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The Fa 223 Drache was an early German military transport helicopter developed during the second World War by Foche-Achgelis. After the co-founder of Focke-Wulf was ousted, he received encouragement from the German government to establish a new company dedicated to helicopters. In partnership with the pilot Gerd Achgelis, Heinrich Focke started Foche-Achgelis. The Fa 223 Drache (“Dragon”) was created upon direct request by the German government. Helicopters at the time were not very powerful and a specification for a payload of 1500 pounds or about 700 kilograms was issued. It was around this (for the time) heavy transport that the Drache was intended. In order to achieve this goal, a single 1010 horsepower radial engine was used to drive two 39-foot rotors mounted on either side of the fuselage on booms. The production model could carry 2200 pounds at 75 miles per hour, making it the world’s first true transport helicopter. The Drache is also notable for being the first helicopter to achieve full production status, but given that this was during active bombing of German production sites by Allied forces, the actual number of units produced stands at 20.
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