In Service: 26 June 1936 to 1945
First Flight: 26 June 1936
Manufacturer: Focke
Achgelis
Number built: 2
Type: Prototype helicopter
Crew: 1 man
Length:
Rotor diameter: 7.01 m
Disc area 38.6 m²
Height:
Empty: 800 kg
Loaded: 953 kg
Engine: 1 ×
Siemens
Bramo Sh 14A 7 cylinder air cooled radial engine producing
up to 160 hp
Maximum speed: 123 km/h
Range: 230 km
Service ceiling: 2,410 m
Armament:
Bomb load up to
Electronics:
Operators: Luftwafe
Variants:
Other: Prototypes
Articles:
Downloads:
Film Clips: Luftwaffe
Film Footage
The Focke Achgelis Fa 61 was the first fully controllable
helicopter. It first flew in 1936. It is more properly known
as the Fa 61 as it was a research aircraft of the Focke Achgelis
company.
Prof. Heinrich Focke and engineer Gerd Achgelis started the
design for this helicopter in 1932. The airframe was based
on that of a well tried training aircraft, the Focke-Wulf
Stieglitz. A single engine drove twin rotors, set on outriggers
to the left and right of the fuselage the counter rotation
of the two rotors solved the problem of torque reaction as
also shown by Louis Bréguet Only a prototype was produced.
In February 1938 it was demonstrated by Hanna Reitsch indoors
at the Deutschlandhalle sports stadium in Berlin, Germany.
It subsequently set several records for altitude, speed and
flight duration culminating, in June 1938, with an altitude
record of 3,427 m and a straight line flight record of 230
km.
The Warplanes of the Third Reich.
ISBN-10: 0385057822
German Aircraft of the Second World War.
ISBN-10: 0370000242
Hitler's Luftwaffe.
ISBN-10: 051718771X
For a complete list of
sources
