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In the 1930-ies Anton Flettner developed the Flettner Fl 184 Autogyro with Dr Kurt Hohenemser.
Although the prototype caught fire before it could be tested in 1936, the nazi staff was interested but asked for a bigger, up-rated version of the autogyro able to do (armed) reconnaissance missions and carry a bomb. Flettner was asked to produce an flying prototype per July 1938. During the first months of 1938, as the Hs 126 came in production, one fuselage minus wing a rear empennage was taken from the production lines and was fitted with revised tail planes, rotor, gearbox, controls and mast. The defensive gun was deleted and only a bomb rack on the left side was fitted. The experimental autogyro was tested at the Henschel Werke in Kassel. Soon Nazi staff accepted the plane and christened it Hs 126 G for Gyrodyne and took it to Spain for operational trials along with other Hs 126’s. As it stills as an experimental plane the gearbox frequently needed maintenance and the conditions in the field weren’t ideal. The normal Hs 126 proved to have a better service record compared to the Hs 126G although the G version had far better STOL capabilities and an even better vertical landing capability. Bombing trails proved pretty successful as the G-version was stable enough, although more training was needed to be really accurately. The bombs usually fell short of the targets as forward speed was lower than bombers were trained to cope with. You can find the complete album here:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jetsonsspecial/albums/72157673822015335 63CPE aka David |
Photos and text © by 63CPE