Back Hiller XH-44
1944

Hiller XH-44

Stanley Hiller flew the first successful American co-axial helicopter, the XH-44, in July 1944, when he was only 19 years old. It also featured the world's first successful all-metal rigid-rotor blades. Hiller had learned to fly from his father at an early age, and at 16, Hiller had started a business building small gasoline engine model cars; revenue eventually grew to $100,000. Hiller became interested in helicopters in 1937 when he saw pictures of the Focke Wulf Fw 61, as well as Sikorsky's VS-300 in 1939. Hiller felt the tail rotors used on the VS-300 and the outriggers on the Fw 61 were wasteful and possibly unnecessary. The XH-44 evaluated three different rotor configurations: rigid, articulated, and semi-rigid, which was selected. The engine was uprated from a 90hp Franklin to a 125hp Lycoming. The XH-44 was the first successful helicopter west of New York, and Hiller made public demonstrations of the XH-44 in nearby San Francisco.

Hiller XH-44

Hiller XH-44

Hiller XH-44

Hiller XH-44

Comments
lxbfYeaa, e-mail, 14.03.2024reply

20

mberfbtpsm, e-mail, 14.11.2020reply

Muchas gracias. ?Como puedo iniciar sesion?

lxbfYeaa, e-mail, 14.03.2024 mberfbtpsm

20

reply

Ruckweiler, e-mail, 14.11.2015reply

Every time I see this at Air&Space I'm amazed that a 17-19 year old had this kind of inventiveness. Amazing.

Valeri johannes, e-mail, 15.11.2014reply

I had some of those photos and I gave them to my brother. Will check with him and see if he still has them

Al Meyer, e-mail, 29.04.2013reply

do you know if the Lycoming engine was a O-235, O-295 or some other engine ?

SBill, e-mail, 28.12.2009reply

Do you have any pictures of helicopter landing in /hovering over a pool? Looking for a particular print. Thanks so much.

Harold Abdrews, e-mail, 07.05.2009reply

Did stanley hiller coceive the helicoptor while at Stanford University.

H Balsdon, e-mail, 23.04.2009reply

Do you have any pictures of Stan Hillers helicopters at the Balsdon ranch in grimes ca? thank you Howard

dennis scott wallace, e-mail, 27.03.2007reply

where could a person get the prints to his machine

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