| Flettner airplane | |
|---|---|
| Part of a series on Categories of Aircraft |
|
| Supported by Lighter-Than-Air Gases (aerostats) | |
| Unpowered | Powered |
| • Balloon | • Airship |
| Supported by LTA Gases + Aerodynamic Lift | |
| Unpowered | Powered |
| • Hybrid airship | |
| Supported by Aerodynamic Lift (aerodynes) | |
| Unpowered | Powered |
| Unpowered fixed-wing | Powered fixed-wing |
| • Glider • hang gliders • Paraglider • Kite |
• Powered airplane (aeroplane) • powered hang gliders • Powered paraglider • Flettner airplane • Ground-effect vehicle |
| Powered hybrid fixed/rotary wing | |
| • Tiltwing • Tiltrotor • Mono Tiltrotor • Mono-tilt-rotor rotary-ring • Coleopter |
|
| Unpowered rotary-wing | Powered rotary-wing |
| • Rotor kite | • Autogyro • Gyrodyne ("Heliplane") • Helicopter |
| Powered aircraft driven by flapping | |
| • Ornithopter |
|
| Other Means of Lift | |
| Unpowered | Powered |
| • Hovercraft • Flying Bedstead • Avrocar |
|
A flettner or rotor airplane is an airplane that has no wings but instead uses the Magnus effect to create lift. Thus it is similar to the Flettner rotor used in a Flettner ship. Such airplanes were first built by Anton Flettner.
History
The development of the rotor aircraft was inspired by Flettner's rotor ship. The rotor ship, the Buckau, now renamed the "Baden-Baden," successfully crossed the Atlantic Ocean on 9 May 1926, and landed in New York, where it attracted considerable attention. The image shows the prototype of the rotor aircraft in an American shipyard at Hudson, New York. At that time, corresponding developments were made in Germany already.
The development of this unusual aircraft based on research by Ludwig Prandtl at the Aerodynamic Research Institute (AVA) in Goettingen. Prandtl experimented with rotating cylinders in the wind tunnel. The cylinders created up to ten times more lift than a plane wing, which was quite surprising.
More recently, the "iCar 101" project suggests the use of Flettner rotors in roadable aircraft design to combine compactness and increased lift potential.
See also
External links
- ...the 921-V is reported to have been flown at least once
- iCar 101 roadable aircraft with Flettner rotor wings
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