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Bensen
The Bensen Aircraft Corporation was established by Dr. Igor Bensen at Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina in 1952 to develop and market a variety of helicopters and autogyros of Bensen's own design. History The most successful product was the Bensen B-8 that first flew in 1955 and remained in production until the company closed down in 1987. Aircraft See also * Gyrocopter An autogyro (from Greek and , "self-turning"), also known as a ''gyroplane'', is a type of rotorcraft that uses an unpowered rotor in free autorotation to develop lift. Forward thrust is provided independently, by an engine-driven propeller. Wh ... * Gyroglider References Notes Bibliography * External links Bensen Aircraft Foundation archives{{Bensen aircraft Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United States Defunct helicopter manufacturers of the United States Defunct manufacturing companies based in North Carolina Manufacturing companies established in 1952 ...
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Bensen B-11
The Bensen Aircraft Corporation was established by Dr. Igor Bensen at Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina in 1952 to develop and market a variety of helicopters and autogyros of Bensen's own design. History The most successful product was the Bensen B-8 that first flew in 1955 and remained in production until the company closed down in 1987. Aircraft See also * Gyrocopter An autogyro (from Greek and , "self-turning"), also known as a ''gyroplane'', is a type of rotorcraft that uses an unpowered rotor in free autorotation to develop lift. Forward thrust is provided independently, by an engine-driven propeller. Wh ... * Gyroglider References Notes Bibliography * External links Bensen Aircraft Foundation archives{{Bensen aircraft Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United States Defunct helicopter manufacturers of the United States Defunct manufacturing companies based in North Carolina Manufacturing companies established in 1952 ...
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Bensen B-13
The Bensen Aircraft Corporation was established by Dr. Igor Bensen at Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina in 1952 to develop and market a variety of helicopters and autogyros of Bensen's own design. History The most successful product was the Bensen B-8 that first flew in 1955 and remained in production until the company closed down in 1987. Aircraft See also * Gyrocopter An autogyro (from Greek and , "self-turning"), also known as a ''gyroplane'', is a type of rotorcraft that uses an unpowered rotor in free autorotation to develop lift. Forward thrust is provided independently, by an engine-driven propeller. Wh ... * Gyroglider References Notes Bibliography * External links Bensen Aircraft Foundation archives{{Bensen aircraft Defunct aircraft manufacturers of the United States Defunct helicopter manufacturers of the United States Defunct manufacturing companies based in North Carolina Manufacturing companies established in 1952 ...
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Gyrocopter
An autogyro (from Greek and , "self-turning"), also known as a ''gyroplane'', is a type of rotorcraft that uses an unpowered rotor in free autorotation to develop lift. Forward thrust is provided independently, by an engine-driven propeller. While similar to a helicopter rotor in appearance, the autogyro's rotor must have air flowing across the rotor disc to generate rotation, and the air flows upwards through the rotor disc rather than down. The autogyro was invented by Spanish engineer Juan de la Cierva in an attempt to create an aircraft that could fly safely at low speeds. He first flew one on 9 January 1923, at Cuatro Vientos Airfield in Madrid. The aircraft resembled the fixed-wing aircraft of the day, with a front-mounted engine and propeller. Cierva's autogyro is considered the predecessor of the modern helicopter. The success of the autogyro garnered the interest of industrialists and under license from Cierva in the 1920s and 1930s, the Pitcairn & Kellett com ...
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Bensen B-8
The Bensen B-8 is a small, single-seat autogyro developed in the United States in the 1950s. Although the original manufacturer stopped production in 1987, plans for homebuilders are still available as of 2019. Its design was a refinement of the Bensen B-7, and like that aircraft, the B-8 was initially built as an unpowered rotor-kite. It first flew in this form in 1955, and on 6 December a powered version, designated B-8M (M for motorised) first flew. The design proved to be extremely popular and long-lasting, with thousands of sets of plans sold over the next thirty years. Design and development The B-8's design is extremely minimalist, with not much more to the aircraft than a pilot's seat, a single tailfin, a rotor, and (in powered versions) the powerplant. In May 1968 a B-8 and B-8M were studied by the USAF under the Discretionary Descent Vehicle (DDV) program as the X-25B and X-25A respectively. In this scheme, it was proposed to integrate combat aircraft ejection seats ...
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Bensen X-25
The Bensen B-8 is a small, single-seat autogyro developed in the United States in the 1950s. Although the original manufacturer stopped production in 1987, plans for homebuilders are still available as of 2019. Its design was a refinement of the Bensen B-7, and like that aircraft, the B-8 was initially built as an unpowered rotor-kite. It first flew in this form in 1955, and on 6 December a powered version, designated B-8M (M for motorised) first flew. The design proved to be extremely popular and long-lasting, with thousands of sets of plans sold over the next thirty years. Design and development The B-8's design is extremely minimalist, with not much more to the aircraft than a pilot's seat, a single tailfin, a rotor, and (in powered versions) the powerplant. In May 1968 a B-8 and B-8M were studied by the USAF under the Discretionary Descent Vehicle (DDV) program as the X-25B and X-25A respectively. In this scheme, it was proposed to integrate combat aircraft ejection seats ...
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Bensen B-7
The Bensen B-7 was a small rotor kite developed by Igor Bensen in the United States in the 1950s and marketed for home building. It was a refined to be a slightly larger version of the B-6, replacing the skids with a tricycle undercarriage, and adding a single large fin to the rear of the aircraft. The B-7 was first towed aloft on 17 June 1955, and on 6 December that year, Bensen flew a motorized version designated the B-7M, a fully autonomous autogyro. The prototype B-7M crashed three days later with Bensen at the controls. Although the machine was soon repaired and in the air again, the incident set Bensen to work on further refinements to the design that would eventually lead to the B-8. Variants ''Data from:'' Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1958-59 ;B-7:The basic gyro-glider ;B-7B Gyro-boat: A Gyro-glider mounted on a standard sailing dinghy hull. ;B-7W Hydro-glider :The B-7W "Hydroglider" was a gyrocopter designed to be towed from a motorboat at 10-20 mph. The B-7W ...
