by Rob Arndt

1943

BMW Flugelrad I V-1 was painted matte aluminium and performed its first flying test at the Czech Aerodrome at Prag-Kbely between August and September. It left the hanger by its own means, the rotor began to spin and the machine lifted to 1 meter and flew for 300 meters before making a hard landing. During static tests the prototype was surrounded by concrete blocks to protect the crew in the event of a disc blade breaking. In appearance the basic Flugelrad lay-out was of a central body housing a pilot covered by a hemispheric dome surrounded by a disc blade rotor of 6 meters with a lower body housing a BMW 003 jet engine, fuel, a Strahlrohr jet deflector and fixed landing gear of 4 legs fitted with wheels (with no brakes nor shock absorbers). Flight was achieved by jet exhaust deflection into the 16 variable-pitch disc blades with hydropneumatic actuators.

1944

Several changes were introduced on the second prototype designated BMW Flugelrad I V-2. The cockpit was enlarged to carry two crew and serve as support for the addition of an aerodynamic rudder. The fixed landing gear was replaced with a more practical semi-retractable one. Rotor diameter was enlarged to 8 meters but kept the 16 disc blades. The machine was painted yellow and performed its first flight tests in the autumn of 1944 at the Neubiberg Aerodrome near BMW's Munich facility. Stability problems continued to plague the machine.

1945

The next prototype, BMW Flugelrad II V-1, kept the same body but discarded the failed rudder, which proved almost useless. The rotor was enlarged to 12.6 meters. The first flight was at Prag-Kbely in February 1945 with another jump at low altitude. Three other Flugelrad models were under study in early 1945:

• the BMW Flugelrad II V-2 under construction

• the BMW Flugelrad II V-3 models

• the BMW Flugelrad III design phase

Both the BMW Flugelrads II V-2 and V-3 would have used two BMW 003 engines in the lower body side-by-side, enlarged cockpits for four crew, and rotor enlargement to 14.4 meters (although the V-2 would have had 24 disc blades while the V-3 would have had 21). The final BMW Flugelrad III would have been the production aircraft- a huge stratospheric recon aircraft powered by two BMW 018 engines each with twin Strahlrohrs mounted one above the other, an upper and lower cockpit arrangement, 6 crew, enlarged 24 meter rotor with 32 disc blades, fully retractable gear, and room for an array of recon cameras. Nevertheless, all work ceased on the Flugelrads in April 1945. All prototypes and documentation were destroyed in the Russian advance.