Without that huge red circle in the thumbnail, it would have been impossible to notice that helicopter!

@johnorlitta

7 ай бұрын

LOL

@jackieeastom8758

7 ай бұрын

Why are you here‽

@Starfishscalemodeling

7 ай бұрын

@@jackieeastom8758 42

@AndrewFleek

7 ай бұрын

Hahahahha

@visassess8607

7 ай бұрын

He always uses click bait like that

Mister Flettner came to the US, along with it's helicopter design and co-founded the Kaman helicopter company. Next, they built the first helicopter equiped with a turboshaft engine, which truly revolutionized helicopter engineering as it quadrupled the lifting power of helicopters.

@deruberschwarze3943

7 ай бұрын

Later the Kaman Co. would introduce Ovation guitars.

@robertoyamakata6672

7 ай бұрын

And then kaman built ovation guitars like mine

@killyourtelllievision

6 ай бұрын

Probably tge founders of Karman Ghia?

@maikrohsoft3136

7 күн бұрын

"Mister Flettner came to the US". I think, he had not really a choice. My opinion.

I have studied WWII history since the 1980's and had never heard of this beast. Well done .

@alexander1485

7 ай бұрын

not hard enough, maybe try to get a doctorate lol

@Desertduleler_88

6 ай бұрын

You've been reading the wrong books or incredibly ignorant.

@ianbeale2527

6 ай бұрын

The advantages of making scale models means there's little we don't get to see/hear about as model companies over the years, especially the smaller ones, are always looking to add more interest to their line-up instead of the "done to death" Spitfire/109/Mustangs. There were many aircraft built during WW2 that most people have never heard of - on top of that, the increased interest within the hobby of "paper" aircraft and tanks that only existed on the drawing board. Often sneered at, modellers these days tend to know a lot more about this hidden history than what you'll find in most history books on the subject.

@joemontano71

6 ай бұрын

@genebohannon8820 - Same here.

@rayhildebrandt4065

6 ай бұрын

Ja, ich hörte auch noch nie von diesem Hubschrauber, doch dass die Deutschen damals welche entwickelt hatten, wusste ich. Es gab auch mal einen 2. WK- Film, wo ein Hubschrauber im Einsatz gezeigt wurde .... Das konnte ich nicht glauben. Sehr guter Beitrag hier. Habe viel dazu gelernt.

It was an awesome helicopter design for its time, that's for sure. Compare and contrast to Igor Sikorsky's VS-300, the Kolibri was a more compact package with its intermeshing rotors. After World War 2, Flettner was brought in to the United States as part of Operation Paperclip and later became chief designer for Kaman Aircraft. One of his famous designs for the company was the Kaman HH-43 Huskie, operated by three service branches of the US Military (USAF, USMC and USN) in the early stages of the Vietnam War. It also used Flettner's intermeshing rotor design, the same as the Kolibri. Anyway, well done on the video. Dunno if you'd read my comment but how about featuring the Sikorsky CH-37 Mojave? That's quite an oddball of a helicopter and probably the last and largest piston-engined heavy-lift helicopter ever made. It certainly was the largest western helicopter at the time. It also became the basis for the Sikorsky S-60, the original Skycrane prototype that evolved into the S-64 Skycrane/CH-54 Tarhe.

@BrianVanveghel

7 ай бұрын

It was not stolen but won they shouldn't have sided with the Japanese and declared war on us. It's a national war trophy!

@jtjames79

7 ай бұрын

I really want an ultralight electric version. Just for joyriding. Imagine all the weight that could be saved with fly by wire and no linkages, carbon fiber, etc. each rotor would only need three moving parts.

@vjabonador1067

7 ай бұрын

@@jtjames79 For now, I don't think "ultralight" and "electric" can be jointly used together to describe a helicopter with our current battery technology. The Tier 1 electric R44 set a Guinness World Record flying the farthest distance for an electric helicopter. That distance was only 56 kilometers (about 35 miles). You can increase that range by adding more batteries but doing so would also increase the weight and size of the helicopter. And as the pioneers of aviation figured out over a century ago, weight is the enemy of flight. Plus, while certainly innovative, the Flettner intermeshing rotor design is inherently inefficient, with the rotors at an angle and not completely pointing to the ground, their lifting capability isn't optimal.

@jtjames79

7 ай бұрын

@@vjabonador1067 10 miles is fine. Swap battery another 10 ish minutes/miles. It's for joyriding. If I can get that to work, I want to work on an e-bike hybrid for island hopping/last mile access. Where I am at if I could fly over 100 yards in some places I could save 5 miles on the road (green belts, canyons, lava flows, etc). The flying e-bike/e-scooter could really fill a niche.

