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Aviation History
1941
1941 - 1216.PDF
374 MAY 29TH, 1941. HOVERING RECORD Sikorsky's Helicopter Aloft for 65 Minutes 1AST month, with Igor I. Sikorsky atthe controls, a record-making_V flight of the Vought-SikorskyHelicopter VS-300-A took place at Strat- ford, Conn. For 1 hr. 5 min. i-i.i^fep-Sikorsky hovered over an area of ifss than an acre, after having made a. truevertical take-off with no ground run or angular climb. The descent and landingat the end of the flight were likewise per- fectly vertical. This"was the first offi-cially recorded flight of the helicopter in the Western Hemisphere, and it thereforeestablished the first national record. The German and French helicoptersutilise two main rotors turning in opposite directions, which makes neces-sary a much more complicated mechanism. British experiments haveincluded both single and twin rotors. The VS-300-A can operate from an arealess than 50ft. square, but should have 20ft. or 30ft. more for error in piloting.It is a single-phase machine powered with a go h.p. Franklin engine. The gross weight at the time of therecord flight was approximately 1,290 lb. It has a 3-bladed main rotor, 28ft. indiameter, and three 2-bladed auxiliary tail rotors, 92m. in diameter. The pitchof all the rotors is controllable, which provides control in flight. The poweris transmitted in the experimental model through a multiple-belt drive for pur-poses of flexibility in making alterations. Control is secured by the conventionalthrottle, stick and rudder, plus a pitch control lever which governs the angle ofattack of the main rotor blades. On April 17th Mr. Sikorsky made aseaplane flight with the helicopter. He took off from the Housatonic River, ad-,jacent to the factory, hovered los a minute or two and landed on the watW.Flotation was -made possible by remap ing the landing gear and replacing it withthree cigar-shaped rubber floats. i •'-4
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