The Ansty Noise Facility—its Design, Instrumentation and Future Commitments

My connections with,the helicopter industry covered a period of some ten years, working principally on the jet reaction rotorcraft Fairey Rotodyne, and my only regret about this exceptional aircraft was that it never entered airline service. VTOL/STOL projects currently being bandied around today for civil use appear to'have made very slow progress in noise reduction since that time. It was on this aircraft that I really got to grips with the noise problem, and with this experience behind me, my present task with Rolls-Royce became much more invigorating and refreshing. If for no other reason than, if you generate the noise, you are the principal agency which is required to set about removing it. My present paper is really a factual presentation of the Ansty Noise Facility and its relationship with the general lowering of sound levels of the next generation of gas turbine engines. It is therefore slanted more to the fixed wing CTOL type of aircraft powerplant, although VTOL/STOL applications are now being studied at scale size.