@jeremyw6418

7 ай бұрын

​@@jtjames79 i gues you want it electric to be "green"? If so go for hydrogen engins. Like those who were build in the Mazda RX-8 Hydrogen RE. Ther are not many models left, but if your luky you could get one. Batterys in moste cases take huge amounts of Co2 to produce or even mine/deliver the materials like Li. Worst you can do is to buy Chines Batterys, in that case.

The Sirkorsky VS-300 was delivered to the US Army in 1942. The Sirkorsky R-4 "Hoverfly" was operational in January 1943. It was used in the Burma campaign for medevac. 131 units were built by '44.

I argue Flettner made the first practical helicotper, not Sikorsky.

@TheOsfania

7 ай бұрын

Okay, let's hear your arguments...

@w8stral

7 ай бұрын

Well yes... Dead end or single use design(good hover, stinks for speed), but sure first vertical flight able to maneuver in ALL directions and land vertically.

@kenrobba5831

7 ай бұрын

Igor was not an easy guy to deal with; right or wrong HE had his idea as to how things were.

@VacuousCat

7 ай бұрын

@@TheOsfania Fl 282 entered production in 1940, 2 years earlier than Sikorsky R-4. Fl 282 was also deployed and operational on ships in WWII.

@dannydaw59

7 ай бұрын

Sikorsky had a practical helicopter that could fly before the R4 called the VS-300. First flown on Sept 14th 1939.

For anyone who is interested, the 'Kolibri' nickname for this helicopter means 'hummingbird'.

Flettner's inter-meshing rotors concept was brilliant in overcoming torque skew but had the innate limitation of speed being too slow for battlefield support as well as probably being shot down within minutes. When Flettner created Kaman Rotorcraft Co in the USA he used tip gas turbine thrust which had been developed by Percival, Fairey and Shorts in Britain, alas too late to see action until 1946 in the Fairey version. The pervading design became Sikorsky's, which used an anti-torque tail rotor but developing this meant losing the free rotor 'parachute' effect of the Kolibri and Fairey developments. Shorts in Belfast developed an idea from Percival to use a small turbo-fan in a shroud which could be tilted. This was a brilliant use of early low powered turbo jet units from Whittle's company which had been used in experiments but were not intended for the sort of jet flight Whittle was famous for. Flettner's company in the USA is still in operation.

@maddhatter3564

6 ай бұрын

sounds a lot like the counter rotating blades H. Hughes experimented with an we know how that turned out.

This aircraft still has a touch stone today. The Kaman K-Max uses the same Intermesh Rotor design, and its made about 60 miles away from Sikorsky Aircraft Co. main plant.

@yodawg3469

3 ай бұрын

Bitchin lil choppers too,I've seen them lifting cut down tree's in the town i live,strong helo's.

In the late 1930's the Germans used a gyrocopter to "bird dog" for its u-boats. It easy to disassemble and store inside the sub. When they surfaced, the crew would assemble and launch the gyrocopter. Just a few hundred feet in the air gave the pilot a huge area to cover at a glance.

@virdojorge

6 ай бұрын

FA-330

@claudioeugenioiachini5203

6 ай бұрын

El Bachstelze en realidad era un autogiro, carecia de motor. Era remolcado por el submarino, lo cual le consentia de alcanzar una cierta altura ampliando, enormemente, el radio de obaervacion de la unidad naval.

More rotating wings, pls. Many outstanding models to showcase & glad we got started .

8:30 This is especially impressive when you consider how many experienced helicopter instructor pilots they had available. I would assume that number would be zero,

@foxxy46213

7 ай бұрын

Imagine being the first test pilot....we got a new machine to try hans..the machine lol

Igor Sikorsky made a working helicopter in 1939. His aircraft designs that became working aircraft is incredible. HIs imagination and determination were even more incredible. His first helicopter design was in 1909 at the age of 20. If there is one thing that I have learned the hard way is, if you have an idea of something that is a viable product don"t sit on it, because there is somebody else with a similar idea that may get a patent while you are twiddling your thumbs.

@agn855

6 ай бұрын

Or "borrow" another ones concept for a patent, like Alexander Graham Bell…

They had gyros that were towed behind subs. Had a place to fold up on the deck. One of them was shown in this video… it was towed behind by a long cable 6:37

@ulin4226

7 ай бұрын

Correct! It was the Focke-Achgelis FA330. One of them is on display at the National Air&Space Museum in Washington, DC.

