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Aviation / Aerospace

Flettner Fl 282 Kolibri (Hummingbird)

Single-Seat Scout Helicopter [ 1942 ]

The Flettner Fl 282 became the first helicopter in history to be used in a military role - this by the German Kriegsmarine in 1942.

Authored By: Staff Writer | Last Edited: 11/18/2017 | Content ©www.MilitaryFactory.com | The following text is exclusive to this site.

Left side view of a captured Flettner Fl 282 helicopter undergoing evaluation with US forces

GO TO SPECIFICATIONS [+]

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The helicopter, as a viable war weapon, was not the sole historical domain of the Vietnam War - nor the Korean War before it for that matter - for, indeed, the concept of Vertical Take-Off and Landing (VTOL) flight was on the minds of engineers for thousands of years. The Germans saw a use for such versatile machines during World War 2 (1939-1945) where its Navy could rely on hovering platforms launched from ships to scan "over-the-horizon" and spot enemy submarines. Additionally, these systems could assist as artillery spotters for cruisers and battleships, radioing careful corrections to gunners. One of the notable contributors to the German helicopter realm in the war became Anton Flettner and his Fl 265 and Fl 282 single-seat creations. The Fl 265 appeared across six examples beginning in 1939 while the Fl 282 "Kolibri" ("Hummingbird") followed in 1942 with 24 of the type produced for both the German Navy and Luftwaffe (Air Force).

The Fl 282 was provided as a follow-up, if improved, version of the limited-run Fl 265 prior. Flettner was also responsible for several autogyro designs leading up to World War 2 during the tumultuous 1930s, the Fl 184 and Fl 185 prototypes being some examples. The earlier Fl 265 was, itself, also more or less a prototype offering while the Fl 282 became more of a refined end-product for practical military usage. The Fl 282 shared the same "intermeshing" rotor design as in the preceding Fl 265, this arrangement involving two individual rotor blades crossing one another, without touching, while rotating in opposite directions and on individual masts to achieve the desired vertical lift. The Fl 282 was also given an all-new engine in the Bramo Sh.14A, a 7-cylinder, air-cooled radial piston engine outputting at 160 horsepower.

In its basic form, the Fl 282 essentially appeared as a design built around its engine housing. The housing was centralized and made up much of the fuselage proper. At the front, in an open-air cockpit, was the pilot with an instrument panel before him and control stick between the knees. The rotors were seated atop shallow masts on top of the fuselage. A basic tail unit was added aft of the fuselage bulk to which a vertical tail assembly and horizontal planes were affixed. The undercarriage of the vehicle was fixed in place and involved a pair of single-wheeled main legs at the side of the fuselage with a single-wheeled nose leg under the cockpit floor. Rather utilitarian by modern standards, it nonetheless helped to shape the form of helicopter designs to follow. The construction of the fuselage involved steel tubing throughout with a fabric covering skin on non-critical surfaces.©MilitaryFactory.com

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Flight testing of the Fl 282 began in 1941 and eventually involved two flyable prototypes. Interestingly, these two prototypes were given enclosed cockpits while follow-up units were to feature the well-photographed open-air design described earlier. It was the German Navy, once again, that saw the value inherent in the Flettner helicopter and ordered a batch of fifteen for evaluation from its surface ships. Prototypes were designated Fl 282 V1 through V7 and followed by the Fl 282A-1 single-seat reconnaissance version for launching/retrieval from German warships. The Fl 282B-2 designation delineated submarine-launched, single-seat reconnaissance Fl 282s. The Fl 282B-2 was a unique sub-variant of the main B-model line and incorporated a second seat placement, this at the rear of the frame, for an observer in the scout, reconnaissance or mission liaison role.

