{"id":22540456,"date":"2026-09-15T15:25:43","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T13:25:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/focke-achgelis-fa-330-bachstelze-u-boat-rotor-kite\/"},"modified":"2026-10-01T15:12:01","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T13:12:01","slug":"focke-achgelis-fa-330-bachstelze-u-boat-rotor-kite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/focke-achgelis-fa-330-bachstelze-u-boat-rotor-kite\/","title":{"rendered":"Fa 330 Bachstelze: The Kite U-Boats Flew From Their Decks"},"content":{"rendered":"<style>.et_pb_title_container h1.entry-title { padding-top: 40px !important; }<\/style>\n<!-- mfsh:top -->\n\n<style>\n.mfsh-trigger{display:inline-flex;align-items:center;gap:10px;height:44px;padding:0 18px;margin:0 0 26px;border:2px solid #0F1720;background:#fff;color:#0F1720;font-family:inherit;font-size:14px;font-weight:700;line-height:1;letter-spacing:0;text-transform:none;cursor:pointer;box-shadow:none;transition:background .15s,color 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That is not a technology problem, it is a geometry problem: the lookout&rsquo;s eyes are roughly five metres above the water and the earth curves away beneath him.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>The German admiralty considered several solutions, including a folding seaplane. What it actually adopted was stranger and much simpler.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>It put a man in a kite and flew him off the back of the boat on a steel cable.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f5f5f5;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:20px 22px;margin:24px 0\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 10px;font-weight:700;font-size:17px;color:#222\">Quick Facts<\/p><table style=\"width:100%;border-collapse:collapse;font-size:15px;line-height:1.6\"><tr><td style=\"padding:4px 12px 4px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>Aircraft<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:4px 0;color:#222\">Focke-Achgelis Fa 330 Bachstelze (Wagtail), unpowered single-seat rotor kite<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:4px 12px 4px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>Designer<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:4px 0;color:#222\">Henrich Focke, Focke-Achgelis GmbH; built by Weser Flugzeugbau<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:4px 12px 4px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>First flight<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:4px 0;color:#222\">August 1942<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:4px 12px 4px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>Number built<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:4px 0;color:#222\">About 200<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:4px 12px 4px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>Rotor<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:4px 0;color:#222\">Three blades, 7.32 m diameter<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:4px 12px 4px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>Weights<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:4px 0;color:#222\">68 kg empty, 148 kg maximum<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:4px 12px 4px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>Tow speeds<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:4px 0;color:#222\">40 km\/h cruise, 80 km\/h never-exceed, 27 km\/h minimum control<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:4px 12px 4px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>Operating height<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:4px 0;color:#222\">About 120 m<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:4px 12px 4px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>Confirmed sinkings<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:4px 0;color:#222\">One: the Greek steamer Efthalia Mari, 6 August 1943<\/td><\/tr><tr><td style=\"padding:4px 12px 4px 0;color:#555;vertical-align:top;white-space:nowrap\"><strong>Operators<\/strong><\/td><td style=\"padding:4px 0;color:#222\">Type IXD2 U-boats of the Monsun Gruppe<\/td><\/tr><\/table><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">Physics, not magic<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>The Fa 330 had no engine and never needed one. A U-boat motoring on the surface drags air through the rotor disc, the blades autorotate, and the disc generates lift. Same principle as a modern autogyro, with the submarine playing the part of the engine.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Four men could assemble it on a small platform on the anti-aircraft gun deck behind the conning tower. In calm weather that took about four minutes. Stowage was two watertight canisters four metres long, one for the blades and tail, one for the fuselage, plus a small horizontal canister for the winch and cable.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>The observer had a stick for pitch and roll, two pedals for yaw, three instruments, and an interphone whose wire was wound around the towing cable so he could report what he saw. At 120 metres his horizon opened from five nautical miles to about twenty-five.