If I had to guess at a glance, the pipe-looking things are to guard the rotor against striking the ground. If you mean the things hanging off them, I’d guess that they’re inflatated bladders to spread out the time of impact when landing.
EDIT: Rotor guy is apparently flying a de Lackner HZ-1 Aerocycle, and yeah, that’s apparently what they’re for:
The aircraft’s landing gear consisted of airbags at the end of each arm of the frame along with a large rubber float in the middle, providing amphibious capability,[5] although this arrangement was later replaced by a pair of conventional helicopter-type skids.[8]
According the the article linked it didn’t even pass the testing phase, because surprise-surprise guys kept crashing. That was the 50’s in peacetime, and the whole thing probably started because helicopters were the hype of the era and there was a lot of funding.
If I had to guess at a glance, the pipe-looking things are to guard the rotor against striking the ground. If you mean the things hanging off them, I’d guess that they’re inflatated bladders to spread out the time of impact when landing.
EDIT: Rotor guy is apparently flying a de Lackner HZ-1 Aerocycle, and yeah, that’s apparently what they’re for:
EDIT2: The other one is apparently the Hiller VZ-1 Pawnee.
Hmm. I guess that sounds lighter than springs. Do other aircraft have air-based shock absorbers?
Edit:
Lol, so that guy isn’t even a pilot, either. RIP
Depends on the aircraft if it has gas or hydraulic shock absorbers. Some lightweight aircraft just have torsion based shock absorption.
Maybe even during a war they weren’t able to find any pilots wanting to use those things.
According the the article linked it didn’t even pass the testing phase, because surprise-surprise guys kept crashing. That was the 50’s in peacetime, and the whole thing probably started because helicopters were the hype of the era and there was a lot of funding.