70 th anniversary of first flight of FW 61

[Spunk]

FW 61 (http://www.welt.de/data/2006/06/23/928272.html)

on June 26th 1936 the very first controllable flight of a helicopter - the FW 61- took place.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/87/FW61.jpg/300px-FW61.jpg

[7balja01]

thats a gyrocopter

[PhilJ]

no its not, its a helicopter.
the cut down prop is just for engine cooling the rotors were driven

[jetflite]

160-hp bramo sh 14a radial engine, which powered the rotors and a tractor cooling fan. An interesting feature was that each blade double-articulated, with tangential oscillations limited by elastic tension. it became the first manned helicopter in aviation history to demonstrate an engine off landing using autorotation (with a ground roll of 6 feet)

[Rigga]

I believe this was flown, by a famous woman test pilot (No - I don't know her name off the top of my head), inside a stadium at the 1936 Olympics!

As with many of our 'modern' inventions, it was first from Germany.

[22clipper]

I've felt some sort of affinity with most choppers I've seen but I think I draw the line at that beast. I'm not keen on that cockpit location under those blade tips. How would that work, left or right stick then duck? Reckon the DI on the MRBs would be a bit of a chore too.

[topendtorque]

Rigga
You really should be made go to the back of the room and not come out with even your student license until you have mastered some of the history of those that paved the way for the rest of us, to imitate at best.
Whilst there steal a google search machine and type in the words 'Hanna Reistch', then for good measure 'Arthur Young' oh, and one you might be aware of, 'Igor Sikorsky'

Yes she was first indoors, a feat later emulated with a Bell 42 or was it a 30 model, I'll wait for you to tell me, I know my old man saw operational examples of the type at Henderson Field on his way to Japan with the occupational forces at wars end. (sept 45)

Hanna would had to have been the worlds best, bar none, test pilot. Amonsgt other things she flew the worlds then largest aeroplane and the worlds first offensive rocket the V1, her manipulative dexterity must put all of us in the shade. There was a priceless interview of her done before she passed away in which was Aug 1979 that just makes one feel so naive and humble that it is incredible.


The anniversary of the flight could be a milestone for the setting up of international awards for helicopter design / flying / maintenance / operational excellence etc. Perhaps the newly formed Internatiuonal Safety committee might consider it as a pathfinder towards reducing amap the dreaded statistics.

The prime names of course for the premier awards are mentioned above, but there are plenty of others, Frank being one for sure.

Ideas?

[heli1]

Hmmm...you might also like to google" Breguet " as his helicopter carried out airfield circuits and set up FAI records a full year before the FA 61.
Sorry but the French were first ,germans second,British third (1938) and Igor a long way behind as it wasn't until 1941 that he managed to make a controllable flight ,after admitting that he would have to use a British Cierva patent to get it to work !

[topendtorque]

heli 1
another of my favourite q's here in oz is, 'how come the A/C rego starts with VH?'

you'd be amazed how few - if any - get the real answer, let alone the significance of his theories at Kittyhawk. last year being what it was I had a field day.

I knew a bloke who used ask the newbies (slaves) a very simple q.
he always found it easy to find a mark, with a quizical scowl, he would say, "thet's interestin, why's that there blade look like it's the same on the top as the bottom?"

[oxi]

The lady concerned if I remember correctily is Anna Riche not sure of the spelling, but I remember something along those lines.... she flew pretty much everythink the germans made...even those little rockets that took off then dropperd their wheels which was to be followed by a belly landing (I think)..... amazing for that generation..

Having said that the picture above certainily looks like a Ceriva design.... thanks to him he fixed the dissametry problems......sorry carnt spell!







Hanna Reitsch?

Heliport

[widgeon]

Now that would have been cool if they had built a replica and flown it during the World Cup finals.

I heard a theory that French helcopters rotate opposite to US and Russian because they broke up the model and the French go the side that rotated the wrong way , but if above post is correct that is probably another urban legend.

[MightyGem]

Hanna Reitsch? Yes, a very remarkable woman. her comments on her first helicopter flight:
"Professor Focke and his technicians standing below grew ever smaller as I continued to rise straight up, 50 metres, 75 metres, 100 metres. Then I gently began to throttle back and the speed of ascent dwindled till I was hovering motionless in midair. This was intoxicating! I thought of the lark, so light and small of wing, hovering over the summer fields. Now man had wrested from him his lovely secret"
taken from here. (http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/reitsch.html)

More info here. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanna_Reitsch)

For the glider pilots out there she had many gliding awards including the threee diamonds.

She died in 1997 age 76.

[Spunk]

Now that would have been cool if they had built a replica and flown it during the World Cup finals.


Are you kidding me Widgeon? Helicopters are dangerous, helicopter pilots all are potential terrorists (at least in Germany that is). No chance that you can get close to a stadium unless your name is Blatter or Beckenbauer... :yuk:

[PANews]

Now that would have been cool if they had built a replica and flown it during the World Cup finals.

Well they did have a replica indoors on display at Berlin ILA 2006 but I guess it was never designed to fly.

Interestingly [yawn?] I have a June 1932 clip from Pathe News of a Cierva Autogiro and as it flies overhead the commentator introduces the craft .... 'the helicopter flies overhead...' All about perception and your place in history I guess.

Proof that for the occupants of 1932 a Cierva WAS a helicopter.

They were looking for improvements to what they had but they certainly were not hankering to invent 'The Helicopter'

Now, where does that place Hanna?

[Rigga]

I dont think I did too bad for flying by the seat of my pants! (or is that, using my own memory?)

The only reason I knew about this was because my Mom (bless her soul) mentioned seeing it fly inside a stadium. And she also mentioned a woman test pilot as the star of the show. I assumed it was the 1936 Olympics, but it could have been any Hamburg or Berlin Stadium in the 30's?

She (my mom) was also in the Hitler Youth and later helped try to shoot my Dad down by manning the AA Lights!

Who needs google?

[MightyGem]

She (my mom) was also in the Hitler Youth and later helped try to shoot my Dad down by manning the AA Lights!

Now that's a novel way to start a relationship.