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/09\/fa-330-bachstelze-imperial-war-museum-duxford.jpg\" alt=\"A Focke-Achgelis Fa 330 Bachstelze preserved at Duxford\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">The Fa 330 at the Imperial War Museum Duxford. Sixty-eight kilograms empty, three blades, no engine and nowhere to put one. Photo: Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">What it was like to be on the end of the wire<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>Otto Giese served aboard a boat fitted with a Bachstelze and described it plainly in his memoir.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7\"><em>&ldquo;Our boat was rigged with a Bachstelze. This was a small, single, piloted helicopter attached to a 150 metre long steel cable and lifted into the air by the speed of the boat while the cable was gradually reeled out. From his position aloft, the pilot had a 360-degree view and could report any vessels.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Otto Giese<\/strong> &mdash; U-boat officer, from his memoir <em>Shooting the War<\/em> (1994)<\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>Note the cable length. Giese remembered 150 metres; the technical descriptions say 300. Both figures appear in the literature and nobody has reconciled them, which is a useful reminder that memoirs and manuals rarely agree.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gP6VnbeWXSY\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The Allies took one apart and wrote it up<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>In May 1944 the Royal Navy captured U-852 intact, and with it a complete Fa 330. The resulting Allied intelligence report is fascinating precisely because of how carefully hedged it is.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f8f9fa;border-left:4px solid #1565c0;padding:20px 22px;margin:18px 0 24px;font-size:16px;line-height:1.7\"><em>&ldquo;In operation, this kite is attached to and towed by the U-boat, lift being imparted as a result of the relative air velocity (wind + U-boat&rsquo;s speed) turning the rotors, there being no engine. It is believed the height reached is between 325 and 500 ft.&rdquo;<\/em><div style=\"margin-top:10px;font-size:14px;color:#555\"><strong>Allied intelligence report<\/strong> &mdash; &ldquo;German Submarine-Borne Observation Rotor-Kite&rdquo;, written after the capture of U-852 in May 1944<\/div><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<p>&ldquo;It is believed.&rdquo; &ldquo;It appears.&rdquo; &ldquo;Presumably.&rdquo; The report describes the jettison lever, the parachute canister behind the seat, the rubber stop blocks limiting blade coning, even the rope pulley for spinning the rotor up by hand. What it could not tell the Admiralty was whether the thing actually worked.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/6NtI-KS45xk\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\" style=\"margin:0 0 24px;width:100%\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" width=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2026\/09\/fa-330a-1-bachstelze-fleet-air-arm-museum.jpg\" alt=\"Focke-Achgelis Fa 330A-1 Bachstelze at the Fleet Air Arm Museum\" style=\"width:100%;height:auto;max-width:100%;display:block\"><figcaption style=\"font-size:13px;color:#777;text-align:center;margin-top:6px;font-style:italic\">A Bachstelze at the Fleet Air Arm Museum. Several were captured at the end of the war and distributed to Allied museums and research establishments. Photo: Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">One ship. That is the entire score.<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>Two hundred were built. The Fa 330 contributed to exactly one sinking: U-177 spotted, intercepted and sank the Greek steamer <em>Efthalia Mari<\/em> on 6 August 1943.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>The reason is not that the aircraft failed. It is that using it required the U-boat to do the single most dangerous thing a U-boat can do: run on the surface at a predictable speed on a predictable heading, unable to dive quickly, with a man on a wire behind it and a large radar return above it.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>By the time the Fa 330 was cleared for operations in early 1943, Allied air cover had made that lethal across most of the Atlantic. So it was restricted to the emptiest water available, flown by the long-range Type IXD2 boats of the Monsun Gruppe.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Even there the record is thin and occasionally comic. U-181&rsquo;s kite broke and was lost on its first attempt to fly. U-861 spotted a ship off Madagascar in September 1944 and the ship escaped in the time it took to winch the observer back down. U-862 and U-196 reached Penang and traded their Bachstelzen to the Japanese for a floatplane.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"position:relative;padding-bottom:56.25%;height:0;overflow:hidden;margin:24px 0\"><iframe class=\"skip-lazy\" data-no-lazy=\"1\" loading=\"eager\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/i5g__45hilw\" style=\"position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;border:0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\r\n\r\n\r\n<h2 style=\"padding-top:22px\">The one that got away with it<\/h2>\r\n\r\n<p>The best Fa 330 story has nothing to do with sinking anything. In June 1944 U-862 ran into thick fog in the Denmark Strait. The boat put its Bachstelze up, the observer climbed above the fog layer, and from there he navigated the submarine out into the Atlantic.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>That is an aeroplane doing exactly what an aeroplane is for: seeing something a man at sea level cannot.