Originally Posted by SASless
This is not an altitude record per se but did involve a piston powered helicopter.
Later the same day as Bading's evacuation to definitive medical care, May 20th, Link Luckett flew his Hiller helicopter, stripped of everything including the starter-battery, to 5200 meters (17060 feet) and extracted John Day. The next day he repeated this amazing feat to similarly rescue Pete Schoening at the same altitude.
I have seen a photo of Link taking off his boots prior to takeoff....to save even that few pounds of weight.
dont want to be to nerdie but it was 1960 and at that time was a record by a margin of 3000ft, got Hiller a lot a subsequent sales.