CA1054124A - Vectored thrust airship - Google Patents

Abstract

VECTORED THRUST AIRSHIP ABSTRACT OF DISCLOSURE An airship with provisions for vectored thrust pro-vided by a plurality of controllable pitch rotor thrust pro-ducing units attached to the elongated aerostat hull spaced from and on opposite sides of the center of overall mass of the airship. The pitch control systems for the rotors of all thrust units include collective and cyclic pitch controls of the main, horizontally rotating lifting rotors and the control systems are interconnected to be operable by a master control which establishes both similar and differential pitch settings of the rotors of selected thrust units in a manner to estab-lish vectored thrust in directions which establish the re-quired amounts of vertical lift, propulsion thrust, trim and control forces to control all flight aspects of the airship.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to an airship employing the vectored thrust obtained from thrust producing rotor systems affixed to the aerostat hull of the airship as a ~eans of pro-viding dynamic lift, translational movement of the airship and the application of control forces establishing the desired attitude of the airship in flight and in hover.
Although airplane payloads for long-haul transporta-tion have increased steadily in recent years, there is a grow-ing need for the vertical lifting of large payloads over short distances, particularly payloads comprising single integrated structures of relatively large dimensions, such as power plant assemblies, boilers, transformers, atomic power components, pre-fabricated structures, etc. Helicopters have been utilized for the vertical , . : . . . , - ~ .
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lOS~4 lirt short-haul operatlons but the slze Dayload that can be lirte by a hellcopter ls limlted. The commerclal hellcopter havlng the largest capacity available today will llrt a load Or 10 tons.
Larger hellcopters are under development Or which one has a lift-5 ing ca~acity Or 18 tons. However, there ls a growlng need fortransportlng large lndivislble loads of 25 to 100 tons or more over routes in whlch vertical alrlift capablllty to lift these loads ls the only reaslble mode Or transportatlon. Increaslng vertical llft capabillty throu~h rigidly connectlng together several hellcopters in the manner Or U.S. Patent 3,656,723 ap-pears to be reasible. However, the lifting capability of such multiple helicopter lift systems, utllizing presently available or pro~ected hellcopters, still falls considerably short Or present and predicted vertical load requlrements. Since the payload/gross weight ratio Or aerodynamically supported vehlcles dlmlnlshes with lncrease in slze due to the cube/square relation-shlp Or structural weight and li~t, further increases in size Or hellcopters or multiple helicopter lift systems would lnvolve increasingly less vertical lirt capacitles per pound Or alrcraft ln the larger sizes such that further appreciable increase ln size Or helicopter units would be extremely expensive.

A rurther concept of lncreasing the vertical llrtlng capaclty o~ two lnterconnected hellcopters by tethering a balloon above the center Or gravity of the interconnected helicopters is disl closed in U.S. Patent 3,008,665. However, the high drag Or the balloon coupled with the problem Or coordinating movements Or the independentl~ operating helicopters makes such an arrange-ment lmpractical ror most operatlons except at e~tremel~ low 3o speed and over very llmlted ranges. The proposed arran~ement could also not be used in any exceDt ldeal weather conditions Or very low wind veloclty and gustlness due to the lnability o~

~05~4 ~` ' hlgh degree Or controllabillty in hover fll~ht ln addition to the abillty of flylng under good control at moderate speeds.
An object Or this lnventlon is to provide an airborne vehicle with the capacity of a heavy lirt crane of almost un-limited payload capaclty.
Another ob~ect of thls inventlon is to provide an air-borne vehicle Or moderate range having a very large vertical llftlng capability and capable Or a very high degree Or con-trollability ln dlrection Or motlon and attitude, particularly in hover rlight.
Still another ob~ect of this lnvention is to provide a lighter than-air crart Or large size having a high degree of controllab1lity in all flight modes but particularly in the hover rlight mode.
Still yet another object o~ this invention is to provide a lighter-than-air craft vehicle of large payload ca~acity and capable Or highly precise hovering flight in which its rli~ht controllability and wind and ground handlin~ problems are a minimum.
' 20 SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
These ob,jects have been achieved by ar~ixin~ to the hull Or the aerostat Or a lighter-than-air crart a thrust produc-ing rotor system Or the type used in helicopters and afrixing the rotor thrust systems to the aerostat hull on opposite sldes and spaced rrom the airship center Or mass to produce an airshiP which employs vectored thrust as a means Or providin~ both dynamic lift and a hi~h de~ree Or controllability ror maneuverin~ rlight as well as hoverin~ flight. This is achieved by vectoring and summing the thrust produced by the rotor systems that are rigidly connected to the aerostat hull and spaced rrom the center o~ mass so as to establish attitude control moments.
The rotor blade pitch control syste~ Or all thrust roduc-in~ units, which include main lirtin~ rotors havin~
_4_ ¦~ 105M;~4 coordlnatlng motion o~ the tethered balloon wlth that Or each Or the two lndependently controlled hellcopters.

Lighter-than-alr crart have long been advocated as medlums ror the transportatlon o~ large payloads slnce the llftlng capa-clty Or the alrship lncreases as the cube Or the slze whereasthe structural increase ls ln the ratio Or the square of the slze as the case ln aerodynamically supported vehlcles. However, a , large aerostat ls a slow responding vehlcle~ The hull characte-rlstlcs of the conventlonal alrship ln forward flight make lt unstable ln both yaw and pltch. Conventional alrshlps have no capabllity for developlng,a slde rorce other than flying at a yawed angle nor do they have a controllable vertical lirting ~orce other than by ballastlng or valvlng llfting gas and,flylng at an angle Or attack. Alrships are notorlously ~oor ln yaw controllablllty, partlcularly slnce the moments Or lnertla of eVen the smaller alrships are many times larger than those Or the largest heavler-than-alr craft. The only means of control-llng alrships ln yaw and pitch ls throu~h the rudder and elevator surraces whlch have relatlvely small aspect ratlos and are oper-atlng to a conslderable extent~ln the boundary layer o~ the alr-shlp hull. At low and zero forward speeds the controllabillty Or airshlps is very low, apDroachln~ zero, and the ablllty Or a conventlonal alrshlp to hold positlon or heading ln ~usty air ls very poor. Thus, although a conventional airshlp Or large slze has lnherent capabllltles of provldlng large vertlcal llft capa-bllity, lts capability of hlghly controlled hover fll~ht are extremely poor. One o~ the requirements Or the large vertlcal llrt load carrylng capablllty ls that the carrylng vehlcle be capable of li~tlng or depositlng payloads from a preclse ground 3o locatlon and ln a preclsely determined alig~ment and azlmuth.

Thus, the lar~e vertlcal load capaclty vehlcle, whlch must pick up and deposlt the payload in the mode Or t~le crane 3 must have a .

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collective and cyclic pitch, are interconnected and operable from a master control. Operation of the master control estab-lishes both similar and differential pitch settings of the collective pitch as well as the cyclic pitch of the rotors of selected thrust units in a manner that establishes the vec-tored thrust in directions proYiding the desired vertical lift, propulsion, trim and control forces for the desired mode of flight of the airship.
Thus, in accordance with the present teachings, a vectored - 10 thrust airship is provided which comprises an aerostat hull containing a lighter-than-air gas, a plurality of thrust producing units each of which has at least one horizontally disposed main rotor with controllable pitch blades together with means for controlling the pitch of the rotor blades at least collectively. Means are provided for attaching the thrust units to the hull of the aerostat with individual thrust units being located on opposite sides of and spaced from the center Qf mass . of the airship. Power means are provided connected to each rotor for rotating the rotor blades about the rotor axis. A
master flight control means is provided which includes trans-lational control means operable for controlling the translational ~, motion of the airship along and perpendicular to its longitudinal axis and attitude control means provided operable for controlling the angular motion of the airship about its center of mass. ;
Means are provided interconnecting the blade pitch control means ~- ~
of eac~ thrust unit and the master flight control means for -similar actuation of the blade pitch control means of similar rotors of selected units upon operation of the translational control means and for differential actuation of blade pitch control means of a selected pair of thrust units located on opposite sides of the airship center of mass upon operation of an attitude control means.

