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History:  Helicopters | UAVs | Compound | Geeps | Heavy Lift | Future | Piasecki first

History - single rotor helicopters
MODEL  PV-2

To reduce the development risks, a conventional tail rotor was chosen for anti-torque and yaw control. This machine, the PV-2, single seat, single rotor helicopter, was built as a technology demonstrator of several advanced concepts in the undeveloped VTOL field. The machine featured the first dynamically balanced rotor blades, a rigid tail rotor with a tension-torsion pitch change system, an overhead stick, and a full cyclic and collective rotor pitch control. The first flight was on 11 April 1943. Frank Piasecki was the test pilot, teaching himself to fly the PV-2 helicopter with only 14 hours of previous flying time in a fixed wing airplane. On 20 October 1943, he demonstrated the machine’s precise finger-tip control characteristics before military and commercial operators in Washington, D.C. It was the second successful helicopter to fly in the U.S. and is now displayed at the American Helicopter Museum and Education Center in West Chester, PA.

 
First flight, 11 April 1943
                                                              

Flight demonstration, Washington, DC, 20  October 1943

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