__NOTOC__ The Dornier Do 132 was a

utility In economics, utility is a measure of a certain person's satisfaction from a certain state of the world. Over time, the term has been used with at least two meanings. * In a normative context, utility refers to a goal or objective that we wish ...

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

under development in

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

in the late 1960s. While the design was a conventional pod-and-boom layout, the propulsion system was unusual in that it used a turbine engine, not to drive the rotor directly, but to provide a source of hot gas that was fed through the rotor shaft, along the blades, and out through

tip jet A tip jet is a jet nozzle at the tip of some helicopter rotor blades, used to spin the rotor, much like a Catherine wheel firework. Tip jets replace the normal shaft drive and have the advantage of placing no torque on the airframe, thus not re ...

s. The intention was to eliminate the weight and mechanical complexity of a gearbox and an anti-torque system for the tail. This engine system underwent extensive static tests while a full-size mockup was built to prove the aerodynamics in a wind tunnel. Ultimately, however, the programme was cancelled in 1971 before a

prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototype ...

was actually constructed.

Specifications (as designed)

References

* *
EADS website
1960s German civil utility aircraft Do 132 1960s German helicopters Single-turbine helicopters Tipjet-powered helicopters Single-rotor helicopters Aircraft with skid landing gear {{Aero-1960s-stub