It’s Veterans Day, so our thanks to all the veterans reading this and even those who aren’t, like my dad, who was a Marine that kept the East Coast of America safe from invasion during the Korean War. By teaching Judo to marines thousands of miles away from either Korea. And it worked! You know what else technically worked and also didn’t really affect any war that much at all? The Hafner Rotabuggy!
Ever heard of the Hafner Rotabuggy? It was an Anglo-American automotive experiment only slightly more successful than replacing a Mustang’s engine with beans on toast. Actually, that’s too harsh.
It was really incredibly clever, and technically did work. Sure, I bet it was mildly terrifying to be in, and maybe it looks ridiculous – or fantastic, depending on your disposition. I think they look amazing, in a sort of cartoonish way. Just look:
This looks like an amazing Jeep-helicopter hybrid, but the truth is it wasn’t quite that. This was less of a flying car and more of a controlled-falling car: that big rotor on top wasn’t powered, you see. It was more like an autogyro in that sense.
These were designed to solve the problem of how to air-drop Jeeps with some precision and without turning them into smoldering craters of Jeep parts. And, they did work for that!
Developed by Raoul Hafner for the British Airborne Forces Experimental Establishment (AFEE) in 1942, this was a Willys MB with that special fairing you see up there fitted, which added the tapering rear, the tail, an enclosed cabin with plastic windows, and that big rotor. The whole add-on assembly added about 550 pounds to the Jeep. Unlike Jeeps dropped by parachute, the rotor-chute Jeeps were crewed, with two people: one to just drive the Jeep and one to control the whole thing while in flight, with a special control stick.
The Rotabuggy would be towed into the air by an airplane, like a glider would, and then be released, where the pilot would guide the now-falling/flying Jeep to the proper spot. Once landed, the ground-Jeep driver would take over, and get the Jeep to safe place in a hurry if need be, and without really worrying about the condition of the tail or rotor assembly, since those were designed to be one-use-only, anyway. This was a lot quicker and les hazardous than sending troops to collect a Jeep dropped by parachute, which would require it to be untangled from the chute and released from all of the support hardware before driving off.
There were a few test flights of the Rotabuggy – starting with being towed by a truck, which was too slow, then a Bentley race car, which worked but only for little hops, and then finally by an actual aircraft, which did get the Rotabuggy into the air. The vibrations inside the Rotabuggy were said to be very harsh, and the process of controlling it very difficult, with the control stick circling wildly, requiring exhausting effort from the pilot to keep it in control.
In the end, gliders like the Waco CG-4 proved to be a better way to transport Jeeps into precise areas, and could carry a Jeep and four soldiers at a time. You can see some in action here:
The idea of a flying Jeep is, of course, exciting, but this wasn’t quite it. Still, it’s fascinating! Happy Veterans Day!
That’s not flying! That’s falling, with style!
Looks like an army engineer was inspired by the falling maple tree seed-copters that were seen in his own backyard. Just scaled up a thousand times.
I used that maple leaf design in an egg drop once, and it worked!
Me, I guess. I was on active duty during some of the activities in the Gulf but was assigned to a nice tropical location far away. Go figure.
It’s French for “the hazardous”. 🙂
Same here, never left Ft. Bragg. The next 15 years were more of the same somehow.
You’ll take a fistbump from an Air Force type, right? 🙂
*fistbump*
Fistbump returned. Thanks for getting us off the ground high enough for the parachutes to open.
😀
You wouldn’t let David anywhere near one of these, no matter now hard he begged. He’s like the King Midas of rust. The rotors would develop spontaneous holes, and…
OMG talk about grails! Don’t let David hear about it!
Mom’s dad was a WWII merchant mariner. Dad’s mom was a WAC and his father was in the Navy, the war ended as he was about to be deployed. Dad was in the Navy during Vietnam. Great-grandpa was a doughboy.
Clever, but this sounds like a great way to get two men on the ground who need medical evacuation because their lumbar spines got crushed like empty beer cans when their falling Jeep stopped falling.
I think these can drop pretty softly (all thing considered). I mean about as good as a plane with no engine.
Better than a plane. You can land one of these with no forward momentum if there is a bit of wind.
I assumed, but wasn’t sure. However in a powered Gyro, you can decide to land, and I assume you start counting the seconds (minutes?) till the decaying rotor speed stops providing lift. In this case you have a fixed time/distance of travel.
Video said the rotor was powered by the jeep engine; probably this is not correct tho; a PTO would sure add a lot of weight.
The video is wrong. It would be too complex and would take too long to disconnect to drive away after landing.
Autogiros have stricter center of balance requirements than airplanes, which could be why they had vibration problems during the prototype testing.
The descent rate is pretty constant, depending upon your forward momentum, which will add lift. Unlike an airplane, you can’t stall, so you can take really tight turns. You can pick your landing zone and take a tight spiral down if you want.to.
Disclaimer: I don’t fly gyrocopters/autogiros, but I am a fan.
Yeah, you can flare an autogiro and set down very gently.
Holy crap someone had to be in the dang thing while (controlled) falling from the sky?! Count me out.
That’s a big hell no!
When Jeep said they were the Go Anywhere, Do Anything vehicle, I didn’t think they meant this.
I bet the Rotabuggy could have launched under its own power, though the instant it wheels departed the ground it would no longer have forward propulsion and would immediately began a controlled descent. I’m curious, though, as to how far it could glide in such circumstances and whether it could hop over a river or small lake. Also, if they had attached rockets to the Rotabuggy, it might have been able to achieve sufficient altitude for an extended flight before gliding down. Or torn itself apart. I’ve flown autogyros and they’re a ton of fun.
They really should have rigged up a propeller and tailrotor powered by the jeep’s engine.
Can you imagine the first crew that got towed into the air and dropped, IN THAT THING? On this Veteran’s Day, we can be thankful for troops that trusted their commanders and engineers, and also wonder if that would happen during a wartime today.
“Hey Gramps! You were in WWII, right? What did you do?”
“I flew a Jeep.”
“You mean drove a Jeep, right?”
“I said what I said.”
Today, they would be piloted by the kid with the high score in Minecraft, sitting in a little room 3000 miles away while sucking down a Monster energy drink with his Cheeto-stained hands.
Do they keep score in Minecraft? I don’t know.
Makes perfect sense, Jeeps were the original Minecraft vehicle designs.
They wouldn’t want me at the controls. I always set keep inventory on so I can jump around lava with reckless abandon.
I finally got my son to join me in survival this weekend, but not before he loaded up chests full of potions and diamond armor.
Has anyone seem Eric lately?
MIA since last Tuesday, or since birth?
YMMV
Same for the first crew who got to test the Sherman tanks that were modified to float.
Those didn’t work out very well for the crews on D-Day.