The 'Insane' British Jeep That Actually Flew Over England Towed By A Bentley

Описание: In November 1943, the Airborne Forces Experimental Establishment strapped a 40-foot rotor and twin tail fins to a standard Willys MB Jeep, hitched it behind a supercharged 4½-litre Bentley — rumoured to be an ex-Birkin Blower Bentley — and towed it into the air over a Yorkshire airfield. This was the Hafner Rotabuggy, officially the Malcolm Rotaplane (M.L. 10/42), and it was Britain's answer to a brutal problem: how do you deliver vehicles to paratroopers who land with nothing but what they can carry?
Designed by Austrian émigré engineer Raoul Hafner, the Rotabuggy used unpowered autorotation — the same principle that makes sycamore seeds spin — to turn a Jeep into a towable glider. On 11 September 1944, it flew behind a Whitley bomber at 400 feet for 10 minutes. The pilot had to be helped out of the vehicle afterward. The official report called the flight "highly satisfactory."
In this video, we cover:
⚙️ The engineering behind autorotation and how you make a Jeep fly without an engine 🚗 The legendary Bentley tow — and the story that AFEE registered it as an aircraft ✈️ The full flight trial sequence from Diamond T lorry to Whitley bomber 🔍 How the Rotabuggy compared to the Soviet Antonov A-40 flying tank, the German Me 321 Gigant glider, and the American Waco CG-4A 📉 Why the Hamilcar glider killed the project before it could see combat 🏆 How Hafner went on to design Britain's first production helicopters — the Bristol Sycamore and Belvedere
Sources cited in this video include Philip Jarrett's account in Aeroplane Monthly (Aug–Oct 1991), Robin Bird's Top Secret War Bird of WWII (2004), Squadron Leader I.M.D. Little's autobiography Little by Little (2004), and Air Ministry Specification 10/42. A full-scale Rotabuggy replica is on display at the Army Flying Museum, Middle Wallop, Hampshire.
📌 Key specifications (one-time reference): — Rotor diameter: ~40 ft (12.4 m) — Empty Jeep weight: 964 kg / Loaded with rotor assembly: 1,411 kg — Rotor assembly weight: 249 kg — Max tow speed: 150 mph | Cruise: 80 mph — Rotor RPM: 230 (primary) — Final flight: ~400 ft altitude, ~65 mph, ~10 minutes — Drop test survival: 2.35 m without damage — Prototype: 1 built, 0 surviving originals
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