A
flettner airplane or
rotor airplane is an airplane that has no
wings but instead uses the
Magnus effect to create lift. Thus it is similar to the
flettner rotor used in a
rotor ship. Such airplanes were first built by
Anton Flettner. Flettner airplane should not be confused with the
cyclogyro, which uses a different aerodynamic effect, but has a similar configuration of rotors.