HELICOPTER HISTORY: THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE VON BAUMHAUER ARCHIVE

摘要

The legacy of Albert von Baumhauer, a Dutch helicopter pioneer, extends beyond his contributions to the development of the helicopter. His extensive correspondence and notebooks that have been preserved and catalogued are a testimony of contacts between aviation theorists, helicopter pioneers and specialists of aerodynamics. This study gives a first glimpse of his correspondence concerning helicopter patents as well as a second experimental helicopter that was designed by him but did not materialize. The correspondence shows that von Baumhauer was in contact with Burke Wilford from the United States and Anton Flettner from Germany and that he had extensive correspondence with Oscar Asboth from Hungary for whom he rewrote an English patent application. The second helicopter project by von Baumhauer remained largely unknown since the machine was never built. It shows the diversity of von Baumhauer's designs that has also been attested for other helicopter pioneers.