Piasecki Helicopter

Piasecki Helicopter
Industry	Aerospace
Founded	1940
Headquarters	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Key people	Frank Piasecki, Don R. Berlin
Products	Helicopters

Piasecki Helicopter Corporation was a designer and manufacturer of helicopters located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and nearby Morton, Pennsylvania, in the late 1940s and the 1950s.^[1] Its founder, Frank Piasecki, was ousted from the company in 1956 and started a new company, Piasecki Aircraft. Piasecki Helicopter was renamed Vertol Corporation in early 1956.^[2] Vertol was acquired by Boeing in 1960 and renamed Boeing Vertol.

History

PV-2 at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.

The Piasecki Helicopter Corporation was founded in 1940 by Frank Piasecki as the P-V Engineering Forum. It first became known as Piasecki Helicopter in 1946. The PV-2 was the second helicopter flown in the United States (following Igor Sikorsky's VS-300), and was designed and flown by Frank Piasecki in 1943.

Piasecki designed and successfully sold a series of tandem rotor helicopters to the United States Navy, starting with the HRP-1 of 1944. The HRP-1 was nicknamed the "flying banana" because of the upward angle of the aft fuselage that ensured the large rotors did not hit each other in flight, and because the Coast Guard painted the aircraft yellow. The name would later be applied to other Piasecki helicopters of similar design.

In 1949, Piasecki provided the H-21 Workhorse to the United States Air Force, an improved, all-metal derivative of the HRP-1. Piasecki's tandem-rotor helicopters flew higher than competing single rotor designs, and offered a smoother ride.

In 1946, to fund expansion, Piasecki sold a 51% interest in the company to Laurance Rockefeller and A. Felix du Pont, Jr. for $500,000. Don R. Berlin was brought in as president and director of Piasecki Helicopters in 1953,^[3] while Frank Piasecki was chairman of the board. The majority owners eventually lost faith in Frank Piasecki's leadership and by May 1956 he was out of the company. He had formed a new company, Piasecki Aircraft Corporation to pursue the development of compound helicopters and other rotorcraft. In two successive special stockholders' meetings the board then changed the name of Piasecki Helicopter to Vertol (for vertical take-off and landing) Aircraft Corporation and amended the bylaws to bar Piasecki's re-election as a director, on the grounds that he was running a rival company.^[2]

The company was acquired by Boeing in 1960 and renamed Boeing Vertol.^[1] It became the Boeing Helicopter Division in 1987.

Products

References

1 2 "Tandem Twosome", Vertical Magazine, February–March 2007
1 2 Trimble 1982, pp. 257–258.
↑ Miller, Steven."Frank Piasecki, 88, Vertical Flight Pioneer." The New York Sun, February 14, 2008. Retrieved: June 2, 2013.

Spenser, Jay P. Whirlybirds, A History of the U.S. Helicopter Pioneers. University of Washington Press, 1998. ISBN 0-295-97699-3.
Trimble, William F. High Frontier: A History of Aeronautics in Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1982. ISBN 978-0-82295-340-1.

Piasecki Helicopter/Vertol/Piasecki Aircraft

Piasecki/Vertol helicopters	PV-2 PV-3/HRP Rescuer PV-14 Retriever PV-15 Transporter PV-17 Rescuer H-16 Transporter H-21 H-25/HUP Retriever

Piasecki Aircraft	16H Pathfinder PA-39 VZ-8/PA-59 Airgeep PA-97 X-49

Boeing

Companies	Boeing Aircraft Holding Company Boeing Australia Boeing Canada Boeing Capital Boeing Commercial Airplanes Boeing Defense, Space & Security Boeing Phantom Works Boeing Rotorcraft Systems Boeing UK HRL Laboratories Jeppesen McDonnell Douglas Narus Spectrolab United Launch Alliance

People	William M. Allen James A. Bell John H. Biggs William Boeing John Bryson Arthur D. Collins Jr. Philip M. Condit William M. Daley Darleen Druyun Kenneth Duberstein Edgar Gott Philip G. Johnson John McDonnell James McNerney Susan Schwab Michael M. Sears Frank Shrontz Harry Stonecipher Malcolm T. Stamper Thornton Wilson Mike S. Zafirovski

Projects	BCT Modernization Boeing Black Boeing 7x7 series Boeing hydrofoils Boeing Jetfoils Connexion by Boeing Future Combat Systems

Facilities	Boeing Everett Factory Boeing Plant 1 Boeing Plant 2 Boeing Renton Factory Boeing South Carolina Boeing Store Future of Flight Aviation Center & Boeing Tour Michoud Assembly Facility Plant 42

Other	Boeing strike of 1948 Boeing Technical Fellowship Competition between Airbus and Boeing

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