Flettner Fl 185
The Flettner Fl 185 was a test helicopter from Anton Flettner .
The helicopter was developed in 1936 with the support of the Kriegsmarine . It had a Siemens Sh-14A star engine in the bow, which was forcibly cooled by its own small propeller. This took up about 10% of the engine power of 140 hp. In addition to the main rotor measuring 12 meters, the engine also drove two smaller propellers on booms next to the hull. These provided the torque compensation of the main rotor through different directions of propeller rotation (in modern helicopters through the tail rotor or two counter-rotating main rotors).
In forward flight only the two vertically aligned propellers were driven, while the main rotor was running in the auto- rotation state. The transfer case was installed in the front part of the cockpit.
The chassis consisted of a nose wheel, two smaller support wheels on the side arms and a grinding spur on the stern. Only a prototype was made.
The Fl 185 only completed a few flights close to the ground, development was abandoned in favor of the Flettner Fl 265 .
Curiously, at the end of the 1960s, VFW built a helicopter with the H3 , which had a practically identical propulsion principle. This machine also did not get beyond the experimental stage.
literature
- Heinz J. Nowarra : The German Air Armament 1933-1945. Bernard & Graefe, Koblenz 1993, ISBN 3-7637-5464-4 .
Individual evidence