Hafner Rotabuggy RD123 at Sherburn in Elmet airfield.
This bizarre looking aircraft was an experimental aircraft in the form a Willys Jeep combined with the idea behind the Hafner Rotachute autogyro. It was an idea to create an air-droppable off-road vehicle. It was only ever flown on test and experimental flights with the Airborne Forces Experimental Establishment (A.F.E.E.) at Sherburn in Elmet. Test runs had begun in late 1943 initially being towed behind a lorry and then behind a 4.5 litre Bentley car. On 23rd February 1944 the aircraft was given a tow from the Bentley, it possibly then cast off from the tug car after the Rotabuggy sucessfully lifted into the air. On landing it tipped over, breaking the rotor blades, the pilot was uninjured but the passenger sustained broken ribs and concussion. The aircraft was repaired and testing continued until September 1944 when the idea was scrapped after a glider was invented that could hold the jeep.
Pilot - S/Ldr Ian Malcolm David Little AFC RAFVR (72484).
Driver / Passenger - Mr G Walker. Injured. (Possibly Mr George "Mickey" Walker).
Ian Little was born in 1918. For his work in the A.F.E.E. he was awarded the Air Force Cross in the New Year Honours list 1943. After the war he became an economist and was appointed a CBE in 1997. He died in 2012.
The origins of this odd looking aeroplane began life being towed by a lorry. Ground tests proved the rotor would work but as the rotor speed was directly linked to the forward speed of the lorry it was attached the lorry could not travel fast enough to gain lift. A driver would sit in one seat and operate the regular vehicle controls on the ground while a pilot would sit in the other seat and fly the aircraft once it was in the air. Ian Little was the test pilot who was involved in a piloting part, he was tasked with buying a faster vehicle and found a 4.5 litre Bentley car. This could travel much faster and after further tests the Rotaplane first became airborne on 27th November 1943. A Whitley was then used as a tug but at 50mph the Rotaplane vibrations were severe so the Bentley was used again. In January 1944 it broke a tail fin. Repairs were made and further tests were made with the Bentley and the Whitley as the tug and vibrations still proved a problem. Using the Whitley as a tug the Rotaplane managed to obtain a flying speed of 70mph. During the thirtieth test flight the accident happened on 23rd February 1944. Repairs were then carried out and in the coming weeks and months the Rotaplane reached 400 feet and a flying speed of 65mph on 11th September 1944, cast off from the tug Whitley and remained in the air for upto ten minutes before a successful landing. This would be the final test flight made; shortly after a glider big enough to carry vehicles so the need for flying vehicles was deemed un-neccessary.