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BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF ~RAWINGS
Figure 1 is a side elevation of one embodiment of the invention incorporating a conventional rigid airship hull simi-lar to the naval airship AXron.
Figure 2 is a plan view from abo~e of the embodiment of Figure 1.
Figure 3 is a front elevation view of the embodiment of Figure 1 with a small cutaway section.
Figure 4 is a side elevation with a small cutaway section of a second ~mbodiment of the invention utilizing a modified rigid airship structure and more sophisticated thrust units.
Figure 5 is a plan view from above of the embodiment of Figure 4.
Figure 6 is a front elevation view of the embodiment of ; Figure 4.
Figure 7 is a side elevation of a third embodiment of the invention employing a non-rigid airship struc~ure and a further sophistication of the thrust units.
Figure 8 is a plan view from above of the embodiment of Figure 7.
Figures 9 and 9A are side and plan views of a further variation of the thrust units illustrated in the embodiments of Figures 1-8.

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Figure 10 is a schematic diagram of one typical control interconnection system.
Figure 11 is a schematic diagram illustrating a variation of the control interconnection system of Figure 10.
DESCRIPTION OF TYPICAL EMBODIMENTS
Figures 1-3 illustrate an embodiment utilizing the hull of a typical rigid airship in which the hull 10 comprises a typical rigid airship structure having circumferential rings ll spaced apart along the length of the airship and connected together by longitudinally extending members with the indivi-dual gas cells 12 located in the space between the rings to ~ -provide compartmentation. The rigid framework within which the gas cells are supported is covered with some type of ;
covering (usually fabric~ and no further description of the well known rigid airship structure is necessary, this struc-ture forming no part of the invention. Although not essential to flight control, the airship hull can incorporate the conven-tional fins or vertical stabilizers 13 and rudders 13a as well as hori70ntal stabilizers 14 and elevators 14a. Although fins are shown in this embodiment, they can be disadvantageous in slow flight speed operations due to unsymetrical weight distribution and the reaction of tail surfaces to transverse gusts would accentuate the control problem. Since the func-tion of the convent onal fins is replaced by other control means to be subsequently described, the conventional fins might well be eliminated. Laterally extending seml-cantilever beams 15 are attached to the airship hull, in this instance, probably the rings 11, at points 16, 16a, 17, 17a, 18, 18a, 19, and l9a forwardly and rearwardly of the center of mass 20 of the vehicle to extend outwardly on each side of the longi-, "` lVS~ 4 tudinal axis of the airship hull, utilizing vertical struts 21 for stiffening if necessary. Four vertical lift or thrust producing units 22, 23, 24, 25 are attached to the outer end of , .

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- 6a -10541;~4 each lateral beam 15 through a hlnge ty~e mountin~ 26 which allows angular displacement of the lifting unlt around the pitch axls whlch extends horlzontally transversely Or the airshl~ hUll.
The angular motion about the pitch axis is to permit the lifting unlt to be tilted rorwardly or rearwardly so that a component o~
the llrting rotor thrust will be parallel to the longltudinal axls and the line Or flight Or the airship. The angular dls-placement of the lirting unit can conveniently be approximately 60 rorwardly to 30 rearwardly, although these angles are appro-ximate and not particularly critical~ ~lso the tilting feat~lre can be elimlnated and the pivotable hinge mountlng 26 ellminated , wlth the lifting units rigidly connected to the lateral beam 15, as desired as rore and art thrust components can be obtalned through cyclic pitch Or the lirtlng unit main rotor as wlll be subsequently discussed. The lift unlt hinge 26 can also be -deslgned to allow for angular displacement Or each liftlng unit about itæ roll axis, whiCh extends ~arallel to the airshlp lon~l-tudinal axls. The angular displacement might be ln the reglon Or 11 and wot,lld probably be outboard only to avoid interrerence between the llft unit main rotor and the support beam, although , lnboard tilt is possible. The purpose Or the tilt provision about the roll axis Or each lifting unit would be to establish a component o~ thrust ror trim purposes transversely Or the air-shlp longitudlnal axis. The hlnged mounting 26 has provision for locking at any deslred plvotal position so as to lock each liftln unlt at an optlmum angle ln pitch, or roll as might be deslred.
The hlnge mountlng 26 can include or be connected to an aCttlator whlch rotates the llrtlng unlt to the deslred angle at whlch it ls locked in place.
Each llft unit comprlses a simple fuselage structure 28 houslng the engine and other Components includlng provlslons for a stand-by pllot, ir deslred, wlth a horlzontally rotatlng, maln Il 10541;~4 lirtlng rotor 30 mounted atop the ruselage. The maln llrt rotor ls o~ the controllable pltch, multiple blade type conventlonally used ln hellcopters incorporatlng both collectlve pltch and cycllc pltch control. The lirt unlt mountlng attachment 26 re-strains motion Or the lirtlng unlt about its yaw axls so that no tail rotor is illustrated ln the embodlment Or Figures 1-3, although a tail rotor Or the conventlonal type could be lncorpo-rated lnto the llrt unlt. It should be understood that each llftlng unlt could take the rorm Or a conventlonal helicoDter attached to the support beam 15 through a sultable mountlng attachment. It is envisloned that each lifting unit would be an integral system similar to or actually a conventional helicopter with engines, ruel supply and the usual engine and rotor blade controls that establish the pltch Or all rotor blades, lncluding the maln lirting rotor collective and cycllc pltch and the pltch of any tall rotor that might be installed. Although all illus-trated lifting units are Or the single maln rotor type, each llftlng unlt could lncorporate multlple maln llrt rotors Or the tandem or other types.
Provislons for attachlng payloads to the alrship hull could take many rorms. The payloads could be carried externally through external attachments to the airship or ~rovisions could be incorporated for openings ln the bottom Or the hull~ as was the case in the Akron and the Macon airshlps, for hoisting pay-load items lnto and transportlng them inside the hull. Figure 1 shows a simple type Or arrangement in which a Payload 32 (re-presented ln dotted line) is supported by cable~33 connected to a wlnch inslde the alrship, the wlnch ralsing and lowering the payload at the ground dellvery polnt while the alrship hovers 3~ over the dellvery point through the vector control rorces to be descrlbed subsequently.

iO541~4 Althou~h the llft produclng units 22, 23, 24, 25 are envlsl-oned to be lntegral unlts wlth selr-contalned power plants and a fuel supply simllar to or constltuting a hellcopter as described above, the englnes driving the maln llrtin~ rotors 30 and the ruel supply could be housed withln the supportlng beams 15 or the i alrshlp hull, although thls would involve added wei~ht due to len~ths Or shafting to drlve the main rotors. However, this r~
would have the advantage Or interconnecting the nalrs of lift rotors located opposltely on each side Or the hull or Or all rotors so that a ma~or portion Or rull power Or the lirt units could be malntained on ail lirtlng rotors in the event Or an engine fai?ure. In the illustrated embodiment Or lirting units, ln which the main lift rotors of each unit are powered by two turbine engines, in the event Or failure of an engine in one Or the lirt units, such as unit 22, only 50% Or the power Or the symetrically opposite lirt unit 25 would be used, in order to malntain the trim Or the vehicle. Thus, ln an eight-engine ar-rangement Or the type envisioned for Figures 1-3, when carrying maximum deslgn payload, each engine would be called upon to sup-ply three-rourths Or its rated power, and the total power sup~
plied would equal six tlmes the rated power Or each englne.
Then, ~hould one engine rail, the other englne in that lirt unit would be increased to rull power, the engines ln the s~metrical-ly opposite lift unit would each be reduced to one-half rated power, the englnes in the two unarrected lift units would be increased to ~ull power, and the total power would remain at six tlmes the rated power Or one engine, as berore.
The ~itch Or the blades o~ the main llrting rotors 30 Or each llft unlt can be controlled b~ conventional mechanlcal rotor 3o control actuators through the usual control si~nal inputs from control unlts located within the rusela~e Or each llrting unit.

