Chad Irby wrote in message om...
In article ,
(robert arndt) wrote:

http://english.pravda.ru/main/2002/06/11/30172.html

Too bad they got the history wrong. The Germans had it first during
WW2 with Baumgartl's Heliofly III:

http://www.germanvtol.com/baumgartl/baungertl.html

The Heliofly III, as actually built, wasn't a backpack helicopter, as
evidenced by the photograph at the bottom of the same page you cite.

That is the final Heliofly III-59, not the RLM-contracted Heliofly
III-57 with twin co-axial rotors powered by two As-8 motors.

The Heliofly I was a backpack autogyro, which is a similar (though very
limited) idea.

True, but his 1941 design led to official RLM contract for a military
version, the Heliofly III-57. Although I've never seen any photos
(yet) to verify it, Baumgartl experimented with powered versions of
Heliofly I before the final Heliofly III-59.

Note also that designers as far back as the 1920s had suggested backpack
or personally-worn autogyros or powered flight rigs.

And the Germans had strapped rockets onto ice skaters in the '20s too
which became the inspiration for the 1940s Himmelsturmer one man
rocketpack which was captured and turned over to Bell for postwar
testing. Bell later claimed one of its own engineers invented the
Rocketpack (aka Rocketbelt)... which is a lie. They got their idea
from the captured German device.

Once again, a German scientist in the 1935-1945 era who drew something
he couldn't build...

Baumgartl wasn't a scientist and he did work under RLM contract to
power the Heliofly I.
May I remind you too that it was the Germans that had several
operational rotorcraft in WW2: the Fa-330 autogyro carried by U-boats,
the Fl-282 which was used to great effect in the Aegean, Med, and
Baltic as enemy submarine spotters as well as by the German army in
Berlin as artillery spotter, and the Fa-223 which supported mountain
units, lifting 75mm guns up 2000 meters to their crews as well as
serving in the resupply and rescue roles. Germany had all kinds of
designs for even more advanced helos including gunships, crane helos,
and troops carriers.

Rob