Submarines and their Weapons - Aircraft of World War II

CHAPTER FOUR
Rotary-win g
Aircraft
Rotary-wing aircraft were first demonstrated as early as 1907, but it was 1936 before
a satisfactory design for a helicopter was developed, in Germany. The Reich's
scientists took the lead in this field, and by 1945 had developed operational rotarywing
craft and demonstrated just how effective they could be in combat conditions.
Rotary-wing aircraft can be divided into two basic
types: autogiros and helicopters. Autogiros, such
as that devised by Juan de la Cierva, derive their lift
from their forward momentum, which is supplied by
a conventionally positioned propeller, and their rotors
are unpowered. They can take off only with a run,
they cannot fly except in the forwards direction, and
Above: The Flettner Fl 282 'Kolibri' was a fully operational
helicopter despite its somewhat rudimentary appearance.
Left: 'Dare anything' test pilot Hanna Reitsch shows off
the Focke Achgelis Fa 61 inside Berlin's Deutschlandhalle.
they cannot hover, but they can descend and land
almost vertically. Cierva made the first successful
flight in an autogiro in January 1923, having found
that it was necessary to articulate the blades where
they joined the hub. For some years, autogiros seemed
set to overshadow true helicopters, examples of which
had been flying since 1907, but once Cierva's articulated
rotor head arrangement was adopted, the latter
surged to the fore once more, although work on autogiros
continued, too. By the late 1930s, Germany had
become the centre of helicopter development; in the
period up to May 1945, almost 20 rotary-wings of different
types were designed there, including autogiros,