The rotor support frame work for the Fw-61 was a real challenge but Aaron's instruction page and exploded view makes it easy.

Heinrich Focke, a German professor who created the Focke-Wulf airplane company, also began working on helicopters in the 1930s. Like Louis Bréguet, he performed research on the problems of control of rotary winged flight and built a scale model helicopter in 1932, before Bréguet flew his craft in 1933. But four years passed before Focke was to build a full-scale version of his model.

In 1936, Focke, in cooperation with another German named Gerd Achgelis, developed the Focke-Achgelis Fa 61 (often called the Focke-Wulf 61). The Fa 61 used the fuselage and engine of a training biplane known as the Focke-Wulf Stieglitz. The Stieglitz was a popular two-cockpit aircraft that had already earned the Focke-Wulf company an international reputation. Focke and Achgelis kept the open aft cockpit of the Stieglitz. They removed the wings and replaced them with two large three-bladed rotors mounted on tubular steel outriggers on either side of the fuselage. The outriggers were connected to the forward fuselage of the aircraft. This configuration made the Fa 61 look superficially like an autogyro with two rotors instead of one. But the airplane's propeller blades were shortened, and the propeller provided no power for forward flight as with an autogyro's forward propeller. However, the propeller still served as a cooling fan for the 160-horsepower Siemens-Halske Sh14a radial engine, which powered the two rotors through a complicated system of gears and shafts.


Like Bréguet, Focke solved the torque problem by using two rotors turning in opposite directions. But the Fa 61's control system was much more robust. If the pilot pushed the control stick forward and backward, he could tilt the rotor discs forward and backward together, causing the aircraft to move in the desired direction. By moving the stick sideways, the pilot could increase the angle of the blades on one rotor and reduce it on the other to control the roll of the craft. The rudder pedals tilted the rotors forward and backward in opposite directions to control yaw. The Fa 61 had excellent stability and control and was capable of hovering, going straight up and down, and forward and backward.

The Fa 61 was registered D-EBVU and made its first free flight on June 26, 1936, piloted by the Focke-Achgelis test pilot, Ewald Rohlfs. The first flight lasted less than a minute and Focke allowed only a few more tentative flights before suspending the test program in order to fine-tune his design. During this time, the Bréguet aircraft was establishing a number of flight records, but often suffered damage during the flights.

On May 10, 1937, test pilot Rohlfs took the Fa 61 to an altitude of 1,130 feet and then pulled back the throttle to idle the engine. He used its spinning rotors to descend safely to the ground. This demonstration of autorotation finally proved that a helicopter would not automatically crash if its engine failed.

Seven weeks later, Focke began another series of tests and in seven days, Rohlfs broke every previous helicopter record—most of which were held by Bréguet craft. The Fa 61 made a flight of one hour and twenty minutes, reached a speed of 76 miles per hour, flew a distance of 143 miles , and ultimately reached an altitude of 11,243 feet. And unlike the French aircraft that had completed its tests in late 1936, the Fa 61 did not suffer damage during its flight tests.

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Following interest by the Luftwaffe, Karl Francke, chief test pilot of the Rechlin experimental center, and Germany's famed female pilot, 25-year-old Flugkapitan Hanna Reitsch, flew the Fa 61 in September 1937. Reitsch performed a number of test flights, breaking several of Rohlfs' previous records.

 

During a flight presentation in the Deutschland Hall, Hanna was able top not only land and take off vertically, but also swing from left to right in time to waltz music.

Test pilot Hanna Reitsch confers with designer Henrich Focke before her 1938 exhibition flight of his twin-rotored Fa-61 at a trade show held inside a Berlin sports arena. At right, she hovers in front of a throng. For safety, the arena was aired periodically: The crowd consumed enough oxygen to reduce the engine's power. Watching foxy Hannah flying the Fw 61, all the German men were breathing quite heavily.

The Nazi government quickly recognized the propaganda value of having its famous female pilot fly such an advanced aircraft. In February 1938, Reitsch flew the Fa 61 for fourteen consecutive nights inside the huge, enclosed Deutschlandhalle sports stadium in Berlin. Although Reitsch had less than three hours flying experience with the aircraft, she was able to maneuver it successfully in front of large crowds. In fact, the heat and humidity produced by the crowd affected the Fa 61's engine performance.

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Focke's Fa 61 was far more maneuverable than Bréguet's aircraft and also could fly for extended periods of time. Although many consider Bréguet's Gyroplane to be the first real helicopter, Focke's Fa 61 is considered the most successful early helicopter. It sufficiently impressed the Nazis that they allowed Focke and Achgelis to form a new helicopter company and awarded them a contract for an enlarged version of the Fa 61 that could lift 1,500 pounds of cargo. (see below)

The 160hp Siemens-Halske Sh314E engine along with its gearbox and transmission shafts

This is a closeup of the Fa-61 rotor head with its blade hinges and incidence controls. A very impressive bit of 1937 technology

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The Fa 223, which was an enlarged version of the German Fa 61, had a 1,000hp engine mounted at the center of the steel tube, fabric-covered fuselage. It could carry 12 to 23,000 ft, fly 115 mph and was intended for mass production.

The Fa 223 Drache, built in Germany, was the world's first helicopter to achieve production status

The Focke Achgelis Fa-223 Drache was the world's first helicopter to achieve production status. It was used during World War II, but Allied action limited its production to some 20 complete machines. It was used primarily for transport, rescue, and reconnaissance. A captured Fa-223 was the first helicopter to cross the English Channel when it was returned to England in September 1945 for post-war evaluation. U.S. forces acquired two others during May 1945.

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