NOTAR - Development

Development

The use of directed air to provide anti-torque control had been tested as early as 1945 in the British Cierva W.9. During 1957, a Spanish prototype designed and built by Aerotecnica flew using exhaust gases from the turbine instead of a tail rotor. This model was designated as Aerotecnica AC-14. Development of the NOTAR system dates back to 1975, when engineers at Hughes Helicopters began concept development work. In December 1981, Hughes flew an OH-6A fitted with NOTAR for the first time. The OH-6A helicopter (serial number 65-12917) was supplied by the U.S. Army for Hughes to develop the NOTAR technology and was the second OH-6 built by Hughes for the U.S. Army. A more heavily modified version of the prototype demonstrator first flew in March 1986 (by which time McDonnell Douglas had acquired Hughes Helicopters). The original prototype last flew in June 1986 and is now at the U.S. Army Aviation Museum in Fort Rucker, Alabama. Soviet manufacturer Kamov made a prototype on their co-axial helicopter Ka-26 which they called Ka-26SS in 1988 it never went into production.

A production model NOTAR 520N (N520NT) was later produced and first flew on May 1, 1990. It later crashed on September 27, 1994 when it collided with an AH-64D while flying as a chase aircraft for the Apache.