In the case Or the single rotor lifting unlt, lllustrated in Flgures 1-3~ these controls lnvolve collective pitch Or the : ~ - . .
., : - ' ~ ' . . ~ , , " ;i 105 ~`~ I re,,~
~h~ rotor blades as well as both longitudinal and~cyclic nltch of the¦
blades. Engine RPM is controlled by a governor o~ whlch the set-¦
tlng can be also controlled by an englne control. The control forces for the alrshlp that establlsh attltude and maneuverlng control are derlved from a summlng Or the lndlvldual llftlng rotor thrust forces. Therefore, the individual rotor controls in each Or the lifting units are not required to respond to those lnputs as are normally utilized to establlsh the attitude Or a helicopter but rather furnish the forces, in magnitude and direc-tlon, as are requlred by the control mixing demands Or a centralcontrol system for the airship to establish the deslred motion and attltude of the airship.
Forces and moments must be exerted on the airship hull as will cause it to move translationally, horizontally, vertically and sldewise, as well as to rotate it about its ~itch axis and yaw axis. Moments could be applied to cause the airshln hull to rotate about its longitudinal axis ln roll but thls control pro- !
bably would not be necessary due to the hi~h degree of roll stability because of the relatively large dlstance between the aerostat center Or buoyancy and the center of gravlty Or the loaded airship. However, aerodynamically induced forces could be applied to establish control Or the airshi~ about its roll axis lf desired and are discussed below. Vertical translational motion of the alrship is primarily achieved by a simultaneous change in the collective pitch of all Iifting units to either increase or decrease the vertical thrust, although vertical lift-¦
lng forces can be created by changing the buoyancy of the aero-stat as well as deriving aerodynamic lift from air flow over the hull in rlight. ~ore and aft translation of the alrshlp would be 3o accompllshed: flrst by tilting the llft vector Or all maln rotors ln the longltudinal direction through similar actuation of longl-tudlnal cyclic pltch of the main rotors Or all llftlng unlts, and secondly by rotatlng all lifting units about the hlnge at-~ 10541;~4 taching polnt to incllne the llrting unlts fore or art and lock-ing them in this posltion. Thls could be accompllshed either through an actuator connected to a supporting shaft Or the lirt-lng unit or unlocking the hinge ritting 26 and cause the llftlng unit to rotate to the desired angle through the use of longitu-dinal cycllc pitch control Or the lift rotor. It ls anticl~ated that the control Or the tilt an~le of all llrtin~ units would be established through a trim control at a master control station ror the airship. The lateral side rorces necessary for movement : Or the airship sidewise would be through similar application Or cyclic pitch control Or the main rotors Or all lifting units to tilt the lirt vectors Or the rotors transversely Or the airshi~
longitudinal axis.
The primary moments lnvolved in controlling the attitude Or the aircraft are achieved by the applicatlon Or dirferential col-lective pitch or cyclic pitch control Or selected lifting units.
The longitudinal pitching moment required to rotate the airship about its pitch axis is prlmarily provided by aP~lication Or dir-erential collective pitch Or the main lirtlng rotors Or the rorward lifting units 22 and 23 and Or the arter lirting units 24 and 25. I~ elevators are installed on the airshiP the ~itch-lng moment.can be augmented in forward rlight by movement Or these elevators. The moment required to rotate the airshiP
i~ about its yaw axis is primarily by either the application Or difrerential transverse cyclic pitch between the main rotors ~r the rorwardly located llrting units 22 and 23 and the after lift-ing units 24 and 25 or by the application Or difrerentlal longltu .
dlnal cyclic pitch control Or the main rotors Or the lifting unlts 22 and 24 on one side and the lifting units 23 and 25 on the other slde Or the longltudlnal axis Or the alrship. Su~ple-mental yawlng moments can be anplled through actuation Or an alrshlp rudder in rorward rli~ht ir a rudder ls lnstalled. The applicatlon Or a moment to rotate the airshlP about lts lon~itu-;' - 11 -~` 105~24 dinal axis in roll may be applied by differential actuation of the collective pitch control of the main lift rotor of the lifting units 22 and 24 on one side of the airship and of the lifting units 23 and 25 on the other side of the airship.
Since the application of all of these forces by the lifting rotors of the lift units do not depend upon any forward flight motion of the airship, very precise control of the airship over a point on the ground can be achieved without heading the airship into the wind and in a zero airspeed condition.
A master control station for the airship can be lo-` cated in a cockpit in the fuselage of one of the lifting units or could be installed in the airship hull. The individual control systems in each of the four lifting units are inter-connected so that they respond to the one set of controls at the master control station. This interconnection may be ac-complished through the use of an automatic flight control sys-tem, such as has been developed for large helicopters. This could take the form of a fly-by-wire link between the master control station and the actuators of the automatic flight control system that would be installed in each of the lifting units. This fly-by-wire link is a direct electrical linkage ; system interfaced with a central automatic control system which performs the automatic flight control system computation.
~he central automatic flight control system is a limited au-r 25 thority system which provides stability and control augmen-tation and auto-pilot-type capabilities. Handling qualitles required for different flight regimes are met by selectable automatic flight control system modes. Inasmuch as the forces and moments that are necessary to control the airship are much lower if they are applied before the disturbing motion of the airship has developed to any degree, it is contemplated that . ~5~1~4 ' sensors would be lnstalled whlch would sense the dlsturbance and reed the necessary lnformatlon to the alrborne computer whlch would automatically establlsh the necessary forces and moments to correct the errant motlon and malntaln the alrship ln the deslred mode Or rllght or hover. Such sensors could be lnstalled on each Or the lirtlng units and ln the alrshlD hull. A block dlagram Or the possible lnterconnectlng rllght control system ror the airshlp ls lndicated ln Flgure 10. In thls particular dlagram the master control statlon ls shown as located in the arter port lirtlng unlt 25. Ir desired, stand-by cock~it controls could be lnstalled ln each Or the llrting units to permit pilots ln each lirtlng unlt to operate the lirting unlt controls in the event a rallure should occur ln the master control unit. This would be an emergency sltuation and coordlnatlon Or the indlvl-dual controls by the lndlvldual pllots would have to be throughtelephone communlcatlon or by matchlng pointers representing cont~ol posltlons to the proper positions commanded by the master pllot.
Table I lndicates the modes Or blade pltch control that must be establlshed ln the blades Or the maln liftlng rotors Or the four llftlng unlts 22, 23, 24, 25 to establlsh the rorces re-quired to control the translational movement Or the airship and the moments that must be a~lied to control its attitude. The master controls that reed the si~nals Into the automatlc rllght control system which establlshes the required mixing that pro-duces the output to the pltch control actuators Or the rotors Or the nature shown ln Table I may be Or the conventlonal type wlth some modlrlcatlons ror the additlonal complexltles involved ln establishing both translatlonal and attitude rotatlonal movement.
3o The controls mlght well be those Or the conventlonal hellcopter havlng a conventlonal collective pltch stlck which would control the vertlcal translatlonal motlon, rudder pedals for 105~
controlling attitude in yaw and a control stick movable longi-tudinally and transversely which would control longitudinal and transverse translational motion, as well as pitch, and if incorporated, motion in roll. Longitudinal movement of the control stick would be programmed to either concurrently or ~-. separately supply signals to establish longitudinal transla-tional motion and pitching of the airship as indicated in Table I. One convenient way of doing this would be to have the first increment of longitudinal motion of the control : 10 stick create signals to the pitch control of the rotors estab-lishing only longitudinal translational motion. Longitudinal motion of the control stick beyond the initial increment would create signals to the rotor blade collective pitch controls for creating a pitching moment to the airship. Lateral mo-tion of the control stick.might supply signals to the lifting rotor blades which would create only translational motion as indicated in Table I, if roll control.were not incorporated.
~ If roll control were incorporated, the same arrangement could be used as for establishing.pitch in which signals establish-ing rolling moments would be supplied when the transverse mo-tion of the control stick went beyond an initial increment of motion. A number of other alternatives are obviously avail-able, such.as utilizing an auto-pilot to control the attitude of the.airship in pitch and yaw and,.if utilized, in roll in the hover mode. In this mode the longitudinal and the trans-verse motion of the stick would supply signals involving only translational motion of the airship, in the equivalent direc-tions. A trim control would be utilized to e~tablish the desired tilt of all lifting units in the longitudinal direc-tion, and, if provided, to tilt the selected units.transversely.