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Bensen B-6
The Bensen B-6 was a small rotor kite developed by Igor Bensen in the United States in the early 1950s and marketed for home building. It was a minimalist design based on Bensen's B-5 and consisting of little more than a seat mounted on wooden skids and with a two-blade rotor mounted on a tubular framework above it. Small fins for directional stability were mounted at the rear of the skids. The pitch of the rotors was fixed, but a handlebar allowed them to be tilted for directional control. The B-6 was intended to be towed aloft behind a car or boat. The machine became airborne at 19 mph (31 km/h), and with 300 ft (90 m) of tow rope, could achieve a maximum altitude of 150 ft (46 m). The rope could be detached to allow the machine to autorotate For fixed-wing aircraft, autorotation is the tendency of an aircraft in or near a stall to roll spontaneously to the right or left, leading to a spin (a state of continuous autorotation).Clancy, L.J., ''Aerodynamics' ...
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Gyroglider
A rotor kite or gyrokite is an unpowered, rotary-wing aircraft. Like an autogyro or helicopter, it relies on lift created by one or more sets of rotors in order to fly. Unlike a helicopter, gyrokites and rotor kites do not have an engine powering their rotors, but while an autogyro has an engine providing forward thrust that keeps the rotor turning, a rotor kite has no engine at all, and relies on either being carried aloft and dropped from another aircraft, or by being towed into the air behind a car or boat or by use of ambient winds for the kiting. As of 2009, no country in the world requires a license to pilot such a craft. History * Thomas Ansboro of Glasgow, Scotland patented an autorotating-winged rotor kite in 1891. * Walter Van Wie filed a patent for a ''Revolving Kite'' in 1909 claiming "certain new and useful Improvements" in revolving kites" * 1933: Filed: July 11, 1933US2074327by De Courcy and Schwarz for ''Kite''. * 1936: Filed: Aug 1, 1936US2181477by Carl B. ...
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Bensen B-12
The Bensen B-12, variously dubbed the Sky-Way or Sky-Mat was an unconventional multirotor developed by Igor Bensen in the United States in the late 1950s. Extremely unorthodox, the design sprang from Bensen's thinking about the engine redundancy necessary to ensure the safe operation of small, personal rotorcraft operating at low altitudes and slow speeds. The result was a broad aluminum framework supporting an array of ten engines and rotors that Bensen likened to a "magic carpet A magic carpet, also called a flying carpet, is a legendary carpet and common trope in fantasy fiction. It is typically used as a form of transportation and can quickly or instantaneously carry its users to their destination. In literature One o ...".Bensen 1992, 110 The design was later refined to include eight rotors, each driven by two engines for a total of sixteen. Successfully flown in 1961 at altitudes up to 20 ft (6 m), Bensen felt that the approach had potential for military heavy-lift ...
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Igor Bensen
Igor Vasilevich Bensen (russian: И́горь Васи́льевич Бенсен; April 1, 1917 – February 10, 2000) was a Russian-American engineer. He founded Bensen Aircraft, a US company which produced a successful line of gyrogliders (rotor kites) and autogyros. Early life and education He was born in Rostov-on-Don, Russia, and eventually reached the United States in 1937. He began studies at age 17 while in Belgium, won a scholarship to study in the US three years later. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in mechanical engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1940, later becoming a Registered Professional Engineer. Career Bensen flew his first towed gyroglider in 1954. He founded the Popular Rotorcraft Association (PRA) in 1962, a non-profit interest group for owners and homebuilders of autogyros and helicopters, based in Mentone, Indiana. He was the group's president from 1962 to 1971. Honors and awards He received an ...
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Bensen B-5
The Bensen B-5 was a small rotor kite developed by Igor Bensen in the United States and offered and marketed for home building in 1954. Dubbed the "Gyro-Glider", it was the first of several such designs that would be sold by Bensen Aircraft Corporation The Bensen Aircraft Corporation was established by Dr. Igor Bensen at Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina in 1952 to develop and market a variety of helicopters and autogyros of Bensen's own design. History The most successf ... over the following decades. The B-5 was built around a cruciform frame of aluminum tube. Landing wheels were fitted to three points of this cross, and a mast was fitted above its centre to support the rotor hub. The fourth arm of the cross provided a mounting for a large, plywood fin and rudder, reminiscent of that of the Raoul Hafner's Rotachute that had shaped Bensen's thinking about rotor kite design. The aircraft was intended to be towed behind a car, and could be built at hom ...
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Bensen Mid-Jet
The Bensen Mid-Jet (a pun on "Midget jet") was a small helicopter developed by Igor Bensen in the United States in the early 1950s in the hope of attracting the interest of the United States Navy. It was a single-seat, open framework machine based on the B-5 rotor kite with small, gasoline- or fuel oil-burning ramjets mounted as tipjet A tip jet is a jet nozzle at the tip of some helicopter rotor blades, used to spin the rotor, much like a Catherine wheel firework. Tip jets replace the normal shaft drive and have the advantage of placing no torque on the airframe, thus not re ...s on the rotor blades. Tests carried out in 1954 showed it to be able to lift four times its own weight and cruise at 75 mph (120 km/h). Specifications See also References * External links Bensen Aircraft FoundationBensen Aircraft at Vortechonline.com {{Bensen aircraft 1950s United States experimental aircraft 1950s United States helicopters Mid-Jet Ramjet-powered aircraft T ...
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