In 1953, the USSR started the development of a new type of heavy-lift helicopter.Both Mil and Kamov were selected to come up with designs and the race was on to develop what would be at the time – the worlds largest helicopter. Its requirements would be simple – BIG, FAST and POWERFUL.Kamov would base its design on the Bratukhin B-11. They figured that if the twin-rotor helicopter was larger, you could fit two horizontal propellers under the wings – and ta da! a monster helicopter to inspire fear in the west!
source/image(PrtSc): Found And Explained
Heres how it would have worked!The Ka-22 would have two large engines fixed on each wing tip. These engines would power both a four-bladed propeller and a four-bladed main rotor – operating them for either vertical or horizontal flight. Not at the same time however. During vertical flight, the horizontal propeller would be disconnected – then when switching to forward flight, the rotors were allow to spin naturally but were left witout power./https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3a6sK6DENH8
These engines on the wingtips would be badass, having up to 5,900 horsepower. These blades would push the aircraft up to a planned 400 km/h – although during tests it only achieved a still impressive 356km/h.The four crew cockpit would sit above the nose of the aircraft, with seating for a futher 80 soliders in the rear. If not men, the KA-22 would be able to carry 16.5 tons of bulky cargo – with the nose of the aircraft swinging open at airfields of quick loading and unloading.
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Kamov had one more design that would be the fastest, biggest helicopter ever built. In 1967, the Kamov Deisgn Bureau decided to have another crack at the Gyrodyne concept with a project simply called the Kamov Ka-35D. This version would be huge, and was designed to work in tandem with the impressive An-12.The big difference between the KA-22 and this monster was its twin turbojet eninges. This would increase its speed to 550 km per hour, and its lifting capacity to over 20 tons./Found And Explained
