TOP LEFT: PIASECKI PHOTO; BOTTOM LEFT: SAN DIEGO AIR & SPACE MUSEUM PHOTO; RIGHT: US ARMY PHOTO


Founding Father Frank Piasecki left his mark on the helicopter industry.


JOHN AND FRED PIASECKI, the current leaders of Piasecki Aircraft Corp., like to say that Piasecki is an ideas company, with a legacy of more than 25 vertical flight aircraft developments. That tradition was begun by their father and company founder, Frank Piasecki, an engineer who pioneered helicopters during the industry’s infancy, developing innovations such as the tandem rotor that are in wide use today. In 1943, Frank Piasecki developed the second


Above: Frank


Piasecki accepts the 1986 National Medal of Technology and Innovation from


President Reagan for his numerous


contributions to


vertical lift aircraft. Below: the Piasecki Airgeep II, a


prototype of a flying jeep developed for the US Army, takes


its first flight in 1962. At right: the US Army CH-21C Shawnee utilized Piasecki’s


tandem-rotor design.


helicopter to fly in the United States, the PV-2 single-seat, single-rotor helicopter, four years after Igor Sikorsky’s first flight in the VS-300. He was also the first to obtain a US helicopter pilot’s license without already having an airplane rating. To promote the PV-2, Frank appeared in a short film, landing the helicopter on a golf course, at a gas station, and in other locations, displaying its novel ability to land practically anywhere. Developed as a technology demonstrator and never produced commercially, the PV-2 now resides at the Smithsonian Institution. Frank’s accomplishments attracted the interest


of the US Navy, and in 1945, the service awarded him a contract to design a large tandem-rotor, heavy-load helicopter. The result was the HRP-1, the “Flying Banana,” the first tandem-rotor helicopter and the first helicopter designed for the Navy. This aircraft and its derivatives were instrumental in pioneering vertical lift applications in the US military, including anti-submarine warfare, mine clearance, vertical


LEARN More about Helicopter History with a Look at a Vintage Bristol Sycamore


envelopment with the Marine Corps, air assault and air ambulance for the US Army, and combat search and rescue for the US Air Force. Piasecki’s tandem-rotor design formed the


foundation of many present-day rotorcraft, including the CH-47 Chinook, cementing his helicopter legacy. A durable workhorse for both military and civilian missions, the CH-47 has a payload of approximately 14 tons. In 1955, Frank left what was then called Piasecki Helicopter Corp. to form Piasecki Aircraft Corp. and concentrate on developing advanced VTOL systems. Piasecki Helicopter Corp., renamed Vertol, was then sold to Boeing. Meanwhile, at Piasecki Aircraft Corp., Frank continued to advance vertical flight and, in 1958, developed the Airgeep flying car. At the same time,


he flew the world’s first quadcopter drone, called the Sea Bat. From 1961 to 1966, Frank developed the first


shaft-driven, high-speed compound helicopter, the 16H-1 Pathfinder and 16H-1A Pathfinder II. In the 1970s and 1980s, he developed and flew the world’s largest VTOL aircraft, the PA-97 Helistat, a hybrid aircraft that incorporated a blimp and four helicopter rotors for super-heavy lift applications. In his later years, Frank oversaw the resurgence


of compound-helicopter technology with the successful test flight of the X-49A SpeedHawk compound aircraft, ushering in a period of VTOL innovation with the US Department of Defense’s Future Vertical Lift (FVL) program. Before his death in 2008 at the age of 88,


Frank received numerous awards, including the National Medal of Technology and Innovation and the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Lifetime Achievement Award.


44 ROTOR SEPTEMBER 2022


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