Submarines and their Weapons - Aircraft of World War II

'Drache' ('Kite'). The new aircraft was essentially an
enlarged version of the Fa 61, with the same boomedout
twin-rotor layout, but it was much more powerful,
with a supercharged 650hp Bramo 323 Q3 'Fafnir'
engine, and more flexible and easier to fly, thanks to
the introduction of collective pitch control.
Previously, ascent had been controlled by the throttle,
a very hit-and-miss affair; with the introduction of
collective pitch control, the degree of lift was controlled
by adjusting the pitch of the rotor blades, and
engine speed stayed constant. The fuselage, 12.25m
(40ft) long, was fabricated from steel tubes and covered
with fabric except on the engine compartment,
where sheet metal was used. It was divided into four
compartments: the cockpit, with seats for pilot and
observer; the load compartment, with a starboard-side
door, where self-sealing fuel and oil tanks were also
located; the engine compartment; and the tail section,
which was a conventional fin and rudder with a topmounted
stabiliser, adjustable for trim.
UNUSUAL ENGINE MOUNTING
The method of mounting the engine was somewhat
bizarre. Both it and the gearbox were located in two
large-diameter rings, which were attached to four longitudinal
fuselage members by adjustable cables, with
struts to prevent fore-and-aft movement. There was a
gap in the fuselage covering at the forward end of the
engine compartment, through which cooling air
entered, and another at its after end, whence it
escaped. The rotor blades were made from wooden
ribs attached to a high-tensile steel tube, and covered
with plywood and fabric. The rotor discs were
inclined inwards by 4.5 degrees, and slightly forwards,
and normal speed of rotation was 275rpm, a
9.1:1 reduction from engine speed.
The 'Drache' (it was also known as the 'Draken':
'Dragon') could carry up to four passengers in the
load compartment but during troop manoeuvres in
1944, it carried 12 fully equipped soldiers, the other
eight travelling outside on tractor seats on the outriggers.
Its total payload capacity was around 1.27
tonnes (1.25 tons). A Fieseier 'Storch' aircraft and a
Volkswagen car were lifted in demonstrations, and
small field pieces were transported during army
manoeuvres; large loads were slung from a winch on
a load-bearing beam via a port in the aircraft's floor.
The Fa 266 prototype was completed at the end of
1939 and, by now redesignated as the Fa 223, made
its first free flight in August 1940 after more than 100
hours of static and tethered hovering trials. Karl Bode
ROTARY-WING AIRCRAFT
flew it to the RLM test centre at Rechlin in October
1940, and set a batch of new records: a speed of
182km/h (113mph); a vertical rate of climb of 528m
(1732ft) per minute; and an altitude of 7252m
(23,295ft) where normal operational limits were
120km/h (74.5mph) and 4880m (16,010ft). The RLM
promptly ordered 30 for evaluation in the anti-submarine,
reconnaissance, rescue, training, and transport
roles and it was decided before series production
commenced to build standardised aircraft which
would be equipped according to the requirements of
their mission.
The first prototype, -VI, was wrecked on 5
February 1941 after having made 115 flights, when a
power failure occurred while it was in a low hover. In
June 1942, the second and third prototypes, along
with seven pre-production machines and much of the
tooling, were destroyed in an air raid. Production was
then moved from Bremen to Laupheim in southern
Germany but did not restart until February 1943.
More aircraft were destroyed when the new factory
was bombed in its turn, in July 1944, and as a result,
the number of Fa 223s completed was probably no
more than 12. Three were still in operational service
at the end of the war; one was destroyed by its pilot
and two were seized by the Americans. One of them
was subsequently flown to England by Helmut
Gersenhauer, the Luftwaffe's most experienced helicopter
pilot, and was flown for around 170 hours in
trials before crashing from a height of 18.3m (60ft).
After the war, development of the Fa 223 continued in
France (with Professor Focke's assistance) and in
Czechoslovakia, where two were constructed from
salvaged parts. That the Fa 223 was not more widely
produced, when all concerned agreed that it was a
useful addition to the Luftwaffe's catalogue of aircraft,
is understandable only within the terms of the
struggle for the allocation of resources going on within
the Third Reich at the time. Clearly, it had no
champion sufficiently powerful to push it high
enough up the list of priorities. Had -V12 not broken
down when transporting the captured Italian dictator,
Benito Mussolini, from the hotel on the Gran Sasso in
September 1943 when he was rescued by Otto
Skorzeny, perhaps things might have been different!
THE Fa 225
The Luftwaffe's interest in gliders dated back to the
time before Germany was permitted an air force,
when the only means she had of training pilots was to
set up gliding clubs and schools. As well as acting as