Lockheed CL-945 stowed-rotor aircraft (CARR)

Jemiba

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Here are two more pictures of the Lockheed design, shown by pometablava.
It's a stowable rotor design, the pictures are from Flugwelt-1966-I and from
Aviation Week 1966 10-18.

[edited, pictures were causing issues, edited and re-uploaded]
 

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Hi,

my dear Jemiba sent before those two drawings to unknown Lockheed aircraft,
it was Lockheed CL-945-400,a stowed-rotor aircraft,it had a gross weight of
31,000 1b,wing span 40ft and three blads main rotor.

http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19930008694_1993008694.pdf
 

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Factory models of the CL-945, in house colors and U.S. Navy.
 

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I've said this before but - those are some really great pics of some cool models. Thanks for sharing.
 
Great posts, thanks. Does anyone know if any stowed rotor aircraft has ever actually flown? It seems like it would offer performance comparable to or better than tilt-rotors like the V-22 and with less complexity, but actually stopping and stowing a full-size rotor while maintaining control, and reversing the process, seems like a pretty daunting engineering task.
 
Closest thing today might be some of the stowed tilt rotor work mentioned as having been seen in the Boeing pavilion at Paris Airshow.
 
Agreed, but this does not look a lot less complicated with in-flight folding rotors, rotor transmissions that appear to change positions (up and down) with associated gearing. Then there are the interesting aerodynamics for stowing and un-stowing of the rotors. Then there is the fact that it will not autorotate, which appears to be a prerequsite for any rotorcraft to be viable. ::)
 
Hmm, all of which makes me wonder if the autogyro doesn't deserve a second look. With the exception of VTOL concepts that look to supplant attack or combat rescue helicopters and therefore require extended hover capability, most VTOL applications that are trying to get more speed really only need the VTOL, not hover capability. An autogyro, perhaps using a cold jet tapped from a turbofan for jump take-off, starts to look pretty attractive for naval use and super-STOL transport. If absolutely need the speed boost of a stowable rotor, then an unpowered rotor ought to be a lot easier to handle, maybe a single-blade rotor like the Sikorsky XV-2 concept (though the latter was powered).
 
In the same link/file, I found this funny other project: when the rotor is fixed, this looks like a classical airplane but with an asymmetric anti-torque useless device... This is actually the missing link between helicopters and airplanes ;D
 

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Tophe said:
In the same link/file, I found this funny other project: when the rotor is fixed, this looks like a classical airplane but with an asymmetric anti-torque useless device... This is actually the missing link between helicopters and airplanes ;D
Click to expand...

That's the Lockheed CL-945: http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,7069.0.html
 
Orionblamblam said:
I just posted a series of drawings of the CL-945 over on my blog: http://up-ship.com/blog/
Click to expand...
I do not find it both at http://up-ship.com/blog/
and at http://up-ship.com/blog/?cat=22
Sorry…
Most of all, could you confirm this is a 1992 project like the NASA report, or very older?
 
Tophe said:
Orionblamblam said:
I just posted a series of drawings of the CL-945 over on my blog: http://up-ship.com/blog/
Click to expand...
I do not find it both at http://up-ship.com/blog/
and at http://up-ship.com/blog/?cat=22
Click to expand...

Right here:
http://up-ship.com/blog/?p=3022
Most of all, could you confirm this is a 1992 project like the NASA report, or very older?
Click to expand...

1965.
 
Thanks a lot!
Uh... may I include a link towards it (from a thumbnail version of the NASA drawing) on my Asymmetric-aircraft page? or is this too far from your APR pages? Please tell me how to help and thank, dear.
 
From USN Archives
 

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Dear Boys and Girls, here is a piece with a caption in French showing Lockheed's convertible helicopter "project" with a stoppable rotor which folds up and is stowed in a compartment behind the rotorhead......

The piece comes from the 1st December 1965 issue of Aviation Magazine International......

Terry (Caravellarella)
 
This is one of the CL-945 CARR retractoplane designs for a helicopter with folding rotor blades. I seem to recall there is a topic elsewhere on the forum about this one.
 
Stargazer2006 said:
This is one of the CL-945 CARR retractoplane designs for a helicopter with folding rotor blades. I seem to recall there is a topic elsewhere on the forum about this one.
Click to expand...

I looked for it Stéphane but I couldn't find it because the search engine hates me :'(

Here is an article that shows Lockheed must have actually tried to test this concept in a wind-tunnel......

