Dornier Project Do 132
The Dornier Do 132 project was a development of a five-seat turbine helicopter with a hot gas reaction drive. Dornier offered this helicopter to the Bundeswehr as a liaison helicopter (VBH). The project was discontinued in 1969 after it became clear that the Bundeswehr would purchase the Bo 105 as VBH.
description
The Do 132 followed the blade tip drive that had already been tried and tested on the Dornier Do 32 , with the advantage that no tail rotor or counter-rotating rotor is required, as this reaction drive does not generate any counter-torque. No shafts, gears, clutches or freewheels are required. The rotor speed can be freely selected for dynamic starts with a considerable additional load. The low weight of the dynamic system resulted in a very favorable load ratio. The rotor blades were glued from an aluminum honeycomb construction. The hot gas duct in the rotor blades was also double-walled in a honeycomb construction and glued in a heat-resistant manner.
The gas turbine supplied the hot compressed gas for the rotor. From the turbine, the gas was thermally insulated through the hollow rotor mast, via the rotor head and the rotor blades to the thrust nozzles at the blade tips, so that it was converted into thrust without major losses at the blade tip nozzles.
A rotor was built and successfully subjected to endurance testing on the test bench. A 1: 1 model of the cell was measured in the wind tunnel. The airframe was oval-shaped and streamlined in a mixed GRP and aluminum construction with a lot of window area and had a tail boom in a shell construction with two movable stabilizing surfaces (double rudders), which should also take over the yaw control with the incoming exhaust gases from the turbine. As a result, the helicopter promised to be fast and manoeuvrable, but had little space for bulky cargo in the cabin.
Project data
| Parameter | Data |
|---|---|
| length | 7.5 m |
| Rotor diameter | 10.7 m |
| height | 2.8 m |
| drive | 1 UACL PT6 A-20 |
| Cruising speed | 221 km / h |
| Normal range | 450 km |
| Passengers | 1 + 4 |
| total weight | 1430 kg |
| payload | 420 kg |
