This Week’s Hints to help you along:
- Its wings are circular spindles that spin to create lift.
- A 1930s era experimental plane that didn’t work so well.
- A motorcycle engine on each side spun the spindles.
- The Magnus Effect, invented by physicist Heinrich Gustav Magnus (1802-70).
- But did it ever fly? That is a good question for the history books!
So do you know what this aircraft is?
Post a REPLY below with your best guess!
Click here to check out the previous What’s That?
This aircraft is a Union Aircraft Co, Long Island, New York. It was built in 1931. The rotors were driven by two 28 HP Indian motorcycle engines. There is no record of flight.
I think it is the Popper M-1.
The concept of Magnus/ Coanda effect wings and lift generating devices had a recent remake, you can look at it, with references, in the Wikipedia article: ‘Fanwing’, from the company that got an EU grant to study the concept of Flettner rotor wing. J Seifert published: ‘A review of the Magnus effect in Aeronautics’