page_title: Flettner rotor
section_title: Rotor airplanes
hierarchical_section_title: Flettner rotor / Rotor airplanes
caption_attribution_description: English: The Plymouth A-A-2004, Flettner rotor aircraft
context_page_description: A Flettner rotor is a smooth cylinder with disc end plates which is spun along its long axis and, as air passes at right angles across it, the Magnus effect causes an aerodynamic force to be generated in the direction perpendicular to both the long axis and the direction of airflow. Named after German aviation engineer and inventor Anton Flettner.
  In a rotor ship the rotors stand vertically and lift is generated at right angles to the wind, to drive the ship forwards.
  In a rotor airplane the rotor extends sideways in place of a wing and upwards lift is generated.
context_section_description: Some flying machines have been built which use the Magnus effect to create lift with a rotating cylinder at the front of a wing, allowing flight at lower horizontal speeds. The earliest attempt to use the Magnus effect for a heavier-than-air aircraft was in 1910 by a US member of Congress, Butler Ames of Massachusetts. The next attempt was the Plymouth A-A-2004 in the early 1930s, by three inventors in New York state.
caption: The Plymouth A-A-2004 on Long Island Sound
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