Helo Pioneer - Hannah Reitsch

[Another Ahab]

Hannah Reitsch was one of Germany's go-to test pilots during the war years of WWII. The aircraft she flew attest to her status as a trusted aviator. The odds of being remembered by history were stacked against her, both as a woman and also as an avowed member of the Nazi Party.

Among some of her milestone exploits were her flights as one of the first helicopter pilots of history. She was selected to fly the FW-61, when she made demonstration flights of the aircraft inside a large enclosed arena.

Don't know rotary wing flying, but maybe someone who does can comment whether flying indoors presents any special challenges to a pilot.

Below are some photos of of those flights, and here's a brief background on the early German helicopters (with a link about it all here

http://www.scientistsandfriends.com/helicopters.html ):

Heinrich Focke designed the world's first practical transverse twin-rotor helicopter, the Focke-Wulf Fw 61, which first flew on 26 June 1936.

The Fw 61 broke all of the helicopter world records in 1937, demonstrating a flight envelope that had only previously been achieved by the autogyro. Nazi Germany used helicopters in small numbers during World War II for observation, transport, and medical evacuation.

Extensive bombing by the Allied forces prevented Germany from producing any helicopters in large quantities during the war.




http://youtu.be/QDZxXheJGnU

 

[ODFever]

I recently did some research on Hannah. Politics aside, she was an absolutely amazing, talented, and determined woman. She is an inspiration to future female pilots.

 

[Another Ahab]

Brother, that aviator is an inspiration to all aspiring pilots everywhere.

A test pilot; she knew flying, and was fearless.

 

[cannonfoddertfc]

Don't know rotary wing flying, but maybe someone who does can comment whether flying indoors presents any special challenges to a pilot.

In a confined space, a pilots "control touch" is the most important to prevent over controlling the aircraft. Inside an arena like that, you need a very gentle touch. Compound that with the fact that vertical lift aircraft (helicopters) were a new concept and you have a task that only a few pilots of that era could even accomplish. Todays rotorcraft could do it all day long with a chimp at the controls because of all the technology built into them but back then everything was still in the theoretical phase.

A salute to Fraulein Reitsch, well done.

 

[M813rc]

What he said!

Add to that no wind, which would be really nice for a change. Particularly with the not-so-great controls the early helos had.

Hannah got very badly injured at one point in a crash, recovered to fly again.

Cheers

 

[Another Ahab]

What he said!

Add to that no wind, which would be really nice for a change. Particularly with the not-so-great controls the early helos had.

Hannah got very badly injured at one point in a crash, recovered to fly again.

Cheers

She was injured during a test flight of the rocket-powered Me-163:

- Test flying is not for the faint of heart.

- I'm not a pilot, but test flying rockets likely ups the ante.

Don't let her ready laugh fool you; Hannah was cool as ice, and one tough cookie.


http://youtu.be/-yuRisGhrdA

 

[M813rc]

- Test flying is not for the faint of heart.

- I'm not a pilot, but test flying rockets likely ups the ante.

Particularly when the fuel is caustic and will dissolve your body parts if it comes in contact with you! ME-163 pilots didn't just have to worry about crashing or blowing up...

Cheers

 

[Another Ahab]

Flying the Big Birds

Another aircraft test flown by Hannah Reitsch was the Messerschmitt ME-361 Gigant ("Giant")


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cvLq3oWpCss

 

[Another Ahab]

Barrage Balloons

Here's more content about Hannah and her flight career (full disclosure: I am a fan of Hannah Reitsch):

- How much nerve does a pilot require to deliberately fly an un-tested plane into a steel cable?

- And with likely not much more than an engineer's word that "We've done the calculations, you'll be fine; it'll all work!"

- Hannah Reitsch: one tough cookie.




In 1932, 20-year-old medical student Hanna Reitsch joined a glider club. Soon, she set the first of at least 40 aviation records credited to her and was one of the first glider pilots to cross the Alps.
Like many of her fellow glider pilots, Reitsch graduated to powered aircraft when an emboldened Germany began rebuilding its air force in earnest.

Reitsch's talents were soon harnessed to help hone the edge of the Luftwaffe, and she took on unimaginably dangerous jobs. One type of plane she tested was a heavy bomber that had steel blades installed on the leading edges of the wings to cut the heavy steel cables used to tether barrage balloons. During one demonstration for Luftwaffe brass of this hair-brained scheme, Reitsch made a graceful landing and exited the cockpit smiling and waving after deliberately flying into the cables. Only she knew that the wing had almost been ripped from the plane when she hit a cable and she had to fight for her life--second by unnerving second--to get the crippled plane on the runway.

On another hair-raising flight in a stricken plane, instead of bailing out, Reitsch calmly recorded flight data with paper and pencil because she did not think she would live long enough to make the report in person.

Many of the designs that Reitsch tested were novel and innovative, and some were just simply ill-conceived deathtraps. Reitsch was the only civilian and only woman to receive the Knight's Cross with Diamonds. Had Reitsch never lived, a hypothetical screenplay of her adventures would probably be dismissed as being "too far-fetched to be believable."