The Hafner Rotabuggy (formally known as the Malcolm Rotaplane and as the "M.L. 10/42 Flying Jeep") was a British

experimental aircraft An experimental aircraft is an aircraft intended for testing new aerospace technologies and design concepts. The term ''research aircraft'' or '' testbed aircraft'', by contrast, generally denotes aircraft modified to perform scientific studies, ...

that was essentially a

Willys MB The Willys MB and the Ford GPW, both formally called the U.S. Army truck, ton, 4×4, command reconnaissance, commonly known as the Willys Jeep, Jeep, or jeep, and sometimes referred to by its List of U.S. military vehicles by supply catalog des ...

combined with a

rotor kite A rotor kite or gyrokite is an unpowered, rotary-wing aircraft. Like an autogyro or helicopter, it relies on lift created by one or more sets of rotors in order to fly. Unlike a helicopter, gyrokites and rotor kites do not have an engine powe ...

, developed with the intention of producing a way of air-dropping off-road vehicles.

Design and development

It was designed by

Raoul Hafner Raoul Hafner, (1905–1980) FEng, FRAes, was an Austrian-born British helicopter pioneer and engineer. He made a distinctive contribution to the British aerospace industry, particularly in the development of helicopters. Life Born in 1905, he ...

of the

Airborne Forces Experimental Establishment The Airborne Forces Experimental Establishment (AFEE) was a branch of the British Air Ministry, that researched and developed non-traditional airborne applications, such as gliders, rotary wing aircraft, and dropping of personnel and equipment ...

(AFEE) after their development of the

Rotachute The Hafner H.8 Rotachute was a British 1940s experimental one-man rotor kite designed by Raoul Hafner. Background The Rotachute was the eventual development of a concept devised by Raoul Hafner, an Austrian engineer who specialised in rotary wi ...

enjoyed some success. The prototype was built by the R. Malcolm & Co. Ltdlater ML Aviation (also producer of the Malcolm hood) at

White Waltham White Waltham is a village and civil parish, west of Maidenhead, in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is crossed briefly by the M4 motorway, which along with the Great Western Main Line and all other roads c ...

in 1942. Air Ministry specification 10/42 for a "Special Rotating Wing Glider" was used to identify the project.Meekcoms/Morgan 1994, p. 306 Initial testing showed that a Willys MB could be dropped from heights up to without damage to the vehicle. A diameter

rotor ROTOR was an elaborate air defence radar system built by the British Government in the early 1950s to counter possible attack by Soviet bombers. To get it operational as quickly as possible, it was initially made up primarily of WWII-era syst ...

was attached, along with a tail fairing and

fin A fin is a thin component or appendage attached to a larger body or structure. Fins typically function as foils that produce lift or thrust, or provide the ability to steer or stabilize motion while traveling in water, air, or other fluids. F ...

s, but no

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, airship, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (usually air or water). On an airplane, the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw ...

s. Two men were required to pilot the aircraft: one to drive it as an automobile, and one to pilot it in the air using a control column. Initially it was named the "Blitz Buggy", but that was soon dropped for the "Rotabuggy". The first trial was conducted on 16 November 1943, with the unit being towed behind a

Diamond T The Diamond T Company was an American automobile and truck manufacturer. They produced commercial and military trucks. History The Diamond T Motor Car Company was founded in Chicago in 1905 by C. A. Tilt. Reportedly, the company name was creat ...

lorry A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame constructio ...

, but the lorry could not get enough speed to put the Rotabuggy in the air. A more powerful vehicle, a

supercharged In an internal combustion engine, a supercharger compresses the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to produce more power for a given displacement. It is a form of forced induction that is mechanically powered (usually by ...

4.5-litre

Bentley Bentley Motors Limited is a British designer, manufacturer and marketer of Luxury vehicle, luxury cars and Sport utility vehicle, SUVs. Headquartered in Crewe, England, the company was founded by W. O. Bentley (1888–1971) in 1919 in Crickle ...

automobile, was used on 27 November to finally allow the machine to become airborne and in test could obtain glide speeds of 45 mph. Later tests were made towed behind an

Armstrong-Whitworth Whitley The Armstrong Whitworth A.W.38 Whitley was a British medium/heavy bomber aircraft of the 1930s. It was one of three twin-engined, front line medium bomber types that were in service with the Royal Air Force (RAF) at the outbreak of the Second ...

bomber. Although initial tests showed that the Rotabuggy was prone to severe vibration at speeds greater than , with improvements the Rotabuggy achieved a flight speed of on 1 February 1944. The last test flight occurred in September 1944, where the unit flew for 10 minutes at an

altitude Altitude is a distance measurement, usually in the vertical or "up" direction, between a reference datum (geodesy), datum and a point or object. The exact definition and reference datum varies according to the context (e.g., aviation, geometr ...

of and a speed of , after being released by a Whitley bomber, and was described as "highly satisfactory". However, the introduction of gliders that could carry vehicles (such as the

Waco Hadrian The Waco CG-4 was the most widely used American troop/cargo military glider of World War II. It was designated the CG-4A by the United States Army Air Forces, and given the service name Hadrian (after the Roman emperor) by the British. The ...

and

Airspeed Horsa The Airspeed AS.51 Horsa was a British troop-carrying glider used during the Second World War. It was developed and manufactured by Airspeed Limited, alongside various subcontractors; the type was named after Horsa, the legendary 5th-century ...

) made the Rotabuggy superfluous and further development was cancelled. A replica of the Rotabuggy is displayed at the

Museum of Army Flying The Army Flying Museum, previously known as the Museum of Army Flying, is a British military aviation museum about the history of flying in the British Army. It is located at Middle Wallop Flying Station, close to Andover in Hampshire, Englan ...

Middle Wallop Middle Wallop is a village in the civil parish of Nether Wallop in Hampshire, England, on the A343 road. At the 2011 Census the population was included in the civil parish of Over Wallop. The village has a public house, The George Inn, and ...

. Hafner also came up with the idea of a similarly outfitted "Rotatank" using a

Valentine tank The Tank, Infantry, Mk III, Valentine was an infantry tank produced in the United Kingdom during World War II. More than 8,000 Valentines were produced in eleven marks, plus specialised variants, accounting for about a quarter of wartime Britis ...

, but that was never built.

Specifications

References

;Notes ;Sources ;Bibliography * * *

External links

Museum of Army Flying exhibitUnrealaircraft.com
{{Hafner aircraft Autogyros Rotor kites 1940s British experimental aircraft Roadable aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1943

Design and development

Specifications

See also

Postwar equivalents

References

External links