Sticking with our helicopter theme… On this day in aviation history: In 1952 the first known “sky crane” takes off. Heavy-lift helicopters are fascinating – their basic designs and capabilities are well outside the normal personnel and transport helicopters we see every day, and they can perform seemingly amazing feats of strength. In the late 1940s, all branches of the US military, as well as those of other countries, were seeking to use what was then a relatively new technology to perform mass movements of troops and equipment within areas with limited airfields. Hughes Aircraft Company, which had not built a helicopter to that point, bought a promising design from Kellett Aircraft Company in 1948. The design combined equipment from several other aircraft onto a frame that straddled its load and used two jet engines to power its enormous 134 foot rotor. The resulting XH-17 Flying Crane demonstrated that it could fly with a gross weight in excess of 25 tons over a distance of about 40 miles. However, in a form true to other Hughes aircraft, the XH-17 was the largest helicopter of its time (and still may hold that record), but it was impractical for general use and the program was eventually cancelled in favor of other helicopters. The single example was scrapped sometime before 1960.
Posted on: Thu, 23 Oct 2014 18:45:58 +0000