid AEHS reporter enjoyed the 7th annual convention (I have attended all of them) and I have to say this was somewhat different from the previous gatherings. Photo Courtesy of Brian Silcox ( click for a larger image) Report from the 7th Annual AEHS ConventionĢ010 Convention Attendees in front of the NASM Udvar-Hazy Center
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