Focke-Wulf Triebflügel

The Focke-Wulf Triebflügel, or Triebflügeljäger, literally meaning "thrust-wing fighter", was a German concept for an aircraft designed in 1944, during the final phase of World War II, as a defence against the ever-increasing Allied bombing raids on central Germany.

It was a vertical take-off and landing tailsitter interceptor design for local defense of important factories or areas which had small or no airfields.

The Triebflügel had only reached wind-tunnel testing when the Allied forces reached the production facilities. No complete prototype was ever built.

Design

The design was particularly unusual. It had no wings, and all lift and thrust were provided by a rotor/propeller assembly 1/3 of the way down the side of the craft (roughly halfway between the cockpit and tailplane). When the plane was sitting on its tail in the vertical position, the rotors would have functioned similarly to a helicopter. When flying horizontally, they would function more like a giant propeller.

Forward flight required a slight nose-up pitch to provide some upward lift as well as primarily forward thrust. Consequently, the four cannon in the forward fuselage would have been angled slightly downward in relation to the centreline of the fuselage.

To land, the craft had to slow its speed and pitch the fuselage until the craft was vertical. Power could then be reduced and it would descend until the landing gear rested on the ground. This would have been a tricky and probably dangerous maneuver, given that the pilot would be seated facing upward and the ground would be behind their head at this stage. Unlike some other tailsitter aircraft, the pilot's seat was fixed in the direction for forward flight. The spinning rotor would also obscure rear vision.

Comparable aircraft designs

This design was unique among 20th-century VTOL craft, and other German concept craft. However, some early design studies for the Rotary Rocket Roton spacecraft in the 1990s showed a free-spinning rotor with tip-driven rotors providing lift.

In the 1950s, the US built prototype tailsitter aircraft (the Lockheed XFV, and Convair XFY Pogo), but these were powered by conventional turboprops, with nose-mounted contra-rotating propellers to counter torque. They also used conventional wings for lift, though their cruciform tails with integral landing gear were broadly comparable to the Triebflügel.

Specifications

Notable appearances in media

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References

External links

Paper Model (Wolfgang Holzinger)
Paper Model (Fiddlers Green)
NASA Tanzenflugel VTOL UAV Concept