A Flettner airplane is a type of

rotor airplane A rotor wing is a lifting rotor or wing which spins to provide aerodynamic lift. In general, a rotor may spin about an axis which is aligned substantially either vertically or side-to-side (spanwise). All three classes have been studied for use as ...

which uses a

Flettner rotor A Flettner rotor is a smooth cylinder with disc end plates which is spun along its long axis and, as air passes at right angles across it, the Magnus effect causes an aerodynamic force to be generated in the direction perpendicular to both the l ...

to provide lift. The rotor comprises a spinning cylinder with circular end plates and, in an aircraft, spins about a spanwise horizontal axis. When the aircraft moves forward, the

Magnus effect The Magnus effect is an observable phenomenon commonly associated with a spinning object moving through a fluid. The path of the spinning object is deflected in a manner not present when the object is not spinning. The deflection can be exp ...

creates lift.

Anton Flettner Anton Flettner (November 1, 1885 – December 29, 1961) was a German aviation engineer and inventor. Born in Eddersheim (today a district of Hattersheim am Main), Flettner made important contributions to airplane, helicopter, vessel, and automob ...

, after whom the rotor is named, used it successfully as the sails of a rotor ship. He also suggested its use as a wing for a rotor airplane. The Butler Ames Aerocycle was built in 1910 and tested aboard a warship. There is no record of it having flown. The

Plymouth A-A-2004 Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth' ...

was built for Zaparka in 1930 by three anonymous American inventors. It was reported to have made successful flights over

Long Island Sound Long Island Sound is a marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York to the south. From west to east, the sound stretches from the E ...

. An inherent safety concern is that if power to the rotating drums were lost—even if

thrust Thrust is a reaction force described quantitatively by Newton's third law. When a system expels or accelerates mass in one direction, the accelerated mass will cause a force of equal magnitude but opposite direction to be applied to that syst ...

was maintained—the aircraft would lose its ability to generate lift as the drum slowed and it would not be able to sustain flight.

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Aircraft configurations {{Aviation-stub

See also

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