This rare film, assembled by the U.S. Army Air Force from footage retrieved from Germany, shows the Focke-Achgelis Fa 223 Drache or “Dragon”. The Fa 223 was a twin rotor helicopter powered by a single 750-kilowatt (1,010 hp) Bramo 323 radial engine powered. The rotors, which were mounted on twin booms on either side of the fuselage, were three-bladed and measured 11.9-metre (39 ft). The Fa 223 was the first helicopter to attain production status, but production was crippled by Allied bombing of the Focke-Achgelis factory, and only 20 were built.
The segment starting at :56 apparently shows events of May, 1944, when an Fa 223 flown by Karl Bode and Luftwaffe helicopter pilot Helmut Gerstenhauer recovered parts from a Drache that crashed while attempting to salvage wreckage of a crashed Do 217. The Fa 223 made 10 flights carrying loads beneath it in a cargo net and setting them down where they could be loaded onto road vehicles. All the major parts of the V11 and the Do 217 were retrieved, and much useful experience was gained. At 1:59, the aircraft is shown lifting a Fieseler Fi 156 Storch. At 5:51, mountain or alpine tests are shown in the Karwendel Mountains in Austria. Two Draches were assigned to the Mountain Warfare School at Mittenwald, near Innsbruck. Numerous landings were made at altitudes of over 1,600 m (5,200 ft) above sea level, plus experimental transportation of artillery guns to mountain troops. When the trials ended in October 1944, a total of 83 flights had been made, with a total flying time of 20 hours. At 9:43, the helicopter is shown transporting wounded troops and at 10:55, moving a light artillery piece and later, trash from a mountaintop base, and a mortar.
The Fa 223 could cruise at 175 kilometres per hour (109 mph) with a top speed of 182 km/h (113 mph), and climb to an altitude of 7,100 m (23,300 ft). The Drache could transport cargo loads of over 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) at cruising speeds of 121 km/h (75 mph) and altitudes approaching 2,440 m (8,010 ft). The roles envisaged for the Drache were rescue and anti-submarine patrols, and one variant was to be fitted with machine guns and two 250kg bombs for armed reconnaissance missions.
After WWII, two Fa 223s ended up in Allied hands. The British aircraft flew across the English Channel but later crashed due to poor maintenance. The American one did not survive into 1946.
Postwar, two Fa 223s were built in Czechoslovakia from German-manufactured components and development was also continued in France, with the help of Professor Focke as a consultant, under the designation Sud Est SE 3000. The prototype flew on 23 October 1948.
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