
Raoul Hafner, (1905–1980)
FEng,
FRAes
The Royal Aeronautical Society, also known as the RAeS, is a British multi-disciplinary professional institution dedicated to the global aerospace community. Founded in 1866, it is the oldest Aeronautics, aeronautical society in the world. Memb ...
, was an Austrian-born British
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 ...
pioneer and engineer. He made a distinctive contribution to the British
aerospace
Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial, and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astron ...
industry, particularly in the development of helicopters.
Life
Born in 1905, he was educated in Vienna, first at the university and then at technical college where he became interested in rotary-wing concept as a means of making aircraft land more slowly and safely. He obtained a post with the Austrian Air Traffic Company, but his heart was in helicopter design. He gave up his job to concentrate on helicopters, designing and building the
Hafner Nagler R.I Revoplane in 1929 in collaboration with Bruno Nagler, then the similar
Hafner Nagler R.II Revoplane in 1931.
[''Rotary Wing Aircraft'' Flight, 8 April 1943, p. 362]
/ref>[''Bristol Sycamore'' Heli Archive]
Scottish cotton magnate Major Jack Coates, who had financed Hafner's work in Vienna, had the R.II Revoplane shipped to Heston Aerodrome in 1933 where it made tethered flights.[ After learning of the work of the Spanish aviation pioneer ]Juan de la Cierva
Juan de la Cierva y Codorníu, 1st Count of la Cierva (; 21 September 1895 – 9 December 1936), was a Spanish civil engineer, pilot and a self-taught aeronautical engineer. His most famous accomplishment was the invention in 1920 of a rotorcr ...
in England, Hafner contacted the Cierva Company and learned to fly its C.19 and C.30 autogyros. He parted company with Nagler, who had come from Austria with him, then concentrated on design of gyroplanes rather than helicopters. In 1934, his company, the AR.III Construction (Hafner Gyroplane) Co, began designing the Hafner AR.III Gyroplane, first flown at Heston in 1935, and widely demonstrated afterward. It incorporated cyclic and collective pitch rotor controls actuated by independently varying the pitch of each blade rather than tilting the hub as in the Cierva system.[''Background to the Helicopter'' Flight, 23 January 1953, pp. 92–93]
/ref>
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In an ensuing controversy between proponents of the autogyro and the helicopter, Hafner made his views clear in a Royal Aeronautical Society
The Royal Aeronautical Society, also known as the RAeS, is a British multi-disciplinary professional institution dedicated to the global aerospace community. Founded in 1866, it is the oldest Aeronautics, aeronautical society in the world. Memb ...
lecture on 14 October 1937, when he advocated the rotary wing concept.''Gyromancy'' Flight, 21 October 1937, p. 407
/ref>
Second World War
From 1938 he was with Pobjoy- Short at Rochester. In 1940 he was interned as an enemy alien, being released upon his naturalization. He then developed the Hafner 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 ...
, a rotary parachute to be towed behind an aircraft, for landing agents in enemy territory. This was built and tested at the Airborne Forces Experimental Establishment development section at RAF Sherburn-in-Elmet. This was followed by the Rotabuggy, a rotor-equipped jeep
Jeep is an American automobile brand, now owned by multi-national corporation Stellantis. Jeep has been part of Chrysler since 1987, when Chrysler acquired the Jeep brand, along with other assets, from its previous owner, American Motors Co ...
.[Gunston, p. 203] Neither project progressed past testing.
Post War
After the war Hafner and some of his technical team joined the Bristol Aeroplane Company
The Bristol Aeroplane Company, originally the British and Colonial Aeroplane Company, was both one of the first and one of the most important British aviation companies, designing and manufacturing both airframes and aircraft engines. Notable ...
where he became their Chief Designer (Helicopters). The four/five seater Type 171 went into Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...
service as the Sycamore and won several export orders.[ Subsequently, a much larger tandem-rotor helicopter, the Type 173, was developed. From it the Type 192 (named after the Belvedere Palace in Vienna adjacent to Hafner's childhood home) saw service in RAF squadrons in Britain and overseas.
Hafner was more interested in civil rather than the military applications of helicopters. His long-term goal was for acceptance of the convertible rotor concept. One helicopter developed at Bristol was the tandem-rotor Type 194, designed to carry 52 passengers. Work on this ended when all British helicopter activities were consolidated under ]Westland Aircraft
Westland Aircraft was a British aircraft manufacturer located in Yeovil, Somerset. Formed as a separate company by separation from Petters Limited just before the start of the Second World War, Westland had been building aircraft since 1915. Du ...
in 1960.
Hafner was appointed technical director, holding this position until his retirement in 1970. He continued as a consultant. During his decade with Westland he propounded his convertible rotor concepts to increase helicopter range and speed by tilting its rotors for forward flight.
He presented several papers to the Royal Aeronautical Society
The Royal Aeronautical Society, also known as the RAeS, is a British multi-disciplinary professional institution dedicated to the global aerospace community. Founded in 1866, it is the oldest Aeronautics, aeronautical society in the world. Memb ...
, and when in 1977 he was interviewed by its journal 'Aerospace' and asked about his interests outside aviation he remarked that he had "taken a great interest in sailing
Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, Windsurfing, windsurfer, or Kitesurfing, kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (Land sa ...
". He applied his knowledge of aerodynamics to sailing ship design.
Personal
In 1936 Hafner married Eileen McAdam of the macadam
Macadam is a type of road construction pioneered by Scottish engineer John Loudon McAdam , in which crushed stone is placed in shallow, convex layers and compacted thoroughly. A binding layer of stone dust (crushed stone from the original mat ...
road-building family descended from John Loudon McAdam. They had one daughter, actress Ingrid Hafner. He later died as a result of a yacht
A yacht () is a sail- or marine propulsion, motor-propelled watercraft made for pleasure, cruising, or racing. There is no standard definition, though the term generally applies to vessels with a cabin intended for overnight use. To be termed a ...
ing accident.
Notes
References
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External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hafner, Raoul
1905 births
1980 deaths
Austrian aerospace engineers
Austrian emigrants to the United Kingdom
British aerospace engineers
Fellows of the Royal Aeronautical Society
Engineers from Vienna