Evening star., 1943-03-01
He|icopter Developed
By Army for Rescue
Descents in Jungle
Croft Also Expected
To Be Useful in Lioison
And Message Work
BY CLARK LEE,
Associated Press STAFF Writer


| Associated Press STAFF Writer
WRIGHT FIELD, Dayton, Ohio,
March 1.-The big Army bomber,
badly shot up by Jap anti-aircraft
guns and by swarms of Zero fighters
after completing its mission against
enemy shipping at Rabaul. made a
| crash landing in the mountains of
New Guinea.
Three of Its crew were wounded
| by enemy bullets. two others in
jured in the landing on a heavily
wooded plateau. The spot is only
20 miles by air from our nearest air
field, but 1t would take days to
hack a path through the jungle
| wilderness.
Several other big bombers are
circling overhead, helpless except to
parachute food and medicine to the
men standing beside the wreckage
of their plane.
Suddenly a queer-looking craft
drops through the air, straight to-
ward the wreck. It has no wings.
| but on its oddly shaped fuselage
are painted the white stars of the
United States Army Air Forces. With
its double rotor blades beating the
air, the helicopter slips between two
trees, hovers over the wreckage and
then settles down to rest on the
fuselage of the bomber.
One by one the wounded men and
the others Of the bomber crew are
taken abroad and carried back to
their base =
First Indication Of Military Use.
That hypothetical rescue mission
Is just one of the jobs which the
Army Air Forces envisages for the
helicopter, whose development" has
been announced by the Army Air
Forces in statement from Wright
Field.
Helicopters have been flying for
some years, but the Army's an
nouncement is the first official indi-
cation that they have reached q
point of military usefulness.
The helicopter exhibited by the
Army is two-place ship, which has
been ordered in production guam
titles from the Vought- -Sikorsky Co.
The original model of the present
craft was designed by Igor Sikorsky,
IN 1899, demonstrated by him in
1910, and then simplified and i'm
proved as result of tests made
both by the Army and the inventor
With its 36-foot rotors swinging
horizontally above the fuselage. the
hellcopter can rise or descend ver-
tlcally, fly forward or backward.
shy to either side or bounce about
on the air" spin like a top on its
vertical axis, or hover motionless
over a definite spot. The plane
needs no landing field or take-off
| runway. 1t can be set down in anv
place large enough to accommodate
Its rotors, its length of 80 feet and
! Its height of IL feet.
Can Land Easily With Motor Dead.
In addition to the horizontal
rotors, the helicopter has further
! control i'll small. seven and one
half foot vertical rotor (or propeller,
at one side Of the tail. Power is
! supplied 10 both rotors by a seven
cychnder Warner radial engine by
/ gear and shaft transmission.
Even If the motor quits, the pilot
+ doesn't have to worry. He sticks
the nose of the 2,4O0-pound craft
earthWard, the wind swings the
rotor blades and the hellcopter
"lndmllls gently to the ground.
lhe Army expects to Use the hell
/ cCpter Tor numerous military mis-
SONS, especially liaison and message
Work. For instance, a telephone
hne can be dropped from the craft
ana messages delivered personally
IN inaccessible spots without neces-
/ Slty OF landing. In tests. a ladder
mas been dropped from the cabin
/ and crew member has climbed to
/ the ground, finished his errand. and
then returned to the aircraft.
/ The hellcopter could also operate
from any ship deck large enough to
accommodate its bulk. It floats. It
! can fly from land, water, snow.
/ marsh or thin ice.
! Suitable for Ambulance.
1t would also lend itself, the Army
! points cut, ito adaptation as an
/ aerial ambulance for removal Of
inquired from jungle or other re-
mote areas often virtually inacces-
slble to ground crews or to be
reached only by long and arduous
ehoft. There are several recent
/ instances in the case of crashed
bombers where hel,ccpter
could have accomplished res
cues IN hours rather than DAYS"
The first successful helicopter
was developed by Prof. Focke in
Germany, but. the Army says. little
has been heard OF this craft, per-
hapS because of the war. perhap ps
because of inherent weakness OF
design"
With the Improvements and adap-
tatlons for military use now con-
templated, the Army states, the
American helicopter promises to
prove an addition to American air
potentlality. not only tor the short
enlng and winning OF the war but
for the revivif1cation Of civilian
| aviation IN the neare uhirb fnlloue -