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De Bothezat Flying Octopus: A look back at America's first military helicopter

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De Bothezat Flying Octopus: A look back at America's first military helicopter
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Simple Flying | Simple Flying

In 1922, the United States Army received its first helicopter, the de Bothezat Flying Octopus. While it wasn't the first successful helicopter to serve in the US Army Air Force—that honor went to the Sikorsky R-4B Hoverfly during World War II—it marked a significant step in military aviation history.

The early 20th century was a period of experimentation for aviation, as described by the National Air and Space Museum: "During the early twenties many experimenters in aviation undertook the challenge of making a craft which would rise vertically and hover in the air." This era saw developments ranging from airships to airplanes and eventually rotary aircraft.

The de Bothezat Helicopter was developed by Dr. George de Bothezat, a Russian aeronautical engineer who fled Russia after the 1917 revolution. In June 1921, he signed a contract with the US Air Service to build an experimental helicopter. Vertical Mag reports that "the project to build the helicopter was considered top secret at the time."

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Powered initially by a 180-horsepower Le Rhone engine and later upgraded to a 220-horsepower Bentley BR-2 engine, the helicopter featured a quadrotor structure with six-bladed rotors. Known as the 'flying octopus,' it underwent over 200 power tests at McCook Field in Dayton, Ohio. The highest recorded altitude reached was about 15 feet.

Despite these achievements, including carrying two passengers on one flight and maintaining flight for up to three minutes, challenges remained. Engineers noted issues with complexity, control difficulties, and pilot workload. Consequently, "Military rotary-wing aviation’s time had not yet arrived," leading to the termination of the program and eventual disassembly of the aircraft.

Dr. George de Bothezat continued his work on helicopters into the late 1930s but passed away before seeing his designs come to fruition.

Today, advancements have led to innovations like tiltrotor aircraft, such as the CV-22 Osprey and Bell V-280 Valor, which combine elements of helicopters and turboprop airplanes.

Organizations Included in this History
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