Landing pad and hangar structure for vertical take-off and landing aircraft

A helicopter landing pad and hangar structure attached to a horizontal deck, particularly to the deck of a ship, in a manner requiring a minimum of space on the deck for both landing and storage, and not requiring substantial modification of the ship structure, characterized in that said landing pad and hangar structure comprises:

• an enclosure including a framework attached to, and overlying the face of, said deck, a plurality of side walls attached to said framework and extending above said deck, and a plurality of panels supported by said framework at the top of the side walls above said deck and slidable horizontally to an inner retracted position closing the enclosure or to an outer extended position opening the enclosure and extending laterally past the side walls of the enclosure;
• and a lifting platform movable vertically to a lower position within said enclosure or to an upper position spaced substantially above said deck and aligned with the plane of said panels at the top of said enclosure above said deck;
• whereby when the lifting platform is in its upper position and at least some of said panels are in their outer extended positions, the lifting platform and the panels together constitute an enlarged-area pad spaced substantially above said deck for the helicopter to land or take-off with a minimum of interference with the ship's normal equipment and functions and with the helicopter operation, and when the lifting platform is in its lower position it permits the helicopter parked thereon to be stored within the enclosure, with the panels at their inner positions closing the enclosure to protect the parked helicopter and to provide a smaller-area pad spaced substantially above said deck for another helicopter to land if needed.