VFW-Fokker H3 Sprinter

H3 Sprinter
	VFW-Fokker H3 on display at the Hubschraubermuseum Bückeburg
Role	Experimental rotorcraft
Manufacturer	VFW-Fokker
First flight	15 March 1971
Produced	2

The VFW-Fokker H3 Sprinter was a single-engined experimental rotorcraft designed and built in West Germany. Two aircraft were produced by VFW-Fokker in the early 1970s, registered D-9543 and D-9544. Intended as the first of a family of tip-jet driven helicopters the two H3 prototypes flew briefly but the method of rotor propulsion was found to be unsuccessful for this size of aircraft. Due to a high rotor overspeed, they could perform jump take-offs to 280 feet (85 m) at a rate of 1,600 feet (490 m) per minute.[1] An improved H4 variant was designed but not built.

Aircraft on display

Both aircraft have survived. D-9543 is currently on display at the Hubschraubermuseum Bückeburg with the other H3 thought to be in a private collection in Germany.[2]

Specifications (H3)

Data from Jane's Pocket Book of Research and Experimental Aircraft, 1976.[3]

General characteristics

Crew: One
Capacity: 2 passengers
Payload: 270 kg (595 lb)
Length: 7.37 m (24 ft 2.25 in)
Rotor diameter: 8.70 m (28 ft 6.52 in)
Height: 2.50 m (8 ft 2.43 in)
Max. takeoff weight: 968 kg (2,134 lb)
Powerplant: 1 × Allison 250-C18 turboshaft

Performance

Cruise speed: 250 km/h (155 mph)
Service ceiling: 4,000 m (13,120 ft)

gollark: That's pretty cool, though.

gollark: It seems to be piephon.

gollark: It's basically a reflection of the fact that Java is bad and Kotlin less bad.

gollark: Should it not be a node tree, anyway?

gollark: Can you recommend a different way to keep the weird vector-of-node thing?

References

Notes

Robb, Raymond L. "Hybrid helicopters: Compounding the quest for speed Archived 2006-09-27 at the Wayback Machine", page 34. Vertiflite. American Helicopter Society, Summer 2006.
Hubschraubermuseum - VFW H3 Retrieved: 2 March 2017
Taylor 1976, p. 243.

Bibliography

Taylor, John W.R. Jane's Pocket Book of Research and Experimental Aircraft, London, Macdonald and Jane's Publishers Ltd, 1976. ISBN 0-356-08409-4.

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[robb-1] Robb, Raymond L. "Hybrid helicopters: Compounding the quest for speed Archived 2006-09-27 at the Wayback Machine", page 34. Vertiflite. American Helicopter Society, Summer 2006.

[2] Hubschraubermuseum - VFW H3 Retrieved: 2 March 2017

[3] Taylor 1976, p. 243.

VFW-Fokker H3 Sprinter

Aircraft on display

Specifications (H3)

See also

References