I came across this magazine/book cover while looking through some old photos of Russian military equipment. The one at the top looks familiar, but the 2nd one, that's pretty cool looking. I don't think I've ever seen one, so I do some poking around but I found no indication that it ever made it off the drawing board.
The one at the top was the biggest helicopter in the universe. Possibly the shortest lived one as well. It formed the basis for the glorious Hotelicopter. The interesting part is that they cross connected the engines on opposite sides using a drive shaft. The Osprey does the same thing. I suppose it's a good idea, I mean if one engine quits and you don't have a backup method for powering both rotors things are going to get real sticky real quick.
On the other hand the driveshafts and the related gearboxes add considerable complexity, cost and weight. The fact that the Osprey cannot auto-rotate probably has something to do with it. Or maybe the driveshafts get in the way of auto-rotation.
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