Why doesn’t this channel have more subscribers, it’s very informative. ❤

Imagine flying an open cockpit helicopter in harsh weather.

Good research performed to make this video. I have ran across WW2 German helicopter development but the on-line articles didn't say much. The Japanese also used helicopters or at least Autogyros during WW2 on their naval vessels.

Gosh. I had no idea. I never thought of it-- where the helicopter came from. Great stuff. Thanks.

Hanna Reitsch was the first female helicopter pilot and one of the few pilots to fly the Focke-Achgelis Fa 61, the first fully controllable helicopter, for which she received the Military Flying Medal. In 1938, during the three weeks of the International Automobile Exhibition in Berlin, she made daily flights of the Fa 61 helicopter inside the Deutschlandhalle.

Flettner took Focke's Drache design and reduced its ridiculously large footprint by moving the rotors closer together. Quite ingenious.

At last, some relevant Footage with only minor `fills` off the Subject! Well deserved `Thumb Up`.

Let's see, the German's had the first assault rifle the Sturmgewehr 44, the first Cruise Missile, the V-1, the first long-range guided ballistic missile, the first television guided bomb the HS293, the world's first jet fighter the ME-262, the first jet bomber the Arado Ar 234 B Blitz, the first rocket powered interceptor the ME 163 Komet, the Tiger. Tiger II, the Panther, and the first combat helicopter? We were lucky we won the war.

@Desertduleler_88

6 ай бұрын

No, not really but the demise of western civilisation. Britain and America have turned the western world into a shithole of 3rd world immigration.

@MartyInLa

6 ай бұрын

@Jason7.62x39 it was the Japanese. The subs were huge, and they were operational. They almost attacked the Panama Canal with them.

@agn855

6 ай бұрын

At least you’ve adopted the pre war German attitude of feeling exceptional, something they have tuned down after 1945.

@pegcity4eva

6 ай бұрын

They also had a mad man who wouldn't allowed to be woken until 11 AM for orders and no oil to speak of.

@foxtrotsierraproductions8626

23 күн бұрын

​@@agn855Well its a fact that Germany invented all this. There is no need to discredit these inventions. Without these the Tech nowadays would not be where it is now.

They have the body of a Kolibri at the Ottawa aviation museum. Got to see it "in the back" many years ago.

I heard they used the captured Kolibri for training for a while, but it was too easy to fly and didn't prepare the trainees for Sikorsky tailrotor designs. But as other people pointed out, Flettner ended up working for Kaman Aircraft and HH-47 Huskie is largely his design. It had intermeshing rotors and that servoflap thing. More modern example of that arrangement is the lift helicopter K-1200 K-MAX. Kaman discontinued the production line in this year. It's a shame. I love the intermeshing rotors. So hypnotic.

One should make a 1:1 airworthy replica of the Kolibri!

Like these videos but the background drums beating away are annoying.

8:13 The advantage of intermeshing rotors over coaxial rotors is that the rotor blades CAN't clash with each other.

First time I've ever seen footage of one in flight. Where do you find this stuff?

An Autogyro made an appearance in the film It Happened One Night filmed in 1934. The machine had less than 15 seconds of "facetime' but there she was .

Excellent video

Thank you for this succinct and to the point documentary on this important invention!

The first time I learned about the use of helicopters in WW2 was playing through Medal of Honor Rising Sun. On one of the later missions you're picked up by a helicopter at the end of the level

Man one of the coolest ever I love helicopters 😎👍⚙️

Do one on the V1!

In the 1968 movie Where Eagles Dare, a high ranking general arrives at the mountaintop fortress by helicooter. A Bell stood in for this actual model but the scenario was realistic.

@claudioeugenioiachini5203

6 ай бұрын

La vi esa pelicula, cuando llego la parte del helicoptero pense "estos (los que hicieron la pelicula) ya no saben que cosa inventar".

Well done. Thank you. 👍🏻

Very interesting. Thank you :)

Calibri is a font, a kolibrie is a bird that can hover in place. I guess this machine was not named after a font that didn't exist yet.

@WanderfalkeAT

6 ай бұрын

Kolibri!

