Courtesy of MiniArt Models website: The Flettner Fl 282 Kolibri (“Hummingbird”) is a single-seat open cockpit inter-meshing rotor helicopter produced by Anton Flettner of Germany. The Fl 282 was undoubtedly Anton Flettner’s most successful helicopter development. Prototype testing finished by July of 1940 when the helicopter entered service.
In 1942 German Navy began testing of FI 282. The FI 282 was found to have good handling in good and bad weather, with stable flight characteristics in all conditions, whilst also being quite maneuverable. Several tests involved rough conditions at sea including landing in harsh conditions which the Kolibri proved itself a capable and reliable machine.
In 1942 a total of twenty prototypes were in testing. Based on the prototypes’ success, plans to manufacture 1000 helicopters were approved; however, these were never built in such numbers due to the allied bombing of the Flettner and BMW factories.