Doblhoff Wnf 342 V4 Helicopter—Evaluation by GE in 1948

[jzichek]

A new post is up at RetroMechanix.com on the evaluation of the Doblhoff Wnf 342 V4 helicopter by General Electric in 1948:



This captured German helicopter employed blade-tip jets to drive the rotor; it was bailed to General Electric by the USAAF in late 1946 in connection with the development of the XR-17 helicopter, which later became the Hughes XH-17. The article reproduces the majority of the evaluation report, which offers a detailed critique of the design, and includes 9 photos of the helicopter under test.

-Jared

[jdvoss]

What was the ultimate fate of theDoblhoff helicopeter ? Does it still exist ?

[jzichek]

That's a good question; according to what I've read, the V4 crashed while under test at GE, severely injuring pilot Igor Bensen. However, I read on the Wikipedia entry for the type that it currently resides with NASM. This could be an error (not unheard of on Wikipedia) or they could have what remains of the vehicle in a damaged state.

-Jared

[old iron]

It was listed many years ago as surviving in the Smithsonian in the Putnam Series book on WWII German aircraft. That series being generally quite authoritative, that factoid has been picked up by subsequent sources, including Wikipedia. In actual fact, the Doblhoff helicopter is not and never has been in the NASM collection. As far as I can tell, nor was it at the predecessor collection near Chicago.