The article comes from the 15th November 1966 issue of Aviation Magazine International......

Best, Terry (Caravellarella)
 
Stargazer2006 said:
This is one of the CL-945 CARR retractoplane designs for a helicopter with folding rotor blades. I seem to recall there is a topic elsewhere on the forum about this one.
Click to expand...

http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,7069.0
 
Caravellarella said:
Stargazer2006 said:
This is one of the CL-945 CARR retractoplane designs for a helicopter with folding rotor blades. I seem to recall there is a topic elsewhere on the forum about this one.
Click to expand...

I looked for it Stéphane but I couldn't find it because the search engine hates me :'(

Here is an article that shows Lockheed must have actually tried to test this concept in a wind-tunnel......

The article comes from the 15th November 1966 issue of Aviation Magazine International......

Best, Terry (Caravellarella)
Click to expand...

Gosh, I must be really naughty then. You see? I looked for "Lockheed Helicopter", "stoppable rotor" & "stowable rotor" in the search engine. This is the only topic I could find that had images of the same type of "project"......

I've never heard of "CL-945", "CARR" or "Retractoplane" before; maybe I should only be limiting myself to types and projects that I recognise or know anything about......
 
Caravellarella said:
maybe I should only be limiting myself to types and projects that I recognise or know anything about......
Click to expand...

Please don't!! Better post something twice than leave a project unseen! Moderators are here to straighten things out, make the right connections and clean up the mess, if any... ;)

Oh... and by the way, the search engine seems to hate me too... ;D
 
Caravellarella said:
I've never heard of "CL-945", "CARR" or "Retractoplane" before...
Click to expand...

CARR stands for Composite Aircraft Retracted Rotor, which was Lockheed's official program title for the CL-945 and some of its developments. "Retractoplane" is likely to be nothing more than a magazine caption.
 
circle-5 said:
"Retractoplane" is likely to be nothing more than a magazine caption.
Click to expand...

I don't think this term was made up by the journalist. It was used all over at the time for similar projects, like those from Piasecki or Sikorsky. I could be wrong, but it seems that Piasecki may have first coined the word.
 

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Interesting, thanks. However it seems the captions for the helicopter and cruise configurations were inverted...
 
A beautiful painting of a jet-propelled CARR proposal:
 

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I was thinking the other day how viable these concepts could be today. With digital fly by wire/light and computing power the controlability of the aircraft should not be overly difficult. With composite materials weight (and thus cost) can be reduced as well. Mechanical reliability would likely be the biggest challenge, but thanks to better understanding of aero and using wing mounted thrust as counter-tourque, the dynamic components of a design like this could be ... simplified (sorta).
 

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Original Lockheed stowed-rotor helicopter concept painting (gouache) found on eBay.

Seller's description:

We are offering a real cool 1950's [sic] Lockheed concept airplane painting by C.G. Hodgson. Chuck Hodgson worked as a concept aviation painter in the Lockheed Art Department for 30 years. The painting is of 3 concept jet aircraft with retractable rotor blades. Painting is in very good condition in Gouache with some small corner dings and a small water spot on edge of matte. Measures approx. 23 1/2" x 18 1/2", actual art 21" x 16 1/4". Signed on lower right.
Click to expand...

Source:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1950s-Lockheed-Concept-Jet-Rotor-Airplane-Painting-C-G-Hodgson-USAF-Original-/121486801363?pt=Art_Paintings&hash=item1c492d79d3
 

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Do I get this right? Did this beauty go for a mere $165? Seems like a very good deal to me!
 
Less than that, in fact. It had a "make an offer" option that, much to my shock, was accepted.

I'll try to make a series of good photos of it when it comes in. Can't feed it through a large format scanner, and I'd hate to try to sandwich it into a standard flatbed. I just hope it survives transit...
 
It finally arrived to day. Much to my shock, it's in really quite good shape... the USPS forgot to fold it in half and run over it with a bulldozer. It's one of the few *actual* aerospace concept art paintings I've seen up close with my own eyes as opposed to reproductions... and it's astonishing just how bright and clear it is. I'll take this sort of art over the CG stuff any day!

Getting a digital reproduction of it that really captures it will probably be something of a challenge.
 
Orionblamblam said:
I'll take this sort of art over the CG stuff any day!
Click to expand...

Congratulations on this great acquisition! I can only agree that such artwork conveys a dramatic and dynamic feeling that CG too rarely captures.
 
Who can collect the pieces;

https://apps.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/684334.pdf
 

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