The helicopters certainly provided considerable tactical value for the time - not requiring runway space to land on/take-off from and featuring relatively low-maintenance engines. Additionally, the platforms offered availability during overcast days and were not prone to the influences caused by inclement weather as experienced by fixed-wing aircraft. The Luftwaffe was granted a production order for some 1,000 Fl 282 units sometime in 1944, these to be manufactured by the storied concern of BMW for the sheer numbers required of the German war effort - having now turned into a defensive war. In 1945, the Luftwaffe went on to establish a dedicated reconnaissance wing through Transportstaffel 40 (TS/40) which was to stock several Fl 282 helicopters and based out of the Muhldorf District of Bavaria.

The Fl 282s in service soldiered on into the final weeks of the war. However, the intended (and rather ambitious) 1,000-strong fleet never materialized for the Allied bombing campaign put an end to the BMW facility operating out of Munich. Anton Flettner eventually went to work for the American firm of Kaman in the post-war years, allowing the company to deliver several well-known light helicopters utilizing the intermeshing rotor arrangement (the valuable multirole "K-MAX" line is one such modern example). It is noteworthy that the Germans also made limited-scale use of another helicopter during the war - the unrelated Focke-Achgelis Fa 223 of 1941 - of which twenty were produced. These were also assigned to TS/40 before the war's end.

Examples of Fl 282 aircraft were captured by both the Americans and Soviets in the Allied advance on Germany where they were rigorously evaluated in the post-war years.©MilitaryFactory.com

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Specifications

Service Year

1942

Origin

Nazi Germany

Status

RETIRED
Not in Service.

Crew

1

Production

24
UNITS

Anton Flettner, Flugzeugbau GmbH - Germany

(View other Aviaton-Related Manufacturers)

Nazi Germany

(OPERATORS list includes past, present, and future operators when applicable)

✓ Special-Mission: Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW)
Equipped to search, track, and engage enemy underwater elements by way of specialized onboard equipment and weapons.

✓ Intelligence-Surveillance-Reconnaissance (ISR), Scout
Surveil ground targets / target areas to assess environmental threat levels, enemy strength, or enemy movement.

Length

21.8 ft
(6.65 m)

Width/Span

39.2 ft
(11.96 m)

Height

7.2 ft
(2.20 m)

Empty Wgt

1,676 lb
(760 kg)

MTOW

2,205 lb
(1,000 kg)

Wgt Diff

+529 lb
(+240 kg)

(Showcased structural values pertain to the base Flettner Fl 282 Kolibri (Hummingbird) production variant)

Installed: 1 x Bramo Sh 14A 7-cylinder radial piston engine delivering 160 horsepower.

Max Speed

93 mph
(150 kph | 81 kts)

Ceiling

10,827 ft
(3,300 m | 2 mi)

Range

106 mi
(170 km | 315 nm)

Rate-of-Climb

26 ft/min
(8 m/min)

♦ MACH Regime (Sonic)

Sub

Trans

Super

Hyper

HiHyper

ReEntry

♦

(Showcased performance specifications pertain to the base Flettner Fl 282 Kolibri (Hummingbird) production variant. Performance specifications showcased above are subject to environmental factors as well as aircraft configuration. Estimates are made when Real Data not available. Compare this aircraft entry against any other in our database or View aircraft by powerplant type)

None.

Supported Types

(Not all ordnance types may be represented in the showcase above)

Fl 282 V1 - Prototype

Fl 282 V2 - Prototype

Fl 282 V3 - Prototype

Fl 282 V4 - Prototype

Fl 282 V5 - Prototype

Fl 282 V6 - Prototype

Fl 282 V7 - Prototype

Fl 282A-1 - Naval Reconnaissance Platform for launch from surface warships.

Fl 282A-2 - Naval Reconnaissance Platform for launch from submarines.

Fl 282B-1 - Twin-Seat land-based reconnaissance model for mission liaison duties.

FL 282B-2 - Twin-Seat land-based reconnaissance model for mission liaison duties.

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Images Gallery

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Image of the Flettner Fl 282 Kolibri (Hummingbird)

Left side view of a captured Flettner Fl 282 helicopter undergoing evaluation with US forces

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