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" lOS41~ -Although Table I only indicates the nature of the actuation of the pitch control.required ofthe main rotors of the lift-ing units for creating the forces which control the attitude of the airship, if movable control surfaces are installéd on the aerostat hull, motions of the control stick and rudder .
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~,! -- 15 --`- 105~1Z4 at the master control station would create changes in the pitch of rotor blades that establish pitching and yaw moments and would also transmit signals to actuators for the control surfaces on the aerostat hull that would deflect them in the proper direction to apply supplementary pitching and ya~ing moments.
-Figures 4-6 illustr~te a second embodiment of the invention utilizing an aerostat hull lOa of substantially elliptical shape in which the hull structure is that of the type utilized in the airship Hindenburg. The contour is that of the front and rear portions of the Hindenburg with the cylindrical center portion omitted. Although stabilizing fins and the associated moveable control surfaces on the airship hull would not be necessary, this particular embodiment has fins 13b mounted in the 45 degree planes on the upper rear portion of the airship hull with rudder-vators 13c installed on these fins to supply supplemen-tary pitching and yawing moments. The hull structure would be that of the conventional Zeppelin design in which a central beam 27 extends longitudinally along the central axis of the hull with circumferential ~ings lla of varying diameters being located along the length and connected at intervals to the central beam with ; longitudinal beams 27a extending the length of the airship around , the perimeter of the rings. Gas cells are located within the external covering of the airship between the main beams. As in the embodiment of Figures 1-3, thrust unit support beams 15a affixed to the hull structure Or the airship extend transversely outwardly from opposite attaching points forwardly of the airship ¦
center of mass and rearwardly of the center of mass~ Each beam 15a can conveniently be affixed to main rings of the hull with connectlons to the central beam 27 through a system of struts 29, 29a in the mflnner shown in Figures 4-6. The airship can be supported for ground handlin~ on wheels 34 supported by a system Or conventi~nal struts 35, 35a, 35b affixed to the cantilevered 1 [)5~4 bea~s 15 and the airship hull structure. The briefly described structure for the airship hull, the thrust unit support beams, and the associated supporting structure for the beam and the ground handling are merely typical configurations and many other variations of an aerostat hull for containing the buoyant lifting gas and attaching the thrust units to the hull are possible.
The arrangement of the thrust units iS the same as that ; described for the embodiments of Figures 1-3 and the thrust units 22a, 23a, 24a, 25a are the same except that each thrust ¦ unit includes a supplementary rotor 36 at which the blades rotate in a vertical plane parallel to the longitudinal axis of the airship similar to the tail rotor of a conventional helicopter.
~our thrust producing units 22a, 23a, 24a, 25a are each affixed to a laterally extending support beam 15 forwardly and rearwardly ~ ~7 ~ I r S ~ s 5 of the a3~ Ft center of ~ *ney by means of a hinged fitting permitting rOtAtiOn of the thrust unit in the same manner as the previously described embodiment of Figures 1-3. Due to the side thrust available from the supplementary rotors 36, the hinged fitting need not have provisions for lateral tilting of the thrust units, although provisions for lateral tilting are illustrated in Figure 6.
Other than the supplementary rotor 36 the basic elements of this second embodiment are the same as those of Figures 1-3, the only significant difference being the addition of the supplemen-tary rotor 36, to the main lifting rotor 30 of each thrust unit.The thrust unit being rigidly affixed to the structure in yaw, the supplementary rotor 36 of each unlt does not function as anti-tor~ue device in the manner of single rotor helicopters but is utilized to establish a laterally directed thrust. This lateral 3 thrust exerted in the same direction by the supplementary rotors of all thrust units can be utilized to established transverse translational motion of the airship, or a lateral force exerted in one direction by the supplementary rotors Or the forwardly ~ lOS41~
located thrust units and in the opposite direction by the sup-plementary rotors of the rearwardly located units can estab-lish a yawing moment on the airship. The supplementary rotors can conveniently be driven by the engines which power the main lifting rotors but the drive shafting and gear trains can be sturdier than that of conventional helicopter anti-torque tail rotors and the rotor should be of a size to ab-~; sorb considerable power. The supplementary rotor blades should also be capable of positive and negative pitch settings so as to obtain thrust reversal.
Thus, all modes of rotor blade pitch control that are described in the embodiment of Figures 1-3 are applicable to the embodiment of Figures 4-6 with the lateral thrust of , the supplementary rotor 36 of each thrust unit 22a, 23a, 24a, 25a of the embodiment of Figures 4-6 being available as sup-plementary means of establishing transverse translational motion of the airship as well as applying supplementary yawing moments. Table II indicates the mode of pitch control that is established in the blades of the supplementary rotors 36 of each lifting unit, as well as in the blades of the main lifting rotors, to establish the forces required to control the translational movement of the airship and the moments that ~` must be applied to control the attitude of the airship in one direction. In this and the other Tables opposite control op- -~ 25 eration obviously is required to produce oppositely directed s' control forces on the airship. The automatic flight control system through its computer creates the necessary mixing that creates the output to the pitch control actuators of the main ... , :
lifting rotors and the pitch control actuators of the supple-mentary rotors as is required to establish the desired motion ' $~ , ' . ~ ' .. ~ , ':
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of the airship. The automatic flight control system re-ceives its signals from the master control at the master con-trol station in the same manner as described for the em-bodiment ., .,, ~.

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. Or Figures 1-3. Figure 11 is a schematic diagram indicating how :: the automatic flight control system receives si~.nals, both from the master controls as well as the varlous sensors, and feeds ; signals into the direct electrlcal linkage system which in turn ~ actuates the mechanical or hydraulic actuators Or the rotors Or the various a~ ~g, units, lncluding both the main lirting rotors : and the supplementary rotors. These sensors can include devlces or sensing and measuring on-comlng gusts, and signals rrom these sensing devices are fed into the command and control computor Or ¦
the automatic fllght control system which will actuate the pitch control Or the main and su~plementary rotors in a manner to counteract the gusts berore they lnitiate any significant errant motlon o he a1rsh1p hull.

