Quirky. British. Ingenuity. The Bristol ‘Belvedere’ certainly had these traits in abundance and remains the only British tandem helicopter to have entered production.
First flown in 1958 the Belvedere served for a relatively short time with the RAF from 1961 to 1969 with a total of 26 airframes completed. Originally designed for the navy the design was reconfigured to carry 18 fully laden steely-eyed dealers of death for participation in the Aden emergency and the Indo-Malaysian confrontation.
Like most aircraft developed at home it was superseded by licence built American derivatives, in this case the ‘Wessex’.
Controls
VTOL up and down changes the collective.
Yaw is a little like driving a hover craft so be prepared to kill the input early or compensate by using opposite inputs to straighten out.
Specifications
General Characteristics
- Created On iOS
- Wingspan 43.4ft (13.2m)
- Length 78.0ft (23.8m)
- Height 23.7ft (7.2m)
- Empty Weight 20,120lbs (9,126kg)
- Loaded Weight 24,526lbs (11,124kg)
Performance
- Power/Weight Ratio 3.438
- Wing Loading 439,839.3lbs/ft2 (2,147,483.6kg/m2)
- Wing Area 0.0ft2 (0.0m2)
- Drag Points 8813
Parts
- Number of Parts 166
- Control Surfaces 0
- Performance Cost 791
Thanks kindly! @GhostHTX
Very nice, old chap!
@Tang0five could you build a simple nicely finished Tu-95 ?
The Handley Pain in the rear?
Wow, all I got was airfix models as a kid. Never had this one though. @Trainzo
Thanks @BusterShortWolf a nice simple build after my recent monstrosity!
Epickly done 👍
@Tang0five, I still have the model dinky toy.
@Shipster (for later)
Majestic English Ingenuity
I never got why the British helo designs like the Belvedere looked like something out of a Gerry Anderson program. Awesome looking helicopter, gotta say!
Thanks my good fellow! @TheFantasticTyphoon
Thanks! @Trainzo much more satisfying and less frustrating these smaller builds!
"Jolly nice, old chap!"
The British Banana
I love it.
Just wahooo. Great job.