Flettner Fl 185

Flettner Fl 185
Role Autogyro/helicopter
Manufacturer Flettner
Designer Anton Flettner
First flight 1936
Number built 1


The Flettner Fl 185 was an experimental German gyrodyne developed by Anton Flettner, a machine which could fly both as a helicopter and as a gyroplane.

Design and development

This aircraft was developed in 1936 with support of the Kriegsmarine. It was powered by a 160 horsepower (120 kW) BMW-Bramo Sh 14 A radial piston engine with forced-air cooling, mounted at the nose. The engine drove a 12 m diameter main rotor and two auxiliary propellers mounted on outriggers attached to the fuselage.

At take-off or when hovering, the auxiliary propellers worked in opposition to each other and served to cancel the torque of the main rotor,[1] a function handled by a single, variable-pitch tail rotor on contemporary helicopters. In forward flight, however, both propellers worked to provide forward thrust while the rotor autorotated, as in a twin-engined autogyro.[1] The landing gear consisted of a nose-wheel, two smaller stabilising wheels under the outriggers and a tail skid. Only one prototype was constructed.

Specifications (Fl 185)

Data from [2]

General characteristics

Performance

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 Ford, Roger (2013). Germany's Secret Weapons of World War II. London, United Kingdom: Amber Books. p. 224. ISBN 9781909160569.
  2. "Flettner Fl 185". Retrieved 20 December 2012.

References

Further reading

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Flettner aircraft.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 8/12/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.