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`` ~ lOS~1;Z4 A third embodiment of the invention is illustrated ` in Figures 7 and 8. This embodiment is similar to that of Figures 4-6 in that the thrust units each have a supplement-ary tail rotor in which the blades rotate in a vertical plane.
; 5 Inasmuch as the aerostat hull can be any type of structure which holds a buoyant lifting gas, this particular embodiment illustrates an aerostat in which the hull is that of a non-rigid airship. The hull lOb is an elongated streamlined fabric envelope containing internal air ballonets and the internal pressure air system of a typical non-rigid airship required to maintain the lifting gas within the fabric envelope under , a low pressure so that the fabric hull will maintain its shape.
~'- An external, longitudinally extending keel structure 40 is shown which would be supported by the conventional longitudi-i~ 15 nally extending curtains affixed to the fabric envelope hull .~ .
of the non-rigid aerostat. The laterally extending beams 15b which support the thrust units 22b, 23b, 24b, and 25b are attached to and supported by the keel 40 at points forwardly of and rearwardly of the center of mass of the airship, as in the case of the previously described embodiments. For reasons which will subsequently be described, the thrust units probably would be rigidly attached to the respective lateral beams 15b ,; ~ .
and not have provisions for the pivoting hinge attachment de-scribed for the previous embodiment, although such a hinge .
mounting could be utilized if desired. The illustrated keel structure 40 is schematic in nature and ob~iously could be much more shallow and recessed into the lower portion of the non-rigid fabric envelope if desired. Although not illuc-trated it would be possible to design a unit for a non-rigid aerostat in which no unitary longitudinal keel structure ~ 21 -.
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-` iOS~1~4 - is utilized from which the thrust units are supported, in the manner illustrated, but in which the thrust unit sup-. porting beams 15b are attached to the fabric of the aerostat .. ; envelope through curtains within the airship or other .
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~054~ 4 means and provisions are made for attaching the payload to the fabric of the non-rigid envelope in a manner to Gbtain adequate load distribution over the fabric envelope of the aerostat.
Suitable ground handling wheels 34b could be affixed to the keel ; 5 structure 40 or supported from struts extending downwardly from ` beneath the thrust units. Not only would it be possible to utilize an aerostat comprising the conventional non-rigid hull but an aerostat hull of the semi-rigid type could be utilized.
Inasmuch as the structural configuration of the various types of lighter-than-air craft hulls are well known, no detailed descrip-tion of these various types of aerostat hulls will be given. Any type of buoyant lifting gas aerostat hull would suffice with provisions for attaching the thrust units to the forward and after portions in order to apply the necessary control forces and `~ 15 thrust.
The fundamental difference between the third embodiment of Figures 7 and 8 and the second embodiment of Figures 4-6 is that the forward thrust units 22b, 23b have a supplementary rotor 30b mounted to rotate in the longitudinal vertical plane of I -~ 20 the unit~ as shown for the second embodiment, whereas the ;~ rear thrust units 24b, 25b each have a supplementary rotor 31b mounted for rotation in a vertical plane transversely of the unit and the longitudinal axis of the airship. Thus, the longitudinally aligned supplementary rotors 30b of the forward thrust units 22b, 23b can provide side thrust, as do the supple-mentar~ rotors of the embodiment of Figures 4-6, and the ~ transversely aligned supplementary rotors 31b of the rear thrusti units 24b, 25b provide thrust along the longitudinal axis of the airshlp. Since this longitudinal thrust of the supplementary rotors 31b ls not dependent on the thrust generated by the main lifting rotors 30 of the thrust unit, no provisions need be lncorporated to tilt the thrust UI-its forwardly (or rearwardly) ~..

~ 105412~L I
about a hlngemounting ln order to obtain the necessary thrust along the longitudinal axis Or thè airship ror establishing longl-tudinal translational motlon at hlgher speed. In this third embodiment there is no requirement for a certain degree of heavi-ness in order that the thrust rorces rrom the main lifting rotors 30, be Or surricient magnltude that the horizontal longltudinal component ~rill provide the necessary propulsive force. For thls reason the airship of this embodiment could be flown in a con-dition near s~atic equllibrium, ~hereas a moderate degree of r heaviness would be required for the rirst and second described embodiments. The side and the longitudinal thrust Or the sup-plementary rotors 30b and 31b of the thrust units can also be applied to establish a yawing moment ~or the airship. Thrust rom the longitudinally aligned supplementary rotors 30b Or the rorward units 22b, 23b could be utilized to establish transverse translational motion Or the airship. However, since the supplementary rotors 30b Or the forward thrust units would be somewhat forward Or the yawing axis Or the airshlp, the re-sulting yawing moment would have to be counteracted by establish-; 20 ing a difrerential pitch between the transversely aligned supple-mentary rotors 31b of the rear thrust units 24b, 25b. Other than the thrust vectoring that is provided by the side thrust Or the supplementary rotors 30b mounted on either s~de Or the ror-ward portion Or the airship and a longitudinal thrust Or the sup-~5 plementary rotors 31b mounted on either side Or the rear portion Or the airship, the movement and attitude Or the airship control-: led by the collective and cyclic pitch Or the main rotors Or the thrust units is as in the rirst described embodiment. Table III
indicates the modes of blade pitch control that must be establish-ed in the blades Or the main lirting rotors 30 and the sup~lemen-tary rotors 30b and 31b Or the thrust units 22b, 23b, 24b 25b to control the movelllent and attitude Or the airshin. As in '` 105~ 4 the previous embodiments the master control feeds signals into the automatic flight control system which establishes the required mixing to produce the required output to the pitch control actuators of the various rotors.
. 5 It should be understood that the positions of the supple- -, mentary rotors as shown in the embodiment of Figures 7 and 8 could be reversed, i.e. the transversely aligned supplementary . ; .
rotors 31b installed on the fon~ard thrust units 22b, 23b ;~ and the longitudinally aligned rotors 30b installed on the after thrust units 24b, 25b. This latter arrangement would probably not be as advantageous as the side thrust rotors -~: 30b would establish a rather large yawing moment due to their ~: location a considerable distance rearwardly of the yaw axis of the airship. Further, the arrangement illustrated in Figures 7 and 8 establishes a side force in resisting a later-al gust that is in a proper direction from the nose of the airship into the lateral gust. In this third embodiment of Figures 7 and 8, as- well as in the several embodiments of Figures 4-6, t~e position of the supplementary rotor need 2Q not be rearwardly of the main lifting rotor 30 but the supple-mentary rotors of selected thrust units could be located for-wardly of the main rotor if this would create more advanta- -geous moment arms in establishing the control forces for the airship.

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Figures 9 and 9a illustrate a variation of a thrust unit which could be substituted for those shown in the embodiment of Figures 7 and 8, or other described embodiments, to provide both side thrust and longitudinal thrust. In this fourth em-bodiment, each of the four thrust units, located as previously ; described for the other embodiments, has a transversely aligned supplementary rotor 31c mounted for rotation in a vertical plane within a truncated duct 42 with hinged, vertically ex-tending turning vanes 44, pivotally mounted within the duct rearwardly of the rotor 31c, in addition to the main lifting rotor 30. As in the other previously described lifting units the supplementary rotor 31c and the main lifting rotor 30 may be driven through connecting sha~ting by conventional turbine engine 38. The turning vanes are pivotably mounted to be moveable between a position parallel to the longitudinal axis of the airship and a fully deflected position in which the ~ vanes are deflected outwardly from the longitudinal axis of the airship 90 degrees in the manner illustrated in the dotted ' lines 44a of Figure 9. This "Ring-Tail" configuration permits `
the establishment of a side force by deflecting the vanes ~-either partially or fully. Except when the vanes are fully deflected, a longitudinally extending component of the thrust from the supplementary rotor 31c is available for establishing longitudinal translational motion of the airship and differen-tial longitudinal thrust of the supplementary rotors on oppo-sitely located thrust units can be employed to establish a yawing moment. The vanes in the "Ring-Tail" of the thrust units are mounted to pivot outwardly so that the vanes of the thrust units on the left side of the airship deflect air outwardly to the left and the vanes of the thrust units on the right side of the airship deflect the air outwardly to the right of the ~ 26-, - , :, .. : . . : . - ----``` lOS41~ :
. airship, thus producing left and right side forces, respec-.. j .
tively. For a given setting of the vanes, the components of the thrust that are exert-:: `
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1054~24 ed longitudinally and sidewise by the slipstream from the supple-mentary rotors are dependent upon t,h,e pitch of the supplementary rotor blades. Because of the components of the longltudinal and ~ transverse thrust obtainable from the supplementary rotors in the "R1ng-~ail", the thrust units need not be affixed to the support-ing beam by a hinged mounting but would probabl,y be ri~idly af-fixed to the supporting beam. As in the case of the third embodi-; ment bf Figures 7 and 8, this "Ring-Tail" confi~uration would permit the airship to be operated close to an eauilibrium condi-tion as no significant component Or the thrust Or the main lirting . rotors would be required to control the airship in flight. Table , IV indicates the modes of blade pitch control that must be es-tablished in the blades of the main liftirlg rotors, the sup~le-,,, mentary rotors in the "Ring-Tail" and the settin~ of the deflec-tion vanes in the "Ring-Tail" to establish the forces reauired to control the motion and attitude of the airship. As before, the master controls feed siKnals into the automatic rlight control , system which in turn establishes the required mixing to produce ,` the output required to the pitch control actuators of the rotors 20 ~ jand to the actuators~for the deflection vanes in order to es-tablish the rotors and vanes in the position required to produce the necessary control forces for the airship.
Although the above described embodiments emnloy four thrust units, different numbers of units could be utilized as long as at ieast one unit is attached to the aerostat huli forwardly Or the airship center of mass and one rearwardly of the center Or mass. Obviously a symmetrical location Or the thrust units is prererable so that an asymetrical arrangement of thrust vectors is not necessary. Although all described embodiments utilize thrust units having a single main lirting rotor, units having multiple main liftin~ rotors could be utilize(~ by rollowin~ the principles outlined above.

