FRANK ROBINSON Designer of the world’s best-selling general-aviation helicopter, the R44.


Frank Robinson, the son of a coal miner and a homemaker, was the youngest of four children. After reading about Igor Sikorsky hovering his VS-300 in 1939, the then- 9-year-old Robinson’s course was set. Te idea of a machine flying in


place gripped him for life. Raised on Whidbey Island, Washington, Robinson


was bored by school, often leaving to work on US Merchant Marine ships in Alaska. A math teacher who saw his engineering potential convinced Robinson to visit the University of Washington, where he was accepted. But with tuition unaffordable, Robinson


enlisted with the US Army during the Korean War. After being honorably discharged, he returned to the University of Washington with the help of the GI Bill. Graduating in 1957 with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, he studied graduate aeronautics at the University of Wichita (Kansas). Early in his aviation career, Robinson


worked at Cessna (on the CH-1), Umbaugh (on its gyroplane), McCulloch Motors (on inexpensive-rotorcraft design studies), Kaman (on gyrodynes), Bell (earning a tail-rotor expert’s reputation), and Hughes (on projects including a quiet helicopter). Unable to pitch a small, low-cost helicopter,


the single father of three quit his job in 1973, mortgaged his Palos Verdes, California, home, and founded Robinson Helicopter Co. Te shop? His garage. Corporate office? Te living room. Robinson’s two-seat R22 was FAA-certificated in 1979 and the four-seat R44 in 1992 (the later Newscopter, Police, and fuel-injected versions


extended the line). Te five-seat R66 Turbine gained certification in 2010. In its 50 years, the company has delivered more than 13,000 helicopters worldwide and continues to be a sales leader. An honorary lifetime HAI member, Frank


Robinson retired in 2010, leaving his son, Kurt, to assume the role of president and chairman of the company. Frank died on Nov. 12, 2022. His many honors include the 2012 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Daniel Guggenheim Medal, considered among the greatest honors for a lifetime of aeronautics work. He received the award “for conception, design, and manufacture of a family of quiet, affordable, reliable, and versatile helicopters.”


Robinson R66 | HAI/Dan Sweet Photo SPECIAL COMMEMORATIVE ISSUE ROTOR 149


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