"Just a gearbox and a clutch" is a *huge* technical hurdle.

Maybe use the old McDonnel-Douglas engine tipped rotor idea. They used
small rams in their test rig but maybe something else would be better.
Is the tip speed sonic or close to half the exhaust velocity?

With a stator blade ring you could recover some of the kinetic energy
lost in the exhaust.

.. . .

You're talking about a really big rotor

Hard to spin balance, hard to test, hard to haul down the interstate
but maybe you could reassemble it on site.

People are as bored with that smokey thing as they are with 9/11 video.
It was good for awhile . . .


Bret Cahill