Focke-Achgelis Fa 223 Drache

1940 helicopter series by Focke Achgelis

The Focke Achgelis Fa 223 Drache was a helicopter developed by Germany during World War II. A single Bramo 323 radial engine powered two three bladed rotors mounted on twin booms on either side of the cylindrical fuselage. Although the Fa 223 is noted for being the first helicopter to attain production status, production of the helicopter was hampered by Allied bombing of the factory, and only 20 were built. The Fa 223 could cruise at with a top speed of , and climb to an altitude of The Drache could transport cargo loads of over at cruising speeds of and altitudes approaching .

Henrich Focke had been removed by the Nazi regime from the company he had co founded in 1936. Though the ostensible reason was that he was "politically unreliable", the RLM decision to phase Focke Wulf into the production program of the almost ready Messerschmitt Bf 109 necessitated an influx of capital to fund the immediate expansion of the company's production capabilities. Focke Wulf was reorganized into a limited company (G. m. b. H.) in June 1936. After Focke Wulf formally signed a contract to produce the Bf 109C in November 1937, the American company International Telephone & Telegraph (ITT), through its German subsidiary C. Lorenz, bought a 28 percent share of Focke Wulf in 1938, making it the controlling interest. However, the Air Ministry was so impressed by the Focke Wulf Fw 61 helicopter that it suggested Focke establish a new company dedicated to helicopter development and issued him with a requirement for an improved design capable of carrying a payload. Focke established the Focke Achgelis company at Hoykenkamp on 27 April 1937 in partnership with pilot Gerd Achgelis, and began development work at Delmenhorst in 1938. They first produced an enlarged, six occupant version of the Fw 61, designated Fa 226 Hornisse (Hornet), while contracting out development of the engine, transmission, and rotor hub to BMW's Berlin works. The Fa 226 was the world's first transport helicopter and was ordered by Lufthansa in 1938. The Fa 226 attracted the attention of the Air Ministry, who redesignated it Fa 223 in 1939 before the first prototype flew. The Navy was also interested in the Hornisse and briefly considered it as a replacement for their Schnellboote. In September 1939 the first prototype, the V1, left the Delmenhorst factory. Now nicknamed Drache ("Dragon") it had a twin rotor layout similar to the Fw 61, but had a fully enclosed cabin and load bay, with the single Bramo engine mounted in the middle of the tubular steel body. Initial hovering tests showed problems and the V1 was not to fly until 1940. The engine initially specified, a BMW Bramo 323D proved too fragile when run at high speed for any length of time, and was replaced with a more robust 1,000 hp Bramo 323Q3 in the later prototypes to improve reliability and lifting capability. The biggest problem, however, was the severe vibration caused by unbalanced driveshafts when the rotors moved out of phase, and this could only be fixed by greater attention to detail on the part of BMW.

The V1's first untethered flight was on 3 August 1940, after over 100 hours of ground and tethered testing. Two steel tube outriggers extended out from the sides of the fuselage to carry the twin rotors, of three bladed configuration and wooden construction with a steel spar, which were mounted 12.5 m (41 ft 0 in) apart, far enough that they did not overlap. In 1943, an enlarged, four rotored version of the Fa 223 was considered, but not developed beyond the construction of a centre fuselage section.

Serial production of the Fa 223 began at the Focke Achgelis factory in Delmenhorst in 1942. The site was struck in June that year by an Allied air raid and destroyed along with the two surviving prototypes and the first seven pre production machines undergoing final assembly. Attempts were made to restore production but were abandoned in 1943, and a new plant was set up at Laupheim, near Ulm. Only seven machines had been constructed at Laupheim before an air raid halted production in July 1944, and wiped out the factory. At the time of the raid, the V18 prototype was ready for delivery, 13 Drachen were in assembly, and there were enough components for a further 19. Only weeks later, Focke received new orders, this time to return to the Focke Achgelis company and to move the entire operation to Berlin Tempelhof Airport where flight testing was to be resumed, and a production line established to produce 400 helicopters per month.

The company had managed to keep hold of two of the five surviving Drachen and managed to produce a new example at Tempelhof in February 1945. Almost immediately it was ordered on a "special order from the Führer" to fly to Danzig on 25 February. Flown by Gerstenhauer and two copilots, the Drache took off from Tempelhof the next day. It first headed southwest in the direction of Würzburg. Gerstenhauer lost his bearings in the bad weather and had to land at Crailsheim. Once the weather improved, they set off again and landed at Würzburg to refuel, reaching Meiningen, where it stopped overnight. The next day it set off northeast and flew to Werder, a distance of On the third day the Drache continued towards Stettin Altdamm, but the bad weather again forced them to land, this time at Prenzlau. They attempted to resume the flight the next day, but the weather remained bad and they had to stop at Stolp, west of Danzig, for the night. By 5 March the war situation had become very bad, and Gerstenhauer decided they had to leave Stolp before the Soviets arrived. They took off and flew directly to Danzig right over the advancing Soviet army, reaching Danzig only to find that the city was already falling. They landed outside the city to wait for further orders, which when they came directed them to return to Werder. They did this via a lengthy flight along the Baltic coast via Garz, not reaching Werder until 11 March. The twelve days of actual flight had seen Gerstenhaur and his crew cover a distance of with a flight time of 16 hours 25 minutes.

In France, the Sud Est company constructed the SE.3000 as a development of the Fa 223, assisted by Focke. Designed for transport purposes, it had accommodation for four passengers and was powered by a 720 hp (540 kW) Bramo "Fafnir" engine. Three were built, the first flown on 23 October 1948. Two Fa 223s were completed by the Československé Závody Letecké (formerly Avia) factory in Czechoslovakia in 1945–1946 from salvaged components, and designated VR 1.