Schnellflugzeug Origin and Patent
But perhaps Focke's greatest achievement was the development of the turbo shaft propulsion system currently utilized by the majority of all the world's helicopters.
As soon as he had the relevant data for the new German jet engines, Focke started design work on the Focke-Wulf Schnellflugzeug ("Fast Aircraft") which was nicknamed the Rochen (an aquatic ray-skate).
In 1939, he patented the idea of a circular aircraft with a large aerofoil section and an open center that acted as a huge propeller duct for twin counter-rotating propellers driven by a projected Focke-Wulf designed turbojet engine via an axis and gearbox. Focke-Wulf certainly had the ability to design and build such an engine independently from Heinkel and Messerschmitt. In 1942 they had converted a Fw 190 from a piston-engine aircraft into a jet aircraft by removing the BMW 801 engine and installing a 600 kgf (5.9 kN) thrust Fw T-1 centrifugal jet in the nose. The jet comprised a two-stage radial compressor, single-stage turbine and an annular combustion chamber. The exhaust passed through an annular outlet running around the circumference of the fuselage.
But further designs for Focke-Wulf jet engines were abandoned due to the great demand for the conventional version of the Fw 190 which ultimately produced 20,000 of these fighters by wars end.
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