Mid 6 minute range was the gyrokite

Interesting how Flettner is repeatedly credited with founding Kaman Aerospace/Helicopters - what was Charlie Kaman, just a footnote? Charlie worked at "the other side" of Connecticut with Igor Sikorsky personally before deciding to start his own helicopter company. I'd like to know what really happened between the two of them? Was it really as simple as stated here; "brought to USA under operation paper clip" and "assigned" to Kaman?!

Großartig! Danke dafür!👌

Who taught the first helicopter pilot to fly helicopters? Did the second helicopter pilot learn anything from the first?

Sirkorsky, USA, VS-300, 1939. Sirkorsky R-4 used by US Army Air Forces from 5 January 1945 onward. Also utilized by the US Coast Guard in same time period. Became a rescue helicopter in Pacific Theater. So, what did America "steal" from the Nazis, genius?

Nice video had not heard of this helicopter design before

What time is it?

@ImWearingPantsNow

7 ай бұрын

Not sure... but I need a beer.

I’m so blown away. Modern engineering of everything stems from everything German WW2

@chrisfrizzell1050

2 ай бұрын

Always has been

2:04 The gyro shown in this clip is a Cierva, developed by Juan de la Cierva in the UK.

What about those weird Mine crusher vehicles?

I don't know how I didn't know this but thank you Dark Skies for informing me! Bravo!

This music makes me feel like I am 15 again shopping in Abercrombie and Fitch

First helicopter design was created by a Spanish, Juan de la cierva and the british were interested in his design.

@allangibson8494

7 ай бұрын

Cierva built autogyro’s not helicopters. Autogyros don’t require torque compensation because the rotors are unpowered in flight. Juan de la Cierva died in 1936 before the first true helicopter flights (which is company was involved in three years later).

You should make a video about German "Foo Fighters" if you haven't already.

The BMW engine needing extensive maintenance every 25 hours... yep, that's typical BMW for you!😂😂😂

@WilhelmKarsten

6 ай бұрын

Well you obviously don't know anything about helicopters

Kaman's HH-43 Huskie rotor setup ensured a new nickname for helicopters; Eggbeater. That name seemed to fall off as the Huskies were retired.

please dont use the electronic music

A kolibri is the Spanish name for a humming bird.

We used Kaman K-1200s battling wildfires. Great machines.

HOW have I never heard of this?!

Eh Sikorsky's R series was more practical and was the template for most helicopters post war. And was built in more numbers and was used to transport an actual infantry assault in WW2

@agn855

6 ай бұрын

So?

@drudgenemo7030

6 ай бұрын

@@agn855 the mythical trope that the Nazis were so technically advanced is borderline demented, I n addition to be factually wrong. The aircraft was interesting, and it's setup was indeed used postwar (not sure why THAT wasn't mentioned) but Sikorsky had a functional helicopter in service BEFORE the Nazis and was used more extensively, was used in actual combat, and is still the template for 90%+ helicopters in use.

9:06 Oxford Cowley plant.

This is silly. Autogyros with overhead rotory wings (and a conventional forward "puller" propeller) with STOL capabilities had been around and well publicized since the early 1930's. The Allies weren't quaking in fear over a little scout aircraft that could practically be shot down by a guy with a skeet shotgun.

@HellbirdIV

7 ай бұрын

So did you write this comment before watching the video where he literally talks about the preceding history of autogyros, or did you just have a knee-jerk response at the intro?

@arthurfoyt6727

7 ай бұрын

@@HellbirdIV Allies were not afraid of these prototype machines, as said, an infantryman with a shotgun was a viable defense against them.

@HellbirdIV

7 ай бұрын

@@arthurfoyt6727 First of all, nobody said the allies were "afraid" of them. They were uses as artillery spotters though, so I would probably be afraid if I did see one - not because of the machine itself, but because it meant it had probably radioed for artillery already. Moreover... no, a shotugn is not a viable defense against one of these. With buckshot you're not doing much damage even if you hit something that's flying at several hundred feet, which this thing could very much manage. Furthermore, shotguns weren't common in the European theatre. They were more common in the Pacific because the US forces there had fewer SMGs, as SMGs like the Thompson and Grease Gun render combat shotguns obsolete. If you saw one of these hovering about and wanted to shoot it down, you'd use massed rifle fire or a machinegun, just like they did against all other low-flying aircraft. Only an idiot would try to shoot at it with a shotgun unless he had no other weapon.

@arthurfoyt6727

7 ай бұрын

@@HellbirdIV it's mentioned at 0:16 Buckshot at 1200fps and would do a tat on one; of course a simple rifle works just as well at a slow flying machine with it's pilot hanging off the front in full exposure....

