US Navy Aviation-WWII Chronology

[SASless]

Reading down through the entries....some interesting events were listed.

The advance of technology being one of them.

Naval Aviation World War II (http://www.history.navy.mil/branches/avchr5.htm)


One example.....


APRIL 1940

23--Commander D. Royce was designated to represent the Navy on an Army Air Corps Evaluation Board for rotary-wing aircraft. This board was established incidental to legislation directing the War Department to undertake governmental development of rotary-wing aircraft.

[Willard Whyte]

3rd Oct '45 marks a high(er) goal...

[Buster Hyman]

March 22 - 1940 - Development of guided missiles. Didn't think they were looking at them back then.

[A A Gruntpuddock]

The Germans, as usual, were ahead of most people in this field - List of German guided weapons of World War II - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_German_guided_weapons_of_World_War_II)

[SASless]

Decca's first Airborne use was in a Blimp......least ways first American Aviation use. We still used that junk in the late 70's in the UK.

PBY's had an auto landing system for water landings.....lots of neat stuff being developed during the war.

First Tandem Rotor Helicopter.

First Ship Borne Helicopter operation....American Helicopter and crew....British Freighter.

First Helicopter Winch.....courtesy of the Coast Guard.

[Rosevidney1]

Hanna Reich flew a tandem rotor helicopter in the Berlin Halle building before WW2.

[SASless]

Hers was a side by side wasn't it?

[MightyGem]

Yes, the FW 61 Achgelis:

http://ww2gravestone.com/sites/default/files/uploads/hannah-Reitsch.jpg

[SASless]

An autogyro was it.....had a radial engine and propeller up front.

[Willard Whyte]

Nope, proper chopper.

They hadn't developed a reliable method of converting the thrust from the main rotors to fwd/aft l/r thrust, so the front prop was purely to provide forward thrust.

More info, from the BBC at its best, here (FW/A 61 circa 02m40s): Horizon - The Chopper - YouTube

[A A Gruntpuddock]

http://www.talkingproud.us/Retired/Retired/HappyHookerCh47_files/tandem-rotor-helicopters002c-a-brief-history.pdf

"Nicholas Florine, a Russian-born engineer, built one of thefirst successful tandem rotor helicopters, in Belgium, in
1929-30. He improved on his design over time, but
experienced multiple problems and the idea became dormant
during WWII."

[GreenKnight121]

Hanna Reich flew a tandem rotor helicopter in the Berlin Halle building before WW2.
Hers was a side by side wasn't it?
Which means it was NOT "tandem".

"Tandem" is defined as a group of two or more arranged one behind the other.

Tandem - Definition and More from the Free Merriam-Webster Dictionary (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/tandem)

[Haraka]

The small "propeller" on the FW 61 was a cooling fan for the Bramo radial, the FW 61 having for and aft cyclic control on its rotors ( using differential disc cyclic for yaw control).
I don't know exactly when the US Navy first claimed to have realistically operated helicopters from ships, but following trials in 1942 off of a turret platform on the Köln, the German Navy used around 20 Fl 282s in 1943 on operational convoy protection support in the Mediterranean. This helicopter was of course a direct progenitor of the subsequent Kaman intermeshing rotor family right up to K-Max.
As for tandem rotors ; Paul Cornu in France apparently got airborne in a tandem rotored helicopter in 1907 :two 20 ft rotors counter rotating.
Guided Missile development can readily be traced back to the work of Professor A.M. Low ( amongst others) in Great Britain during the First World War, under the deliberately misleading "aerial target" programme. In 1917 Low and his team had also developed an electrically steered wire guided rocket , almost an exact counterpart of the anti-shipping missiles ,referenced earlier, that were later successfully used by the Germans from 1943.

[The Helpful Stacker]

Now, now 'Harkara', don't burst our bubbles. TV tells us that everything worthwhile was pioneered by us Americans.

[teeteringhead]

An autogyro was it.....had a radial engine and propeller up front. Couldn't have "hovered" an autogyro indoors as the Focke-Achgelis 61 did - they (autogyros) can only manage zero groundspeed not zero airspeed.

I think the bold Hanna managed spot turns and sideways-and-backwards too!! And that was February 1938 - 20 months after the first flight......

[Haraka]

Helpful Stacker:
I'm not having a go at our cousins as such but they don't exactly help their own case for even handedness when coming out ,in the reference by Gruntpuddock (talking proud .us etc. etc. , with Frank Piasecki having:

" developed the world's first US Navy helicopter"

:ok:

[SASless]

Stacker......knock off the bull****.....that kind of comment is out of line and you know it.

It might work in the NAAFI.....but not here anymore.

Don't try the "Banter" excuse.....as you know it isn't.....coming from you.


Haraka,

"World's First US Navy Helicopter"......seems it does specify US Navy....but I think it omits Sikorsky's offering plus One would have to define what "first" means. By "First" do we mean operational....prototype.....accepted design?

