The first free flight took place on May 13, The innovative foot diameter, three-blade rotor allowed for variable pitch of the blades with a blade speed of to mph. The concepts demonstrated in the VS provided the basis for the first production helicopters and became the standard for helicopter manufacturing across the world. On June 27, , Sikorsky submitted a patent application no.
The patent was granted on March 19, Igor Sikorsky's first helicopter ascent, Stratford. Sikorsky, Igor I. A true aviation pioneer in terms not only of helicopters, but fixed-wing aircraft as well, Sikorsky immigrated to the USA in and founded his own Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation in At the age of 12, Sikorsky made his first model flying machine, a helicopter powered by rubber bands. Sikorsky decided when he was about 17 that he wanted to study engineering, after spending three years at the Imperial Russian Naval Academy.
About two years later, he learnt about the Wright brothers and other aeronautical pioneers, and backed financially by his sister, went off to Paris to study aviation. He began his helicopter design career in in Russia, but quickly realized that various factors counted against him, not least of which was his lack of experience and shortage of money.
There are at least two more inventors that definitely deserve a mention in the history of the helicopter, Stanley Hiller, Jnr and Arthur Young. He was also the pilot of the first helicopter to be successfully flown across the USA in — the Hiller Young, who worked for the Bell Aircraft Company designed a helicopter that was the first to have a full bubble canopy — the Bell Model And then there was Igor Sikorsky.
A year later, it went on to break the world helicopter endurance record — previously held by the Focke-Achgelis Fa — by staying airborne for 1 hour, 32 minutes, Laurence LePage and Haviland H. Platt, to design a helicopter with a rotor on either side, designated the XR The helicopter was piloted around a test circuit on June 9, , reaching speeds nearing mph.
A number of problems plagued the XR The helicopter was hard to control and suffered from severe vibrations a problem that plagued other contemporary aircraft , and the design had poor visibility of what lay beneath the aircraft. The latter was resolved by covering the nose in Plexiglas, a feature still used today in many helicopters. The aircraft flew high enough to boost the scouting range, had excellent stability and could quickly separate from the submarine in the case of an emergency or an attack on the U-boat.
Unfortunately for the Germans, the craft also had a large radar signature, which made it impractical for use in the Atlantic, where Allied patrols had upgraded radar capabilities. In the end, the Reich only manufactured the gyro kite in limited quantities and only for use in the Indian Ocean. Sikorsky demonstrated his new aircraft, designated the XR-4, in January Eventually, the XR-4 would be used in amphibious and shipboard operations as well as rescue missions.
The U. With the helicopter, Sikorsky established himself as a leading innovator in helicopter design by the end of World War II.
While on a much smaller budget than Sikorsky, Piasecki was able to create a helicopter that had a more stable flying experience. The same year, with only 15 hours of flight time, Piasecki received the first helicopter license given out by the Civil Aeronautics Administration. Despite his early focus on personal aircraft, Piasecki went on to create the workhorses of the cargo helicopter fleet, innovating the fore and aft rotor.
A proposed solution included a vertical rocket plane, the Bachem Ba , but also a design for an aircraft, the Henkel Wespe, that could take off vertically using a large central rotor, a design known as a coleopter "sheath-winged".
The Bell Model 30 first flew in December , but both the 30 and its successor, the Model 42, failed to sell well. Bell rethought the design, adding seating for two and a more powerful engine, and christened the result — finished in — the Model The helicopter sold very well in the commercial market, and military interest soon followed.
During the Korean War, the H — as it was designated by the military — evacuated more than 15, wounded. Navy funded a number of designers who had not signed contracts with the Army Air Corps. Piasecki used his experience with the XR-1, which he noticed flew better sideways than forward, and his success in developing the dynamically balanced rotor on the PV-2, to develop a design with tandem fore and aft rotors.
But less than a year later, he switched to airplane parts as World War II heated up, and earned his first million. Hiller became a top defense contractor, supplying the military with several versions of his aircraft and developing some less-conventional designs, including the Hornet, Rotorcycle and the Flying Platform.
With his popular UH, which the U. Civilian versions of the craft were used by ranchers, police departments and the media. Hiller died in The first prototype, designated the HJ-1, flew in Hiller convinced the U.
Navy to purchase three of the ramjet-powered helicopters, which the military dubbed the HOE During operation, the small helicopter proved to have some significant problems, however, including the rotor hitting ground personnel and the ramjets creating a bright ring of fire that could be seen easily during night operations. Air Force and Navy crafted two design studies in for creating a fixed-wing vertical-takeoff-and-landing, or VTOL, aircraft.
The goal of the project was to build a fighter that could protect convoys but not require a large landing area. In May , both Lockheed and Convair won contracts to build prototypes of the aircraft, which resembled squat fighter planes standing on their tails. The Navy, however, gave Convair the only engine rated for vertical takeoffs and landings, allowing its aircraft — the XFY-1 Pogo — to make several vertical ascents and multiple transitions to horizontal flight.
The Lockheed XFV-1 used a less-powerful engine and never made a vertical takeoff, but was fitted with landing gear and made 32 horizontal flights. Kaman took the design and modified it in many ways, but most significantly, he added a jet-turbine engine, replacing the old reciprocating piston engines used by previous helicopters. The addition of the turbine engine made the Kaman K, and future helicopters, safer, more reliable and easier to maintain. Turbine engines also increased performance, allowing the Kaman K to successfully fly through an intentional loop in March The design, however, had a significant flaw: It moved at only three-quarters of the speed of contemporary rotorcraft.
The idea was first suggested by engineer Charles Zimmerman, who called it the "flying shoes. Army in September to build a variant of the concept, dubbed the "flying platform. Of the six flying platforms built, the whereabouts of four are currently unknown. Following experiences in the Korean War, the U.
Army sought a medical evacuation helicopter for battlefield use.
0コメント