Silvercraft SH-4

Silvercraft SH-4
The first Silvercraft SH-4 exhibited at the Paris Air Salon at Le Bourget airport in June 1965
Role	Light helicopter
National origin	Italy
Manufacturer	Silvercraft SpA
First flight	1963
Number built	21

The Silvercraft SH-4 is an Italian three-seater light helicopter designed and built by Silvercraft SpA.

Design and production

The Silvercraft SH-4 was the first Italian designed helicopter to gain Italian and FAA certification. The prototype was first flown in October 1963 with development assisted with both financial and technical help from SIAI-Marchetti. The helicopter was a conventional design with two-blade main rotor and tail rotor, a skid landing gear and a high-set tubular corrugated tailboom. It is powered by either a 200 hp (149 kW) or 235 hp (175 kW) Franklin 6A-350 engines which have been flat-rated to 170 hp (127 kW). Some SH-4s were equipped with Lycoming LHIO-360-C1A engines of 205 hp (153 kW).^[1]

Two aircraft were evaluated by the Italian Air Force.

An upgraded development, the SH-200 was developed from the SH-4 but was only flown as a prototype.

Operators

 Italy

• Italian Air Force operated one Silvercraft SH-4 for evaluation test ^[2][3]

Variants

SH-4

Standard production variant.

SH-4A

Agricultural variant.

SH-4L

Lycoming powered variant

SH-4T

Turbine powered variant

Specifications (SH-4)

Data from Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1976–77^[4]

General characteristics

• Crew: 1
• Capacity: 2 passengers
• Length: 7.65 m (25 ft 1¼ in)
• Main rotor diameter: 9.03 m (29 ft 7½ in)
• Height: 2.98 m (9 ft 9.25 in)
• Main rotor area: 64.0 m² (639 ft²)
• Empty weight: 518 kg (1,142 lb)
• Gross weight: 862 kg (1,900 lb)
• Powerplant: 1 × Franklin 6A-350-D1B air-cooled flat-six engine, 175 kW (235 hp) each

Performance

• Maximum speed: 161 km/h (100 mph)
• Cruising speed: 117^[5] km/h (73 mph)
• Range: 320 km (200 miles)
• Endurance: 3 hours
• Service ceiling: 4,600 m (15,090 ft)
• Rate of climb: 6.0 m/s (1,180 ft/min)

References

1. Federal Aviation Administration (February 2007). "Docket No. FAA-2006-25948; Directorate Identifier 2006-NE-32-AD; Amendment 39-14951; AD 2007-04-19". Retrieved 2009-03-09.
2. aviastar Silvercraft SH-4
3. all-aero Silvercraft SH-4
4. Taylor 1976, pp. 119–120
5. econ. cruise

• Taylor, John W. R. (1976). Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1976–77. London: Janee's Yearbooks. ISBN 0-354-00538-3.
• Taylor, Michael J. H. (1989). Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation. London: Studio Editions.
• The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985). Orbis Publishing.