Bensen B-5

The Bensen B-5 was a small rotor kite developed by Igor Bensen in the United States and offered and marketed for home building in 1954.[1] Dubbed the "Gyro-Glider", it was the first of several such designs that would be sold by Bensen Aircraft Corporation over the following decades.

B-5
Role Recreational rotor kite
National origin USA
Manufacturer Bensen Aircraft for homebuilding
Designer Igor Bensen
First flight 1953

The B-5 was built around a cruciform frame of aluminum tube. Landing wheels were fitted to three points of this cross, and a mast was fitted above its centre to support the rotor hub. The fourth arm of the cross provided a mounting for a large, plywood fin and rudder, reminiscent of that of the Raoul Hafner's Rotachute that had shaped Bensen's thinking about rotor kite design.

The aircraft was intended to be towed behind a car, and could be built at home from easily obtained materials in about three to four weeks.

The B-5 was also the model converted to the Bensen Mid-Jet which was powered by two tip mounted ramjets for military use.

References
  1. Devon Francis (July 1954). "He Rides a Kite". Popular Science. Bonnier Corporation. p. 98.
  • Charnov, Bruce (2003). From Autogiro to Gyroplane: The Amazing Survival of an Aviation Technology. Praeger. pp. 225–26.
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