Excerpt from initial posting;
A long sixty years after the inception of the helicopter, you [Sikorsky]
appear to be acknowledging the need for a second-generation craft.

Kevin O'Brian's replies;
Sikorsky has built something like thirty-odd distinct types of
helicopter and experimental rotorcraft.

Statement of Roger Krone, Senior Vice President Boeing Army Systems;
"The Chinook was developed in the late 1950s, less than a decade after the
B-52 bomber entered service. Since then, two follow-on bombers have been
fielded, but no new heavy-lift helicopter."

Meaningful advancements come about through revolutionary change not
evolutionary change.
Bell is perusing the tilt-rotor configuration. What's new at Sikorsky?
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You claim a speed advantage for your design. When you've flown
something faster than the S-69 ABC, come back to the group and
tell us how inept they are at Sikorsky and how great you are.
Otherwise, you just sound like an empty windbag.

Reports on the S-69 ABC [http://www.UniCopter.com/0891.html] suggest that
this craft could have flown even faster, if the lateral vibratory dysimitry
had been reduced by using 4-blade rotors. But, I'm probably 'windbagging'
you with information that you must already know.
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The German Side-by-side Focke Fw 61 and the Intermeshing
Flettner Fl 282 were the world's first viable rotorcraft.

There was this Spanish cat named Juan de la Cierva... ever
hear of him? He's in these things called books...

You're right, I'm wrong. The word 'rotorcraft' should have read
'helicopters'.
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Both of these craft [Focke Fw 61 and the Flettner Fl 282]
had latterly displaced twin main-rotor configurations.

And neither could match the performance of the initial
Sikorsky helicopters.

Interesting comment, particularly when one considers that they both were
built before the Sikorsky R-4B. In actual fact, the Flettner surpassed the
Sikorsky in most performance categories - including maximum forward speed .
But again, I'm probably 'windbagging' you with information that you already
know.
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Unfortunately, meaningful pursuit of the lateral
configured helicopters was never done in North America.

Yeah, Kaman is actually an Ethiopian concern under deep cover.

The phrase used was, 'meaningful persuit'.

Charles Kaman left United Technologies with only a few thousand dollars in
his bank account, after being told that they did not need two Chief
Engineers. It appears that he took the intermeshing helicopter into a niche
market because he could not compete head-to-head with his large former
employer.

Kellett was on the right track, when he tried to raise one million dollars
to develop a rigid 3-blade intermeshing rotor. Unfortunately, the death of
his test pilot appears to have been the demise of Kellett's aspirations.
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Rule #1: Don't hit anything big.

Rule #2: 'Biggest' ain't necessarily 'Best'


cheers

Dave