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>After the war the British towed Fa 330s behind ships and jeeps and found they worked perfectly well. By then the helicopter had arrived and nobody needed a kite. But the idea did not die: it gave Igor Bensen the enthusiasm that produced the B-8 and the modern gyrocopter movement, and as recently as 2013 an American defence contractor was testing an unpowered tethered autogyro as a cheap alternative to a shipborne helicopter.<\/p>\r\n\r\n<p>Eighty years on the geometry has not changed. The horizon is still five miles from the deck, and it is still cheaper to lift an observer than to build a carrier.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n<style>.mfq{margin:34px 0 8px}.mfq h2{font:26px\/1.3 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117;padding-top:22px;margin:0 0 6px}.mfq .qa details{border-top:1px solid #5C91FF;margin:0;padding:0}.mfq .qa details:last-of-type{border-bottom:1px solid #e2e7ee}.mfq .qa summary{cursor:pointer;list-style:none;display:flex;justify-content:space-between;align-items:center;gap:16px;padding:22px 26px;font:18px\/1.7 \"Gilroy semiBold\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#0d1117}.mfq .qa summary::-webkit-details-marker{display:none}.mfq .qa summary::after{content:\"+\";font:24px Helvetica,sans-serif;color:#3568e0;flex:0 0 auto}.mfq .qa details[open] summary::after{content:\"\\2013\"}.mfq .qa details:hover summary{color:#3568e0}.mfq .qa .a{font:16px\/1.7 \"Gilroy regular\",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;color:#454e5e;padding:0 26px 24px}.mfq .qa .a a{color:#3568e0}@media(max-width:680px){.mfq .qa summary{padding:18px 14px;font-size:17px}.mfq .qa .a{padding:0 14px 20px}}<\/style>\r\n\r\n\r\n<section class=\"mfq\"><h2>Frequently Asked Questions<\/h2><div class=\"qa\"><details open><summary>What was the Focke-Achgelis Fa 330 Bachstelze?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">The Fa 330 was an unpowered single-seat rotor kite towed behind German Type IXD2 U-boats during the Second World War. It carried one observer aloft on a cable so he could see far beyond the horizon available from the conning tower. About 200 were built by Weser Flugzeugbau, and the type first flew in August 1942.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How did the Fa 330 fly without an engine?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">By autorotation. The U-boat motoring along on the surface drove air through the three-bladed rotor, spinning it up and generating lift, exactly as a modern autogyro does. There was no engine at any point. The observer controlled pitch and roll with a stick and yaw with two foot pedals, and climbed or descended as the crew paid out or wound in the cable.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How high did the Fa 330 fly and how far could the observer see?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">It lifted the observer about 120 metres above the sea, extending his horizon from roughly 5 nautical miles, the range from the conning tower, to about 25 nautical miles. The Allied intelligence report written after one was captured put the height at between 325 and 500 feet, which suggests the Allies were estimating rather than measuring.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How many ships did the Fa 330 help sink?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">One. On 6 August 1943 U-177 used its Fa 330 to spot, intercept and sink the Greek steamer Efthalia Mari. That is the only sinking attributed to the type in the entire war, despite roughly 200 aircraft being built.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Why was the Fa 330 barely used?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Because it was only safe where the Allies could not reach. Deploying it meant the U-boat had to run on the surface at a steady speed with a man on a wire behind it and no ability to crash-dive quickly. By the time the type was cleared for operations in early 1943, Allied air cover made that suicidal in the Atlantic, so use was restricted to the far South Atlantic, the Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>How did the pilot get down in an emergency?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Normally the crew winched him back to the deck, which took about four minutes in calm weather and around twenty in a rough sea. In an emergency he pulled a lever that jettisoned the rotor head and blades; the departing blades dragged a parachute out of a canister behind his seat, and he ditched the seat before hitting the water. If the boat had to crash-dive, the cable was simply released and the kite glided down to the sea.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Do any Fa 330s survive?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Yes, more than a dozen. Examples are displayed at the Imperial War Museum Duxford, the Fleet Air Arm Museum, the RAF Museum Midlands, the Science Museum at Wroughton, the Deutsches Museum in Munich, the Deutsches Technikmuseum in Berlin, the Musee de l&rsquo;Air in Paris, the Smithsonian&rsquo;s Udvar-Hazy Center and the National Museum of the United States Air Force.<\/div><\/details><details><summary>Did the Fa 330 influence later aircraft?<\/summary><div class=\"a\">Yes. It sparked Igor Bensen&rsquo;s interest in small autogyros, which led to the Bensen B-8 and the modern homebuilt gyrocopter movement. The idea has also resurfaced commercially: in 2013 L-3 Communications was testing Valkyrie, an unpowered tethered autogyro pitched as a cheap alternative to a shipborne helicopter.