Theodor Laufer's « VE-RO » or VErtical ROtor Aircraft

[Jemiba]

Of the tilt rotor aircraft designed by Theodor Laufer, I found an illustration made
by someone, whose name was heard here before .

About the "Glühscheiben" I remain extremely sceptical, and the Trenn flying platform
surely remained a patent file, at least the registration cannot be found in an reliable
index.

 

[huckebein]

Please more on the Theodor Laufer Ve-Ro design. Where does this design come from? I feel I have a substantial Luftwaffe Projekt book collection and have never seen this. I haven't even seen it hinted to as a future UniCraft model. Is there a three view?

 

[Jemiba]

I found about six years agao on http://www.germanvtol.com, but this site seems to be
defunct now.
Information given there, including the original sources:
"The Ve-Ro or Vertical Rotor Aircraft was the personal project of Theodor Laufer, an Austrian aeronautical engineer who worked with Fredrich von Dodlhoff and WNF on the development of Doblhoff's Jet-Rotor tipped WNF 342. After the war Laufer was interview in Austria by both the British and American's about his work on the WNF 342. During those interviews Laufer not only gave his account of his work on the WNF 342 and it's unique propulsion system, but also detailed his design for the Ve-Ro VTOL aircraft. Laufer's design consisted of a six-bladed rotor that could change axis to allow the craft to convert from vertical flight to horizontal flight. The rotor itself was driven by jets that rotated the blades very much like Doblhoff's WNF 342, but differed by being located mid-span on the rotor rather then on the tips of the rotor. Once in vertical flight the VE-RO would use some sort of unspecified system to rotate the rotors forward and lock into place much like the propeller on a plane. Laufer's design allowed for the rotors angle of attack to be adjustable so that once the rotors were in horizontal flight they could be rotated to provide both propulsion to rotate the blades and for forward propulsion.

Laufer's Ve-Ro design was estimated to weigh 4 tons with room for three passengers and a rotor diameter of 36 feet. Laufer optimistically estimated that his craft would have a forward speed of 560 mph with a maximum altitude of 46,000. Range was to be 1,800 miles with a consumption of 120 gallons per hour.

The VE-RO was claimed to posses high maneuverability and that it could safely land in autogyro mode even with the jets turned off. Though the VE-RO obviously came from Laufer's work at WNF it is unknown if it was ever officially proposed it to the Luftwaffe for consideration.

Laufer made his pitch to both the British and Americans to continue his work on the VE-RO, but both allies felt that there was insufficient information and research available to continue with Laufer's unique proposal.

I want to thank Jared Zichek for his contribution of illustration and original scans of Laufer's drawings from The U. S. National Archives.

You can read more about the Laufer Ve-Ro Craft in Jared's article in the Feb. 2003 Issue of Wings magazine. "

 

[borovik]

!!! Thanks for sharing. Jens !!!

 

[luedo34]

Interesting project, should have included it into "Kipprotorflugzeuge".
Never heard of that design, I´m really suprised.
Thanks for sharing!

 

[huckebein]

Thank you for the detailed response. It's a rather fascinating attempt at VTOL.



Regards from California,


Günter

 

[Stargazer]

Topic split from old thread on "Luftwaffe secret projects."