Anton Flettner, Flugzeugbau GmbH was a German

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attribut ...

and

autogyro An autogyro (from Greek and , "self-turning"), also known as a ''gyroplane'', is a type of rotorcraft that uses an unpowered rotor in free autorotation to develop lift. Forward thrust is provided independently, by an engine-driven propeller. ...

manufacturer during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, founded by

Anton Flettner Anton Flettner (November 1, 1885 – December 29, 1961) was a German aviation engineer and inventor. Born in Eddersheim (today a district of Hattersheim am Main), Flettner made important contributions to airplane, helicopter, vessel, and automob ...

. Flettner

aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynamic lift of an airfoil, or in a few cases the downward thrust from jet engines. ...

included: *

Flettner Fl 184 The Flettner 184 was a German night reconnaissance and anti-submarine autogyro developed during the 1930s. Design The Fl 184 was a two-seat autogyro with an enclosed cabin. The Fl 184 rotors had a length of 12 m and a cyclic pitch control s ...

- Reconnaissance

, prototype * Flettner Fl 185 - Reconnaissance helicopter, prototype *

Flettner Fl 265 The Flettner Fl 265 was an experimental helicopter designed by Anton Flettner. Design and development This helicopter, developed in 1938 with the support of Nazi Germany's ''Kriegsmarine'', made it possible, for the first time, to transition fro ...

- Reconnaissance helicopter, prototype *

Flettner Fl 282 The Flettner Fl 282 ''Kolibri'' ("Hummingbird") is a single-seat intermeshing rotor helicopter, or ''synchropter'', produced by Anton Flettner of Germany. According to Yves Le Bec, the Flettner Fl 282 was the world's first series production hel ...

''Kolibri'' (Hummingbird) - Reconnaissance helicopter * Flettner Fl 339 - Reconnaissance helicopter, project *

Flettner Gigant The Flettner Gigant was an experimental helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and ...

- Experimental helicopter Anton Flettner's interest in

aerodynamics Aerodynamics, from grc, ἀήρ ''aero'' (air) + grc, δυναμική (dynamics), is the study of the motion of air, particularly when affected by a solid object, such as an airplane wing. It involves topics covered in the field of fluid dyn ...

(specifically the

Magnus effect The Magnus effect is an observable phenomenon commonly associated with a spinning object moving through a fluid. The path of the spinning object is deflected in a manner not present when the object is not spinning. The deflection can be ex ...

, which produces a force from a cylinder rotating in a fluid flow) also led him to invent the

Flettner rotor A Flettner rotor is a smooth cylinder with disc end plates which is spun along its long axis and, as air passes at right angles across it, the Magnus effect causes an aerodynamic force to be generated in the direction perpendicular to both the l ...

which he used to power a Flettner ship which crossed the Atlantic, and the Flettner ventilator which is still widely used as a cooling device for buses, vans and other commercial vehicles and which is based upon the Savonius principle.

References

Defunct aircraft manufacturers of Germany Helicopter manufacturers of Germany Defunct helicopter manufacturers of Germany {{Germany-WWII-stub

See also

References