<\/div><\/details><\/div><\/section>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@type\":\"FAQPage\",\"mainEntity\":[{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"What was the Focke-Achgelis Fa 330 Bachstelze?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"The Fa 330 was an unpowered single-seat rotor kite towed behind German Type IXD2 U-boats during the Second World War. It carried one observer aloft on a cable so he could see far beyond the horizon available from the conning tower. About 200 were built by Weser Flugzeugbau, and the type first flew in August 1942.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"How did the Fa 330 fly without an engine?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"By autorotation. The U-boat motoring along on the surface drove air through the three-bladed rotor, spinning it up and generating lift, exactly as a modern autogyro does. There was no engine at any point. The observer controlled pitch and roll with a stick and yaw with two foot pedals, and climbed or descended as the crew paid out or wound in the cable.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"How high did the Fa 330 fly and how far could the observer see?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"It lifted the observer about 120 metres above the sea, extending his horizon from roughly 5 nautical miles, the range from the conning tower, to about 25 nautical miles. The Allied intelligence report written after one was captured put the height at between 325 and 500 feet, which suggests the Allies were estimating rather than measuring.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"How many ships did the Fa 330 help sink?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"One. On 6 August 1943 U-177 used its Fa 330 to spot, intercept and sink the Greek steamer Efthalia Mari. That is the only sinking attributed to the type in the entire war, despite roughly 200 aircraft being built.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Why was the Fa 330 barely used?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Because it was only safe where the Allies could not reach. Deploying it meant the U-boat had to run on the surface at a steady speed with a man on a wire behind it and no ability to crash-dive quickly. 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Examples are displayed at the Imperial War Museum Duxford, the Fleet Air Arm Museum, the RAF Museum Midlands, the Science Museum at Wroughton, the Deutsches Museum in Munich, the Deutsches Technikmuseum in Berlin, the Musee de l\u2019Air in Paris, the Smithsonian\u2019s Udvar-Hazy Center and the National Museum of the United States Air Force.\"}},{\"@type\":\"Question\",\"name\":\"Did the Fa 330 influence later aircraft?\",\"acceptedAnswer\":{\"@type\":\"Answer\",\"text\":\"Yes. It sparked Igor Bensen\u2019s interest in small autogyros, which led to the Bensen B-8 and the modern homebuilt gyrocopter movement. The idea has also resurfaced commercially: in 2013 L-3 Communications was testing Valkyrie, an unpowered tethered autogyro pitched as a cheap alternative to a shipborne helicopter.\"}}]}<\/script><p><em>Sources: Wikipedia; Lawrence Paterson, <em>Hitler&rsquo;s Grey Wolves<\/em>; Otto Giese, <em>Shooting the War<\/em>; Allied intelligence report via Lone Sentry; Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum; National Museum of the US Air Force.<\/em><\/p>\n\n<!-- mfsh:bottom -->\n\n<button type=\"button\" class=\"mfsh-trigger mfsh-bottom\" data-mfsh-placement=\"bottom\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><svg><use href=\"#mfsh-i-share\"\/><\/svg>Share this story<\/button>\n\n<!-- \/mfsh:bottom -->\n\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<div style=\"background:#f0f4ff;border-left:4px solid #5C91FF;padding:16px 20px;margin:32px 0 8px\"><p style=\"margin:0 0 8px;font-weight:600;color:#333\">Related Posts<\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/hafner-rotabuggy-flying-jeep-wwii\/\">The Jeep That Grew a Rotor<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/flettner-fl-282-kolibri-first-series-production-helicopter\/\">The Hummingbird: The First Helicopter to Go to War<\/a><\/p><p style=\"margin:4px 0\"><a href=\"https:\/\/migflug.com\/afterburner\/blohm-voss-bv-40-glider-fighter\/\">The Blohm &amp; Voss BV 40: Germany&rsquo;s Engineless Fighter<\/a><\/p><\/div>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Share this story A submarine on the surface can see about five nautical miles. That is not a technology problem, it is a geometry problem: the lookout&rsquo;s eyes are roughly five metres above the water and the earth curves away beneath him. The German admiralty considered several solutions, including a folding seaplane. What it actually [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":22539791,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"editor_notices":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[666,664],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22540456","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history-and-legends","category-military-aviation"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Fa 330 Bachstelze: The Kite U-Boats Flew From Their Decks | MiGFlug<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Focke-Achgelis Fa 330 Bachstelze was an engineless rotor kite towed behind U-boats to lift a lookout 120 metres up. Around 200 were built. 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