@HellbirdIV

7 ай бұрын

@@arthurfoyt6727 He says "a chilling mechanical hum", because the helicopter was an almost unknown technology to the average person at the time. It's evocative language for people's first encounter with an entirely unfamiliar thing. I don't know why the notion triggers you, but it's true - people can get spooked when they see some weird shit they haven't seen before.

War prizes aren't "stolen"

@R0d_1984

7 ай бұрын

So Germany taking "war prizes" aren't "stolen", got it.

When one country starts ANOTHER world war in the same century and loses and the victors find enemy stuff used in said war laying around and take it, its not "stealing".

Layout-wise Helicopters have changed little over the years. Interesting that it is a rather modern looking design. I do not often consider the fact the Germany basically invented the helicopter as we know it today. Interesting.

@foxtrotsierraproductions8626

23 күн бұрын

Because you like to discredit Germany. Germany had alot of firsts that you dont even know about. Military and daily life wise

Wasn't the Autogyro the first helicoptor-esque invention?

This soundtrack is dope 😎

Wasn't the R-4 used by US forces in CBI?

PKZ 2 was used 1917 during WW1.

The 282 had more flair than sikorsky's first successful model in my view.

LOVE how the American MP is guarding German POW's with a GERMAN machine gun! @0.42

how did it travel in different directions?

@Snobiker13

6 ай бұрын

Swash plates, like most helicopters.

I was not the first helicopter used in combat operations. The US used helicopters in Burma a year before the Germans did!

@foxtrotsierraproductions8626

23 күн бұрын

Doubt that. Since the firstflight was in 1940 for the Fa 223

Well that something l have never heard of just goes to show I'm still learning something new and how amazing Germany where so advanced in many fields.

@arthurfoyt6727

7 ай бұрын

In a war of attrition, making lots of one-off prototypes and doing research is not the way to win....

@philkelly8031

7 ай бұрын

@@arthurfoyt6727 without research and development you wouldn't the German the jets, rockets even closer to the development of a Nuclear weapon. Same goes for any country you need development to make new weapon's in the first place they also win wars to lose a war it can be just the wrong decision that have changed the outcome.

Years back I seen a video on these first helicopters and the Germans were using them to replace tank engines that were broken out far away from their front lines, seems like they would have come up with a combat version

I flew one back in 1946 😮

@user-tf1rq9vg1j

7 ай бұрын

Please, more info.

Can you do a video on the US helicopter of WWII

I never knew.

never heard of this after decades of WWII study! i always thought sikorsky helicopter was the first!

@arthurfoyt6727

7 ай бұрын

Probably because it was barely more than a working prototype AND it had almost no application post war. Like the "flying flapjack" in the USA, some designs are failures in the real world.

Kolibri means hummingbird. Had to look it up.

Imagine hearing an engine coming getting louder an louder....then this thi appears...you wouldn't know wether too shoot it or be impressed as fuck

What about the R4?

@foxtrotsierraproductions8626

23 күн бұрын

Was not the first Helicopter.

What about the American chopper in the Pacific during AWE?

The Germans looked pissed they lost that helicopter.

This is new to me 🤔

A good video about an unusual (which killed her) flying machine. And what do you know about the Soviet TSAGI 1-EA helicopter, the Cheremukhin design?

Interestingly,i've only heard about this one as an "BMW" design!! So , that's the real link to "BMW"!

Hitler, "I like this new wonder weapon. Make it bigger, add two, no, make those four cannons, and it has to have bomber capability."

Fascinating. 'Never heard of it before, and always laughed at the helicopter in the movie, 'Where Eagles Dare' !

Now there's three things in my vocabulary I associate with the kolibri: * the 1st of course is the tiny pistol, * that synchropter with its intermeshing rotors and, * that one little sidecharacter in the recently celebrated game signalis *KOLIBRI!!!*

Congratulation for the brave and true headline!

Interesting thank you

They were technically technological ahead of everyone. Not gonna lie imo

I wonder how well the helo kites spotted ships for the U-boots.

That looks like a Minnie attack helicopter.

This helicopter looks like Eurocopter's grandfather

Since 1 of the units went to Russia, did it become the inspiration for the Kamov Ka-27?

@Snobiker13

6 ай бұрын

Not likely. Kamov has an entirely different rotor design.

Hey that's Redacted's theme music.

Sikorski designed first helicopter same like kalasznikow AK47

Autogyros were not new--they were common before the war.

Germans had a great many weapons that had unrealized potential. Thank god.