Flettner aircraft construction

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Flettner (2nd from left) with Wernher v. brown
Flettner Fl 282 in the USA during flight tests

The Flettner aircraft was a German manufacturer of helicopters provided by Anton Flettner 1935 in Berlin-Johannisthal was founded and in the legal form of a GmbH existed until 1945th

history

In 1917 the engineer Anton Flettner designed an aircraft rudder with an auxiliary control surface and applied for a patent for it in 1918. This under the term servo tab known or Flettner flap invention he also offered for shipbuilding. After 1921 Flettner developed the Flettner rotor as a ship propulsion system, which for this purpose uses the Magnus effect . However, he had to stop the experiments in 1926 because the propulsive force achieved was too low for practical use.

The construction of a rotary wing aircraft that he had planned was only successful after many setbacks after about eight years around 1935 with the Fl 184 and Fl 185 . In 1938 Flettner constructed the Fl 265 together with Kurt Hohenemser and Gerd Sissingh . This new type of helicopter solved the problem of torque compensation by means of rotors intermeshing in opposite directions ( Flettner double rotor ). In 1940 he developed the Flettner Fl 282 Kolibri , which was built similar to the previous model. More than 20 units were produced and used by the 3rd and 1966 airborne squadron from the end of 1942.

Two of these helicopters ended up in the USA as spoils of war. After the Second World War in 1947, Flettner accepted an invitation to the USA and stayed as chief designer at the Kaman Corporation , for which he developed, among other things, new helicopters based on the Flettner double rotor principle. He led the US Army helicopter research and was President of the Flettner Aircraft Corporation in Kew Gardens , Queens , New York City .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Berend G. van der Wall: Fundamentals of helicopter aerodynamics , Springer-Verlag, 2015. pp. 26–28
  2. ↑ a b Bruno Lange: Type Handbook of German Aviation Technology (Die deutsche Luftfahrt Volume 9) , Bernard & Graefe Verlag, 1986, p. 137
  3. ↑ Anton Flettner: Airplane with rotating wings , Swiss patent CH000000172251A, July 29, 1933 (PDF)