“It’s like a motorcycle for the sky”

One man assembles a Hiller Rotorcycle, while another flies above - Courtesy Hiller Aviation Museum

Designed by Stanley Hiller to help downed pilots evade enemy capture. Small enough to fit into a pod slung under an aircraft, the collapsible Rotorcycle could be dropped by parachute and assembled in minutes with no special tools. Pilots could conceivably strap themselves into the craft for a quick and safe getaway.

The Rotorcycle’s dimensions speak for themselves; the aircraft measures in at less than 19 feet long and less than 8 feet high with a weight of only 290 pounds. Compared to other helicopters, the Rotorcycle is modest.

Hiller won the 1954 Navy Bureau of Aeronautics contract to build a one-person helicopter because of the innovative design featuring his patented “Rotormatic” gyro-stabilization system which connects to the main rotor and allows for easy flying. The Rotorcycle also utilized a Nelson H-59, two cycle, 40 horsepower, four-cylinder engine rather than an air-cooled engine.

Plans for the Rotorcycle saw it not just as an escape craft but also as a vehicle from which infantrymen could descend to the ground quickly for strategic missions. The expectation was that a pilot could fly the helicopter after just eight hours of instruction.

The first Rotorcycle flew in 1957. English aircraft manufacturer Sanders Roe was contracted to build 10 more between 1959 and 1961. Only a handful of these helicopters are in existence as the military canceled testing before the Rotorcycle entered service and halted production at number 12. Several Rotorcycles are unaccounted for or missing, and just a couple are in museums.

Via: Skycontrol