Submarines and their Weapons - Aircraft of World War II

ROTARY-WING AIRCRAFT
notably Sikorsky, counteracted by means of a powered
tail rotor), it was only marginally successful in
other ways. When it was destroyed during tethered
testing, it was not rebuilt. Flettner next built a twoseat
cabin autogiro for the Kriegsmarine (German
Navy) but the single example of the Fl 184 caught fire
in flight and was also destroyed.
THE Fl 185 AND Fl 265
Clearly, Anton Flettner was still searching for a valid
way forward, for his next design, designated the Fl
185, was substantially different again, almost a cross
between a helicopter and an autogiro, its 140hp
Siemens-Halke engine being linked to a single rotor
and two variable-pitch pusher propellers located on
outriggers. For vertical take-off and landing, the aircraft
functioned as a helicopter, the majority of the
power going to the rotor, and the two conventional
propellers, providing thrust in opposite directions,
only counteracting the torque. For forward flight, the
rotor autorotated and the two propellers received all
the power and gave forward thrust. The Fl 185 flew
only a few times before Flettner abandoned it and
turned his attention to a new design using synchronised
intermeshing contra-rotating twin rotors (like
those of the Kaman H-43 'Huskie' of the 1960s) with
differential collective pitch control.
The single-seat Fl 265 was very similar in appearance
to the Fl 185, with its front-mounted radial
engine with cowl and cooling fan, enclosed cockpit
Below: The Fl 282 was ordered in 1944 after sea trials
aboard the cruiser Köln had shown it could be flown even
in adverse conditions. Only Allied bombing prevented the
aircraft going into service.
R8
FLETTNER Fl 282 V21
Type: Single-seat opencockpit
helicopter
Length: 6.56m (21.52ft)
Max take-off weight:
1000kg (2200lb)
Max speed: 150km/h
(93mph) at sea level
Range: 170km (106 miies)
Ceiling: 3290m (10,800ft)
Armament: None
and stubby tailfin. However, gone were the Fl 185's
outriggers and propellers, and the rotor head assembly,
with its paired, inclined shafts, each with a twobladed
rotor, was much more complex. The design
was completed in 1937, and the following year, the
Kriegsmarine ordered six aircraft for evaluation purposes.
The prototype made its maiden flight in May
1939, and was later destroyed when its rotor blades
struck each other in flight.
Other Fl 265s were used extensively for operational
trials with naval units - cruisers in the main, but
also submarines - in the Baltic and the Mediterranean
with considerable success, and completely validated
the concept of deploying VTOL aircraft with warships.
Aircraft also operated with army units, both in
the reconnaissance and logistical roles, and a
Luftwaffe trial involving a Bf 109 and an Fw 190 fitted
with camera guns demonstrated that the helicopter
was very difficult to shoot down. The two fighters,
amongst the best in the world, we may recall, attacked
the Fl 265 for 20 minutes but tailed to score a single
hit. The outcome of the various trials was that Flettner
was ordered to proceed with volume production. In
fact, he had already proceeded with the design of an
updated version, the two-seat (some prototypes were
single-seat) Fl 282 'Kolibri' ('Hummingbird'), and it
was this aircraft which went into manufacture.
THE Fl 282'KOLIBRI'
The most important modification Flettner made to the
design of the new aircraft was to re-locate the engine
behind the pilot's seat, which gave him and the
observer a much-enlarged field of view. The drive was
taken off the front of the crankshaft through a reduction
gearbox and transmitted up and back through a