Unusual Rotorcraft - Historic Bolkow 103
Ein Mann - Ein Blatt - One man One Blade
Web link to Bolkow Museum
In 1961 The 'Heli Coach' Bo-102 was developed from the 1-Blatt-1-Mann-Hubschrauber Bo-103.
The Bo-103 flew for the first time in September of the same year, then in 1962 at the Hanover Air Show, with a rotor blade from glass-fiber reinforced plastic.
Bolkow ceased development after determining there was no requirement for one man single-seat helicopters.
(Added notes - DSM)
It appears they used a fixed-pitch blade and tilting was achieved by a simple hiller-style servo paddles configuration.
Chuck Beatty, appears to have built a Gyro that had one blade
(will seek to add a page on it ias well, if Chuck is willing).
The feedback re the Gyro is that it had vibration problems. One
would imagine the BO-103 also had some challenges in this area.
D.Marker email: dmarker@internetage.com
Created: 05 Apr 2000 - Updated: 07 Apr 2000