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, - .1 Although the hinged vanes in the shrouded rotor of each thrust unit in Figures 9 and 9A are mounted so as to pivot outwardly toward one side o~ly of the longitudinal axis of the unit and the description in the text and Table IV take this into consideration, obviously the vanes could be supported by a structure such that they could be pivoted to positions on either side of the lifting unit longitudinal axis. In that case, vane deflection of the thrust unlts can generate lateral thrust both left and right.
Inasmuch as a primary, essential element of each lifting unit comprises a main lifting rotor comparable to a conventional helicopter, it obvicusly would be possible to substitute a conventional or modified helicopter for each lifting unit by providing a platform at the end of`each transversely extending support beam of the illustrated embodiments with suitable tie downs for a helicopter. The tie downs could be Or the quick disconnect type and, if desired, provisions could be installed for rotating the platform to permit tilting the helicopter longitudinally or transversely to provide the same results as are achieved by the thrust unit hinge mounting 26 previously described.
Reference in the above descriptions to the center of mass ~ includes the mass of all elements of the airship including the ; internal gases contained within the aerostat hull, and is the point about which the vehicle would rotate in pure rotation when acted upon by a couple~ Although different type thrust units are shown with respect to various types of aerostat hull structures, it should be understood that any type of aerostat hull structure ~ ~ could be utilized with any type of -li5~*~ unit. It should be 3 further understood that the thrust of thc rotors could be changed ,1 :` ' . 1054~4 by varying their RPM ln lieu Or changin~ their collectlve pitch . and the flight control system could operate in this manner in producing the ~same results described herein. Therefore, changes in rotor RPM could be substituted for changes in collective pitch in Tables I, II, III and IV, although it should be recognized that changes in collective pitch can be achieved , much more rapidly than changes in RPM. Further, although the , , thrust producing units are indicated to be substantiall~ the same in all embodiments, a mixture of differènt types of thrust "- ,I0 ,units could be utilized Or even more difference than is shown ,,, in the embodiments o~ Figures 7 and 8,-e.g. thrust units with shrouded rotors Or the ",Rin,g-Tail" type could be used in con~unction with thrust units having only main lifting rotors or thrust units having verSically aligned, unshrouded supplementary rotors.
Although the described embodiments indicate an aerostat ; hull having a conventional elongated streamlined shane, it should be understood that the hull could be any shape, such as cylindrical or otherwise. Further, although the illustrated embodiments show four thrust units attached to the aerostat hull with the units located rorwardly and rearwardly Or the airshi~
center Or mass and on opposite sides of the longitudinal axis and center Or mass Or the airship, as few as two lirtinp units could be utilized. These could be afrixed to the aerostat hull and ; 25 located on opposlte sides forward and rearward Or the~ airshi~
center Or mass on its longitudinal center line or on opposite sides Or and spaced rrom the longitudinal axis Or the airship and its center of mass, which could even include a dia,r~onal location.
In this manner the vectored thrust of the two thrust units~ as controlled from the single master controls~ would establish moments on the airship hull to control its attitude while establishin~ translatlonal thrust forces to efrect any desired translational motion.
It should ~e understood 'hat the rore~oing disclosure ~ relntcs on to some tyrtcsl embodiments of the invent10n ard lOb4124 .;~ ¦Ithat numero modlflcatlons or alteratlons may be made there~n without de~arting rrOm ,the spirit and scope Or the invention as ;;~ l ¦set forth 1 Ippendant ol~lms.

I

~' -3~A-

Claims (44)

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE PROPERTY
OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. A vectored thrust airship comprising an aerostat hull containing a lighter-than-air gas, a plurality of thrust producing units each having at least one horizontally disposed main rotor with controllable pitch blades and means control-ling the pitch of said rotor blades at least collectively, means attaching said thrust units to said aerostat hull with individual thrust units located on opposite sides of and spaced from the center of mass of said airship, power means connected to each said rotor for rotating the rotor blades about the rotor axis, a master flight control means including transla-tional control means operable for controlling the translation-al motion of the airship along and perpendicular to its longi-tudinal axis and attitude control means operable for control-ling the angular motion of the airship about its center of mass, means interconnecting the blade pitch control means of each said thrust unit and said master flight control means for similar actuation of the blade pitch control means of simi-lar rotors of selected units upon operation of said transla-tional control means and for differential actuation of blade pitch control means of a selected pair of thrust units located on opposite sides of said airship center of mass upon opera-tion of an attitude control means.

2. The airship of claim 1 wherein said translational control means includes vertical translational control means for controlling airship motion vertically and perpendicularly of its axis and operation of said vertical translational con-trol means establishes a similar actuation of the main rotor blade collective pitch control means of thrust units.

3. The airship of claim 1 wherein said attitude control means includes pitch control means for controlling the atti-tude of the airship in pitch and operation of said pitch con-trol means establishes a differential actuation of the main rotor blade collective pitch control means of thrust units forwardly of and rearwardly of the airship center of mass.

4. The airship of claim 2 wherein said attitude control means includes pitch control means for controlling the attitude of the airship in pitch and operation of said pitch control means establishes a differential actuation of the main rotor blade collective pitch control means of thrust units forwardly of and rearwardly of the airship center of mass.

5. The airship of claim 1 wherein said main rotor blade pitch control means additionally controls the pitch of the rotor blades cyclically.

6. The airship of claim 4 wherein said main rotor blade pitch control means additionally controls the pitch of the rotor blades cyclically.

7. The airship of claim 5 wherein said attitude control means includes yaw control means for controlling the attitude of the airship in yaw and operation of said yaw control esta-blishes a differential actuation of the main rotor blade cyclic pitch control means of thrust units located on oppo-site sides of the airship center of mass.

8. The airship of claim 6 wherein said attitude control means includes yaw control means for controlling the attitude of the airship in yaw and operation of said yaw control esta-blishes a differential actuation of the main rotor blade cyclic pitch control means of thrust units located on opposite sides of the airship center of mass.

9. The airship of claims 7 or 8 wherein operation of said yaw control means establishes a differential actuation of the lateral cyclic pitch control means of thrust units for-wardly of and rearwardly of said center of mass.

10. The airship of claims 7 or 8 wherein operation of said yaw control means establishes a differential actuation of the longitudinal cyclic pitch control means of thrust units located on opposite sides of the airship longitudinal axis.

11. The airship of claim 8 wherein said translational control means includes longitudinal translational control means for controlling airship motion longitudinally of its axis and operation of said longitudinal translational control means establishes similar actuation of the longitudinal cyclic pitch of said thrust units.

12. The airship of any one of claims 1, 4 or 8 wherein attaching means of thrust units include means for providing angular motion of at least two said units about a pivot axis extending transversely of the aerostat longitudinal axis and said master control means includes trim means operable to place each said pivoted unit at an angular position on said pivot axis as will establish a thrust vector in the direction of the airship longitudinal axis.