Just for giggles.....what was the first RN helicopter?

When did it become "Operational"?

What was the first German Navy Helicopter (not autogyro)?

When did it become Operational?

What was the first Russian Navy Helicopter?

When did it become Operational?

[The Helpful Stacker]

Stacker......knock off the bull****.....that kind of comment is out of line and you know it.

It might work in the NAAFI.....but not here anymore.

Don't try the "Banter" excuse.....as you know it isn't.....coming from you.

Not out of line at all SASless and you know it.

I'm lucky. I've had the benefit of being educated and enjoying a military career beyond the borders of the land of my birth where, sadly, ignorance is still very much celebrated, and much the populace takes whatever the media shoves at them as fact.

As for your pithy "as you know it isn't.....coming from you" I'm not sure what you mean by this. In this case yes it wasn't banter but I've hardly a track record for 'America Hating', whatever your right-wing 'spidey senses' may tell you.

[SASless]

Not out of line at all SASless and you know it.

I'm lucky. I've had the benefit of being educated and enjoying a military career beyond the borders of the land of my birth where, sadly, ignorance is still very much celebrated, and much the populace takes whatever the media shoves at them as fact.

As for your pithy "as you know it isn't.....coming from you" I'm not sure what you mean by this. In this case yes it wasn't banter but I've hardly a track record for 'America Hating', whatever your right-wing 'spidey senses' may tell you.


Either you made a Freudian Slip or your wonderful education omitted English Grammar. I should think your fellows would take exception to your accusing them of celebrating their ignorance and swallowing what every the British Media and BBC shoves at them.

[Haraka]

What was the first German Navy Helicopter (not autogyro)?

When did it become Operational?

Oh, do pay attention SASless . Try reading my above comment in #13.....

:ugh:

[The Helpful Stacker]

Either you made a Freudian Slip or your wonderful education omitted English Grammar. I should think your fellows would take exception to your accusing them of celebrating their ignorance and swallowing what every the British Media and BBC shoves at them.

Did I stutter? Which part of,

TV tells us that everything worthwhile was pioneered by us Americans.

didn't you understand?

"...us Americans" implies belonging to the group known as 'Americans'. I was born in Michigan.

To follow on,

"....beyond the borders..." I was educated and have spent a great deal of time away from the US.

"...land of my birth where, sadly, ignorance is still very much celebrated..", Michigan being located in the United States, where (in my opinion) ignorance is much celebrated.

I do hope you paid greater scrutiny to important things all those years ago when you were in the military than it seems you are capable of now whilst using a mere forum.

[Haraka]

Indeed Stacker!

I feel I'm in some danger of SASless's amusing verbal perambulations soon being responsible for my becoming the
" Proud owner of the World's first cup of coffee spilled over a keyboard at Haraka House"

Haraka out.

[MightyGem]

Here's a video of Hanna Reitsch describing her first flight in the FW 61. Starts at 1m25s

Hanna Reitsch - The Last Interview (Part 1 of 3) - YouTube

[SASless]

November 13, 1907.......France.

A fellow named Cornu hovered the first helicopter.....and gave it up as a bad deal due to Flight Control Problems.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/de/HE2G13.jpg/300px-HE2G13.jpg


A History of Helicopter Flight (http://terpconnect.umd.edu/~leishman/Aero/history.html)

[West Coast]

What? No stability augmentation to help?

[SASless]

Now once upon a time I heard Igor had a Nervous Breakdown after a flight.....and while recuperating figured out the Correlated Throttle concept.

Don't know if it is true.....but it sounds good!

[GreenKnight121]

"World's First US Navy Helicopter"......seems it does specify US Navy....but I think it omits Sikorsky's offering plus One would have to define what "first" means. By "First" do we mean operational....prototype.....accepted design?

I would expect it means "first helicopter designed to a USN specification".

Sikorsky's first several models were generic designs, mostly paid for by, and built for, the USAAF.

It is simply that the nature of helicopters meant that they were useable from shipboard, and were therefore the first helicopters used by the USN - but they were not the first helicopters designed for the USN.

[teeteringhead]

What? No stability augmentation to help? No - he was SASless!! Boom boom....

Clearly Cornu's problem was one of appropriate headgear - he lacked Igor's homburg! ;)

[SASless]

Igor's Office is preserved as a "Museum" at the Sikorsky Factory....and includes that famous bit of headgear.

Legend holds that no Helicopter Pilot who has worn that Hat....has ever been hurt by or in a Helicopter.

If one is very fortunate....one might be allowed to sit in the Old Man's Chair and don that magical Hat for a moment....but it is a very special invitation indeed.

[Rosevidney1]

GreenKnight121, you can quote your free Merriam-Webber Dictionary.


I am content to use my purchased Oxford English Dictionary which also says


An arrangement of two people or similar things working together.


The tandem machine was undoubtedly a true helicopter.