A Museum Tour Through Aviation History

Vertical Flight (Gallery 103)

Although Leonardo da Vinci, in ancient Rome, made crude drawings of machines he imagined for vertical flight, it wasn't until the early 1940s that a machine capable of controllable Vertical Flight -- the helicopter -- was developed.

Sikorsky XR-4
(1942)

Igor Sikorsky is generally recognized as the "father" of the helicopter. In 1941, his experimental VS-300 became the first successful helicopter and proved the basic design. The Sikorsky XR-4 was developed for the U.S. Army and first flew in January 1942. It proved the ability of helicopters to hover motionless under complete pilot control, but one of its more remarkable achievements was a cross-country flight from Connecticut to the Army base in Dayton, Ohio. The trip was made in five days with stops along the way. The Army successfully tested the XR-4 with floats and for shipboard operations. More than 100 R-4 production models were built, with many seeing service during World War II.

Piasecki PV-2
(1943)

Following closely on Sikorsky's tail, Frank Piasecki first flew his Piasecki PV-2 in April 1943, thus becoming the pilot of the world's second successful helicopter. Remarkably, Piasecki had only 14 hours of flight experience, all in a Piper Cub, and went on to become the first person to be licensed as a helicopter pilot without first having been a licensed airplane pilot. Piasecki's first customer was the U.S. Navy, which operated the PV-3 model under the designation HRP-1. The Museum's PV-2 was the only one of its type built.

Kellett XO-60 Autogiro
(1943)

Unlike a helicopter, whose main rotor is powered, an autogiro's rotor spins by the movement of air along the blades of the rotor. Therefore, in order to achieve flight, an autogiro must have power to first move in a forward direction. A small number of Kellet XO-60 autogiros were built for the U.S. Army and served in an aerial observation role. They proved to be well suited for this because of their slow forward speed and lack of obstruction by fixed wings.

Hiller XH-44 Hiller-Copter
(1944)

In designing the Hiller XH-44 Hiller-Copter, Stanley Hiller took a completely different engineering tact than that used by Sikorsky and Piasecki. Their helicopters needed a small tail rotor to stabilize the aircraft's fuselage and keep it from spinning contrary to the rotation of the main rotor. Hiller mounted two rotors on the main shaft, each spinning in opposite directions, thus providing the necessary stability. The XH-44's first successful flight was made in May 1944. While it was the only one of its type built, the success of the XH-44 would allow Hiller to build more advanced helicopters, most with twin opposing rotation rotors.

Pentecost Hoppicopter
(1946)

A personal helicopter -- that's the idea behind the Pentecost Hoppicopter. The 88-pound device invented in 1946 by Horace Pentecost was tested by the U.S. Army as a replacement for less controllable parachutes. But it was soon proven to be unrealiable.

Hiller Flying Platform
(1950)

A variation on the Hoppicopter idea was the Hiller Flying Platform. The pilot stood on a round platform that housed the motor and enclosed rotor. Although it actually flew, it was also seen as being too unrealiable for production.

Bensen Gyrocopter
(1955)

Another attempt at personal vertical flight was the Bensen Gyrocopter, which was essentially a bare-bones autogiro. The Museum's example is the "Spirit of Kitty Hawk," which was used in 1963 to recreate the Wright Brothers' 1903 first flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

Sikorsky UH-34D
(1954)

A true workhorse helicopter during the 1950s and 1960s was the Sikorsky UH-34D, which served in troop carrying, observation, cargo, and search-and-rescue roles with the U.S. Navy, Marines, and Army, and also in civilian life as the S-58. The Museum's UH-34D served with the Marines from 1961 until 1970. It is painted in the markings of Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 163, which served during the Vietnam War and was one of the most decorated helicopter squadrons of that war.

Bell UH-13J Ranger
(1957)

The Bell UH-13J Ranger has the distinction of being the first helicopter selected for use by the President of the United States -- in this case, President Dwight Eisenhower. When it was retired from service in 1967, the President's UH-13J was donated to the Museum. A second White House UH-13J went to the Air Force Museum in Dayton, Ohio. As the Bell 47, the civilian version of the UH-13J was built in large numbers and served in many foreign countries.

Bell 206L Long Ranger II "Spirit of Texas"
(1973)

The first Bell 206L was developed in 1973 to replace the legendary Bell JetRanger. More than 5,000 JetRangers and more than 1,000 Long Rangers have been produced. The Bell 206L Long Ranger II "Spirit of Texas was used by Ross Perot Jr. and Jay Coburn to complete the first around-the-world flight by a helicopter in September 1982. The trip took 29 days with a total of almost 250 hours of actually flying time.

The next stop on our tour is the West Wing of the Museum, which is used for Special Aircraft Exhibits.

| Home | Intro | Ventures | Sea | Air | Space | SciFi | Racing | Movies | Art | Travel | Exit |

| Intro | Aerobatic Teams | Blue Angels | Thunderbirds | National Air & Space Museum | Aviation History |

Last Updated: January 1, 2003