Dornier Aerodyne

Aerodyne
	The Aerodyne on display at the Deutsches Museum Flugwerft Schleissheim
Role	VTOL Experimental aircraft
National origin	West Germany
Manufacturer	Dornier Flugzeugwerke
Designer	Alexander Lippisch
First flight	18 September 1972
Retired	30 November 1972
Primary user	BMVg
Number built	1

The Dornier Aerodyne^[1] (also referred to as "Lippisch-Dornier Aerodyne"^[2]) was the designation of a "wingless" VTOL unmanned aircraft. Conceived by Alexander Lippisch, it was developed and built by Dornier on behalf of the Federal German Ministry of Defense. Lippisch was part of the team.^[2] The first flight took place on 18 September 1972. The development ended on 30 November 1972 after successful hovering-flight testing with the aircraft. Experimentation did not continue due to lack of interest by the Bundeswehr (German Armed Forces), and/or the desire to undertake plans for manned helicopters.^{[citation needed]}

Description[]

The principle behind the Aerodyne is the combination of lift and thrust production in a single construction unit and flow channel, i.e. a ducted fan. Flaps at the end of the fan divert the outflowing air to produce lift, thrust, or a combination of both. As a result, the Aerodyne could be steered and flown in the entire range between hovering and full-forward flight.

For forward flight, the Aerodyne had a conventional tail unit at the rear, which allowed for pitch and yaw control. The equipment was unmanned and operated by remote control.

It was intended to be a land- or ship-supported drone (UAV) for aerial reconnaissance.

Specifications[]

Length: 5.5 metres (18 ft)
Width: 1.9 metres (6 ft 3 in)
Fan Diameter: 1.1 metres (3 ft 7 in)
Engine: 1 MTU 6022 A-3, 370 shaft horsepower (280 kW)
Total Weight: 435 kilograms (959 lb)

References[]

^ Jump up to: ^a ^b Deutsches Museum: Aerodyne, retrieved 19 March 2021.
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b KRISTINA KIRKLIAUSKAITE, "Lippisch-Dornier Aerodyne: Wingless and tailless aircraft", Aerotime, retrieved 19 March 2021.

"Eine Dokumentation zur Geschichte des Hauses Dornier", Ed. Dornier GmbH, 1983, bound, 214 pp.

Patents US2918230; US2918233.

[deutsches-museum-1] Jump up to: ^a ^b Deutsches Museum: Aerodyne, retrieved 19 March 2021.

[aerotime-2] Jump up to: ^a ^b KRISTINA KIRKLIAUSKAITE, "Lippisch-Dornier Aerodyne: Wingless and tailless aircraft", Aerotime, retrieved 19 March 2021.

[1]

[2]

show v t Dornier and Zeppelin-Lindau aircraft
Zeppelin-Lindau 1914-1919	Rs.I Rs.II Rs.III Rs.IV C.I C.II CS.I CL.II D.I Gs.I Gs.II
Dornier designations 1919-1933	Do A Do B Do C Do D Do E Do F (project) Do H Do J Do K Do L Do N Do O Do P Do R Do S Do T Do U Do X Do Y Delphin Falke Komet Libelle Merkur Spatz Wal
RLM designations 1933-1945	Do 10 Do 11 Do 12 Do 13 Do 14 Do 15 Do 16 Do 17 (Operational history) Do 18 Do 19 Do 20 Do 22 Do 23 Do 24 Do 25 Do 26 Do 29 Do 212 Do 214 Do 215 Do 217 Do 317 Do 318 Do 335 Do 435 Do 635 P.192 P.231 P.238 P.256 P.1075
Dornier designations post-1945	Do 24 Do 25 Do 27 Do 28 Do 29 Do 31 Do 32 Do 32K Do 34 128 Do 131 Do 132 228 328 328JET 428 528 728JET 928JET Aerodyne Alpha Jet Seastar S-Ray 007
See also Claude Dornier and Dornier Museum Friedrichshafen