Right, You really gotta love the design for hoisting the Batplane up a winch, But the Batcopter in the side of the Mountain really has me scratching my head, Instead of the top of the Mountain opening up or have it like Airwolf, Batman has to not only Fly the Batcopter out of the side of the Mountain but has to land it back the same way, Now that's Precision Flying, The Batplane below it could possibly be VTOL, But the blades on the Batcopter clearing the opening would really make me nervous, Now if a platform slid out of the side of the Mountain with the Batcopter on it, It would make more sense and less dangerous, It could takeoff and land on the platform and slide nicely back into the Mountain, Who knows, Maybe it's there but they didn't mention it into the Diagram.
Bill
The original Batplane was an autogyro, it used a fuselage and engine mounting basically the same as fixed wing aircraft of the era, but used freewheeling rotor blades instead of wings, its winglets were for added stability and control.
The autogyros could land at very low speeds but needed some forwards motion to keep the rotor spining.
There were a few autogyros fitted with a power takeoff hat would spin the rotor up to speed before begining the take off roll, but till the collective control and tail rotor were developed they couldn't control torque that would tend to make the fuselage spin in the direction opposite the rotor.
An auto gyro could in theory land in a cave opening with very little need for room to brake once inside. A very hairy landing every time.
A roof opening would be of much help in taking off but such a craft could land very nearly vertically with only a breath of head wind.
The miniature copters were not unheard of, a similar small one man skycycle was invented in the 50's, and very similar one man copters are being marketed these days, the inventors estate got the shaft because his patents ran out before new lightweight materials and engine designs made it practical.
Funny story but true.
My cousin once saw a very disheveled gentleman walking down a back road nursing a broken arm. My cousin stopped and drove him to a hospital. On the way the man told him his autogyro had an engine failure and he'd landed in a tall tree deep in the forest, it took him most of a day to find a road.
He told my cousin if he could find the wrecked autogyro he could have it as a reward for his help.
My cousin found the wreck and it was not too badly banged up. It was a real chore getting it out of that treetop though. I saw it after he'd restored it, it looked like the one used in some James Bond movies, top of the line back then.
After he restored it his wife put her foot down and refused to hear of him flying it. They have a son who had very serious medical problems and she was terrified that my cousin might be killed or crippled leaving her without the resources needed to care for the son, the son is now healthy and doing very well.
I'm pretty sure my cousin finally sold the autogyro, though at the time I saw it he;d said he would put it in storage and fly it after his son had grown up and gotten over his disabilities well enough to not need special care.
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Topic: Batman's Trophy Room (Read 12112 times)
