The Bensen B-6 was a small
rotor kite
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 poweri ...
developed by
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 ...
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 to the ground, taking up to 15 minutes to do so. The machine could also become airborne in a sufficiently strong wind of around 23 mph (37 km/h).
Specifications
See also and other ships
References
*
Bensen Aircraft Foundation
NASM collections website; item A19660382000Bensen Aircraft at Vortechonline.com
{{Bensen aircraft
1950s United States sport aircraft
Rotor kites
B-06
Homebuilt aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1953