13. The airship of any one of claims 1, 4 or 8 wherein attaching means of thrust units additionally include means for providing a limited angular motion of at least two said units about a pivot axis extending in the direction of the aerostat longitudinal axis and the said master control means includes trim means operable to place each said pivoted unit at that angular position of said pivot axis as will establish a thrust vector in a direction transversely of the airship longitudinal axis.

14. The airship of any one of claims 4, 7 or 8 wherein said translational control means includes lateral translation-al control means for controlling the airship motion horizon-tally and laterally of its axis and operation of said lateral translational control means establishes similar actuation of the lateral cyclic pitch of said thrust units.

15. The airship of any one of claims 1, 4 or 8 wherein at least two said thrust units additionally have a supple-mentary rotor connected to power means for rotation in a plane perpendicular to the aerostat longitudinal axis and means for controlling the pitch of said secondary rotor blades collectively, and said translational control means includes longitudinal translational control means for controlling the airship motion along its longitudinal axis and operation of said longitudinal translational control means establishes similar actuation of said supplementary rotor pitch control means.

16. The airship of any one of claims 1, 4 or 8 wherein at least two said thrust units additionally have a supplementary rotor connected to power means for rotation in a vertically aligned plane extending in the direction of the aerostat longitudinal axis and means for controlling the pitch of said supplementary rotor blades collectively, said translational control means includes lateral translational control means for controlling airship motion laterally and horizontally of its axis and operation of said lateral translational control means establishes similar actuation of said supplementary rotor pitch control means.

17. The airship of claim 1, wherein said plurality of thrust units comprises at least two pairs of units of which each of a first pair are located on opposite sides of the aerostat longitudinal axis forwardly of said airship center of mass and each of a second pair are located on opposite sides of said aerostat longitudinal axis rearwardly of said center of mass.

18. The airship of any one of claims 2, 3 or 4 wherein said plurality of thrust units comprises at least two pairs of units of which each of a first pair are located on opposite sides of the aerostat longitudinal axis forwardly of said airship center of mass and each of a second pair are located on opposite sides of said aerostat longitudinal axis rearwardly of said center of mass.

19. The airship of any one of claims 6, 8 or 11 wherein said plurality of thrust units comprises at least two pairs of units of which each of a first pair are located on opposite sides of the aerostat longitudinal axis forwardly of said airship center of mass and each of a second pair are located on opposite sides of said aerostat longitudinal axis rearwardly of said center of mass.

20. A vectored thrust airship comprising an aerostat hull containing a lighter-than-air gas, at least two pairs of thrust producing units each having at least one vertical lift producing main rotor with controllable pitch blades and means controlling the pitch of said main rotor blades collectively and cyclically to include longitudinal. and lateral cyclic pitch control, means attaching said thrust units to said aerostat hull such that each of a first of said pairs are attached to said hull on opposite sides of the airship longi-tudinal axis forwardly of the center of mass of said airship and each of a second of said pairs are attached to said hull on opposite sides of the airship longitudinal axis rearwardly of said center of mass, power means connected to each said thrust unit rotor for rotating the rotor blades about the rotor axis, a master flight control means including transla-tional control means operable for controlling the translation-al motion of the airship along and perpendicular to its longi-tudinal axis and attitude control means operable for control-ling the angular motion of the airship about its center of mass, said translational control means including longitudinal translational control means for controlling the airship mo-tion longitudinally of its axis and vertical translational control means for controlling the airship vertical transla-tional motion perpendicular to its axis, said attitude control means including pitch control means for controlling the air-ship attitude in pitch and yaw control means for controlling the airship attitude in yaw, means connecting said main rotor blade pitch control means of each of said thrust units and said master flight control means for similar actuation of said main rotor blade pitch control means of said two pairs of thrust units upon operation of a translational control means and for differential actuation of the rotor blade pitch con-trol means of two thrust units located on one side of said airship center of mass and two thrust units located on the other side of said center of mass upon operation of an at-titude control means.

21. The airship of claim 20 wherein operation of said vertical translational control means establishes similar ac-tuation of the main rotor collective pitch control means of said thrust units and operation of said pitch control means establishes a differential actuation of the main rotor blade collective pitch control means of the thrust unit forwardly of and rearwardly of the airship center of mass.

22. The airship of claim 21 wherein operation of said longitudinal translational control means establishes similar actuation of the main rotor longitudinal cyclic pitch control means of said thrust units.

23. The airship of claim 21 wherein operation of said yaw control means establishes a differential actuation of the main rotor blade cyclic pitch control means of thrust units located on opposite sides of the airship center of mass.

24. The airship of claim 23 wherein operation of said yaw control means establishes a differential actuation of the main rotor blade lateral cyclic pitch control means of said first and second pairs of thrust units, respectively.

25. The airship of claim 23 wherein operation of said yaw control means establishes a differential actuation of the main rotor blade longitudinal cyclic pitch control means of thrust units located on opposite sides of the airship longi-tudinal axis.

26. The airship of any one of claims 20, 21 or 23 wherein said translational control means additionally includes lateral translational control means for controlling the airship mo-tion laterally of its axis in a horizontal direction and said main rotor blade pitch control means is operatively connected to said master flight control means for similar actuation of said main rotor blade lateral cyclic pitch control means upon operation of said lateral translational control means.

27. The airship of any one of claims 20, 21 or 23 wherein said thrust unit attaching means includes means for establishing rotational motion of at least two of said thrust units on opposite sides of the airship center of mass about a first pivot axis extending transversely of the airship longitu-dinal axis and said master flight control means includes trim means operable for establishing each of said at least two units at an angular position on said pivot axis as will establish a thrust vector in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the airship.

28. The airship of any one of claims 20, 21 or 23 wherein said attaching means of thrust units additionally include means for establishing rotational motion of at least two of said thrust units on opposite sides of the airship center of mass about a second pivot axis extending in the direction of the airship longitudinal axis and the said master flight control means includes trim means operable for establishing each of said at least two units at an angular position on said second pivot axis as will establish a thrust vector in a direction transversely of the longitudinal axis of the airship.

29. A vectored thrust airship comprising an aerostat hull containing a lighter-than-air gas, at least two pairs of thrust producing units each having at least one vertical lift producing main rotor with controllable pitch blades and means controlling the pitch of said main rotor blades collectively and cyclically to include longitudinal and lateral cyclic pitch control, means attaching said thrust units to said aerostat hull such that each of a first of said pairs are attached to said hull on opposite sides of the airship longitudinal axis forwardly of the center of mass of said airship and each of a second of said pairs are attached to said hull on opposite sides of the airship longitudinal axis rearwardly of said center of mass, power means connected to each said thrust unit rotor for rotating the rotor blades about the rotor axis, a master flight control means including translational control means operable for controlling the translational motion of the airship along and perpendicular to its longitudinal axis and attitude control means operable for controlling the angular motion of the airship about its center of mass, said translational control means including longitudinal translational control means for controlling the airship motion longitudinally of its axis and vertical translational control means for controlling the airship vertical translational motion perpendicular to its axis, said attitude control means including pitch control means for controlling the airship attitude in pitch and yaw control means for con-trolling the airship attitude in yaw, means connecting said main rotor blade pitch control means of each of said thrust units and said master flight control means for similar actuation of said main rotor blade pitch control means of said two pairs of thrust units upon operation of a translational control means and for differential actuation of the rotor blade pitch control means of two thrust units located on one side of said airship center of mass and two thrust units located on the other side of said center of mass upon operation of an attitude control means, operation of said vertical translational control means establishing similar actuation of the main rotor collective pitch control means of said thrust units, operation of said pitch control means establishes a differential actuation of the main rotor blade collective pitch control means of the thrust units forwardly of and of the thrust units rearwardly of the airship center of mass, and operation of said yaw control means establishes a differential actuation of the main rotor blade cyclic pitch control means of thrust units located on opposite sides of the airship center of mass.

