Omega BS-12 | |
---|---|
Role | Helicopter |
National origin | United States of America |
Manufacturer | Omega Aircraft Corp, Allied Aero Industries, ADRC |
Designer | Bernard W Sznycer |
First flight | December 29, 1956 |
Introduction | 1958 |
Number built | at least 4 |
Developed from | Sznycer SG-VI-E (a.k.a. Sznycer-Gottlieb SG-VI) |
The Omega BS-12 was a utility helicopter with high ground clearance designed to carry loads behind the cabin at, or near, the center of gravity.[1]
Bernard Sznycer, designer of the Sznycer SG-VI, the first helicopter certified in Canada, set up the Omega Aircraft Corporation, based at New Bedford, Massachusetts in December 1953, with himself as President and Chief Designer of the company.[2][3] Omega's first design was a twin-engined flying crane / utility helicopter, intended to be inexpensive to produce and relatively cheap to operate.[2][4]
The helicopter was of conventional layout, with a single four-bladed lift rotor and a two bladed anti-torque rotor. Its fuselage was of pod-and-boom layout, with a small enclosed crew cabin forward connected to an uncovered steel tube tail boom. Cargo, either a slung load or in a pre-loaded pod, could be carried between the crew cabin and the undercarriage mainwheels, while it was planned to also provide a pod to carry passengers. It was powered by twin piston engines mounted horizontally on either side of the main gearbox.[2][5][6]
The first example made its maiden flight on December 29, 1956.[2] The type was certified by the Federal Aviation Administration in April 1961.[2] Omega planned to build an initial batch of 25 BS-12-D-1s, which were priced at $77,500, with production gradually building up from one per month.[7] Although Omega received orders for several BS-12s following certification, shortages of funds stopped production, and Omega entered into bankruptcy in July 1962.[8] Omega was purchased by the Aeronautical Research and Development Corporation of Boston, Massachusetts, with the intention of putting the BS-12 into production as the ADRC/Omega RD-400.[9]
Data from Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1961–62[2]
General characteristics
Performance