Gyroplane-Laboratoire

The Gyroplane Laboratoire considered the first practically usable helicopters in the world.

Background

The Frenchman Louis Breguet had experimented with rotary-wing aircraft since 1907, but focused until the end of the 1920s back to fixed wing aircraft. From 1929, however, he filed a number of patents, which dealt with the stabilization of rotorcraft flight.

In 1931 he founded the Syndicat d' Etudes du Gyroplane, along with Rene Dorand as technical director. Their goal was to develop an experimental helicopter that was called ' Gyroplane Laboratoire '.

Technology

The construction consisted of an open steel frame, were housed in the engine, fuel tank, steering and pilot, supplemented by the tail boom for a plywood -tail. The landing gear was mounted on outriggers wide, next to the rear wheel, there was also a small front wheel to prevent resting on landing.

The drive was carried out by a 240 hp Hispano radial engine which drove the two counter-rotating rotors via a gear, the bottom of a hollow shaft. In this known as a coaxial rotor design, the torques of the rotors of the same. The two two-bladed metal rotors were arrow- shaped. Unique at the time was focused on the use of cyclic and collective pitch, making the movement about the pitch (transverse) and roll (longitudinal) axes and climb / descent was controlled (see swashplate ).

Flight use

The Bréguet - Dorand aircraft was completed in 1933, after ground tests and an accident, the first flight took place on 26 June 1935. Within a short time the pilot Maurice Claisse set a pair of records:

The great attention which 61 became the occurring slightly later German helicopter Focke -Wulf Fw among experts and the public, the Gyroplane Laboratoire was denied. Until the outbreak of World War II, further experiments were undertaken. The only prototype was destroyed in 1943 during an Allied air attack on the French Villacoublay airport.

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