30. The airship of Claim 29 wherein operation of said yaw control means establishes a differential actuation of the main rotor blade lateral cyclic pitch control means of said first and second pairs of thrust units, respectively.

31. The airship of Claim 29 wherein operation of said yaw control means establishes a differential actuation of the main rotor blade longitudinal cyclic pitch control means of thrust units located on opposite sides of the airship longitudinal axis.

32. The airship of any one of claims 29, 30 or 31 wherein said translational control means additionally includes lateral translational control means for controlling the airship motion laterally of its axis in a horizontal direction and said main rotor blade pitch control means is operatively connected to said master flight control means for similar actuation of said main rotor blade lateral cyclic pitch control means upon operation of said lateral translational control means.

33. The airship of Claim 29 additionally comprising one pair of power dirven supplementary rotors having controllable pitch blades rotatingin vertically aligned planes transversely of the airship longitudinal axis and affixed to said aerostat hull on opposite sides of said airship center of mass, means for controlling the pitch of said pair of supplementary rotor blades collectively, and means connecting said pair of supplemen-tary rotor blade pitch control means and said master flight control means for similar actuation of said pair of supplementary rotor pitch control means upon operation of said longitudinal translational control means and for opposite actuation of said pair of supplementary rotor pitch control means upon operation of said yaw control means.

34. The airship of Claim 33 additionally comprising a second pair of power driven supplementary rotors having controllable pitch blades rotating in a vertical plane along the airship longitudinal axis and affixed to said airship hull on opposite sides of the airship center of mass, means controlling the pitch of said second pair of supplementary rotor blades collectively, and means connecting said second pair of supplemen-tary rotor blade pitch control means and said master flight control means for differential actuation of said second pair of supplementary rotor blade pitch control means upon operation of said yaw control means.

35. The airship of claim 34 wherein said trans-lational control means includes lateral translational control means for controlling the airship laterally of its axis in a horizontal direction and said second pair of supplementary rotor blade pitch control means is operatively connected to said master flight control means for similar actuation of said second pair of supplementary rotor blade pitch control means upon operation of said lateral translational control means.

36. The airship of Claim 33 additionally comprising a second pair of power driven supplementary rotors having controllable pitch blades rotating in a vertical plane along the airship longitudinal axis and affixed to said airship hull on opposite sides of the airship center of mass, one of said pair of supplementary rotors being forwardly of the airship center of mass and the other of said pair of supplementary rotors being rearwardly of the airship center of mass, means controlling the pitch of said second pair of supplementary rotor blades collectively, and means connecting said second pair of supplemen-tary rotor blade pitch control means and said master control means for similar actuation of said supplementary rotor blade pitch control means upon operation of said yaw control means.

37. The airship of Claim 36 wherein said translational control means includes lateral translational control means for controlling the motion of the airship laterally of its axis in a horizontal direction and said second pair of supplementary rotor blade pitch control means is operatively connected to said master flight control means for similar actuation of said second pair of supplementary rotor blade pitch control means upon operation of said lateral translational control means.

38. The airship of claim 17 wherein said translational control means includes longitudinal translational control means for controlling the motion of the airship along its longitudinal axis and said attitude control includes yaw control means for controlling the motion of the airship about its axis in yaw and additionally comprising a powered shrouded rotor unit having rotor blades rotating in a vertically aligned plane extending trans-versely of the airship longitudinal axis on each of at least one pair of said two pairs of thrust units, means for controlling the pitch of the rotor blades of each said shrouded rotor unit collectively, each said shrouded rotor unit including a set of vertically extending vanes pivotally mounted rearwardly of the shrouded rotor for rotation about a vertical axis and means for setting said set of vanes at selected angles with respect to the longitudinal axis of the airship, means operatively connecting said shrouded rotor blade pitch means of each said shrouded rotor unit and said master flight control means for similar actuation of each of said shrouded rotor blade pitch control means upon operation of said longitudinal translational control means, and means operatively connecting said vane setting means of each set of vanes of said one pair of thrust units and said master flight control means for movement of the vanes of each said set in the same direction upon operation of said yaw control means.

39. The airship of claim 38 wherein each pair of said two pairs of thrust units includes a shrouded rotor unit, said means operatively connecting said shrouded rotor blade pitch control means and said master control means similarly actuates all said shrouded rotor blade pitch control means upon operation of said longitudinal translational control means and said means operatively connecting said vane setting means and said master flight control means moves the sets of vanes of the shrouded rotor units on one of said two pairs of thrust units in one direction and moves the sets of vanes of the shrouded rotor units of the other of the two pairs of thrust units in the opposite direction upon operation of said yaw control means.

40. The airship of claim 17 wherein said attitude control includes means initiating rotation of the airship about its axis in yaw and additionally comprising a powered shrouded rotor unit having rotor blades rotating in a vertically aligned plane extending transversely of the airship longitudinal axis on each of said two pairs of thrust units, means for controlling the pitch of the rotor blades of each said shrouded rotor unit collectively, each said shrouded rotor unit including a set of vertically extending vanes pivotally mounted rearwardly of the shrouded rotor for motion about a vertical axis and means for setting said set of vanes at selected angles with respect to the longitudinal axis of the airship, means operatively connecting the shrouded rotor blade pitch control means of each said shrouded rotor unit and said master flight control means for similar actuation of each of said shrouded rotor blade pitch control means upon operation of a translational control means and means operatively connecting said master flight control means and said vane setting means of at least one shrouded rotor unit of each of said two pairs of thrust units on opposite sides of the airship longitudinal axis for movement in opposite directions upon operation of said yaw control means.

41. The airship of claim 20 wherein said attitude control includes means initiating rotation of the airship about its axis in yaw and additionally comprising a powered shrouded rotor unit having rotor blades rotating in a vertically aligned plane extending transversely of the airship longitudinal axis on each of said two pairs of thrust units, means for controlling the pitch of the rotor blades of each said shrouded rotor unit collectively, each said shrouded rotor unit including a set of vertically extending vanes pivotally mounted rearwardly of the shrouded rotor for motion about a vertical axis and means for setting said set of vanes at selected angles with respect to the longitudinal axis of the airship, means operatively connecting the shrouded rotor blade pitch control means of each said shrouded rotor unit and said master flight control means for similar actuation of each of said shrouded rotor blade pitch control means upon operation of a translational control means and means operatively connecting said master flight control means and said vane setting means of at least one shrouded rotor unit of each of said two pairs of thrust units on opposite sides of the airship longitudinal axis for movement in opposite directions upon operation of said yaw control means.

42. The airship of Claim 40 additionally comprising means connecting the shrouded rotor blade pitch control means of the other of said at least one shrouded rotor unit of each of said two pairs of thrust units on opposite sides of the airship longitudinal axis and said master flight control means for differential actuation of said shrouded rotor blade pitch control means upon operation of said yaw control means.

43. The airship of Claims 40, 41 or 42 wherein each said translational control means includes lateral translational control means for controlling the movement of the airship trans-versely of its longitudinal axis in the horizontal direction and said shrouded rotor blade pitch control means of each of a shrouded rotor unit on a thrust unit of each of said two pairs of thrust units on the same side of the airship longitudinal axis is operatively connected to said master flight control means for similar actuation of said shrouded rotor blade pitch control means of the immediately aforesaid shrouded rotor units on the same side of the airship longitudinal axis and the vane setting means of each of the immediately aforesaid shrouded rotor units on the same side of the airship longitudinal axis are operatively connected to said master flight control means for movement of the vanes in the same direction upon operation of said lateral translational control means.

44. The airship of any one of claims 38, 40 or 41 wherein said translational control means includes vertical translational control means for controlling airship motion vertically and said attitude control means includes pitch control means for controlling the rotation of the airship about its axis in pitch, operation of said vertical translational control means establishing a similar actuation of said main rotor blade collective pitch control means and operation of said pitch control means establishing a differential actuation of the main rotor blade collective pitch means of the thrust units forwardly of and rearwardly of the airship center of mass.