wrote in message
...
SNIP. There were
two gearboxes on the tail boom. One was at the apex where it makes a
45 degree turn upward. The other was at the tail rotor.

This extra 45 degree gearbox seems to be a waste. It adds a lot of
extra weight and doesn't buy you anything. I will have to admit that
I was fascinated by the gearboxes themselves. They appeared to be
made out of 2" galvanized pipe elbows. I'm not sure if they really
were, but that's what they looked like.

I have to come to the rescue of the B2Bs T/R gear boxes, having overhauled
many over the years..
It is a brilliant system that will happily run to it's (1200hr) overhaul
life with no maintenance other than checking the oil level every 100hrs.
Then most of the time at O/H will require virtually no replacement parts to
put it back in service.

Mind you our ships did pipeline patrol so did not sit around to corrode.

The Brantly T/R drive system of cascading oil lubrication is the BEST of any
helicopter.

Slatts