Platt - LePage XR - 1 The Platt - LePage XR - 1 , also known by the company designation PL - 3 , was an early American twin - rotor helicopter , built by the Platt - LePage Aircraft Company of Eddystone , Pennsylvania . The winner of a United States Army Air Corps design competition held in early 1940 , the XR - 1 was the first helicopter tested by the USAAF , flying in 1941 . The flight testing of the XR - 1 proved troublesome , and although continued testing showed that the design had promise , other , improved helicopters were becoming available before the XR - 1 was ready for service . As a result , the development of the aircraft was terminated in 1945 . Design and development . Developed during 1939 from an earlier , unsuccessful design , the PL - 1 , the Platt - LePage Model PL - 3 was the winner of a 1940 design competition , held under the terms of the Dorsey - Logan Act , for the supply of a helicopter design to the United States Army Air Corps . Platt - LePage ' s submission was judged by the Army to be superior to its competitors , which included a helicopter submitted by Vought - Sikorsky , and autogyro s developed by Kellett and Pitcairn . In its design , the XR - 1 bore a strong resemblance to the Focke - Wulf Fw 61 , a helicopter developed by Henrich Focke in Germany that , flown by Hanna Reitsch , had impressed Platt - LePage co - founder Wynn LePage during a tour of Europe . The XR - 1 was powered by a Pratt & Whitney R - 985 radial engine , mounted in a buried installation within the fuselage . The aircraft had two , three - bladed rotors , mounted in a side - by - side arrangement on wing - like pylons . The pylons were aerodynamically designed to produce some lift when in forwards flight , slightly unloading the rotors . The construction of the XR - 1 was conventional by the standards of the time , with the aircraft ' s frame consisting of a steel - tube framework , which was covered with fabric . The XR - 1 had tail surfaces similar to those of a conventional aircraft , and was equipped with a fixed , taildragger landing gear . The aircraft ' s wheels freely castered for easier maneuvering on the ground . The cockpit of the XR - 1 seated the aircraft ' s two crew members in a tandem arrangement , the pilot located ahead of the observer , and was extensively glazed to provide good visibility in the aircraft ' s intended observation and army co - operation role . During the development of the aircraft , Major General Robert M . Danford proposed to the War Department that the XR - 1 be evaluated against the Stinson YO - 54 and the Kellett YG - 1B autogyro . Operational history . Following several months of ground testing , the XR - 1 conducted its maiden flight on May 12 , 1941 , although the aircraft was restrained by a tether for its early flights . On June 23 the aircraft conducted its first free flight , albeit remaining within a few feet of the ground . As flight testing continued and the aircraft ' s performance envelope was expanded , the XR - 1 ' s quickly proved troublesome , the testing showing a variety of troubles with the design . These included issues with the aircraft ' s controls , insufficient control authority being present , and in addition there were resonance issues with the airframe that made the XR - 1 prone to pilot - induced oscillation s . The aircraft was modified in an attempt to resolve these issues , and the Army modified Platt - LePage ' s contract to provide additional funding for improvements to the design , but despite this the XR - 1 ' s problems continued . In addition , the company ' s test pilot , Lou Leavitt , lacked confidence in the design , refusing to fly the aircraft to its full potential . The situation was only resolved when Colonel H . Franklin Gregory , director of rotor - wing projects for the Army Air Forces , flew the aircraft himself , reaching on his first flight in the aircraft . With the worst of the aircraft ' s problems believed to have been resolved , the XR - 1 was submitted for service testing by the Army Air Forces in 1943 . During the course of the Army ' s evaluations , the XR - 1 ' s empennage failed during structural testing , the surfaces being strengthened as a result and testing , following the repairs , resuming in 1944 . Despite the modifications to the design , however , the XR - 1 still proved to be deficient in control authority . In July 1943 , the XR - 1 program suffered a setback when the aircraft crashed , seriously injuring test pilot Jim Ray , who had replaced Leavitt following the latter ' s dismissal from the company . The crash was caused by an inspector ' s error in leaving a suspect part on the aircraft , the rotor hub failing in flight as a result of the decision . The aircraft was repairable , but it would be a year before the XR - 1 was ready to fly again . Testing was , however , able to continue in the meantime , as Platt - LePage had re - negotiated the XR - 1 contract to cover a second flight - test aircraft . Built to a revised and improved version of the XR - 1 ' s design and designated XR - 1A , the second aircraft had flown for the first time in May 1943 . The XR - 1A featured a revised cockpit covering compared to that of the XR - 1 , with the area of glazing being increased for improved visibility , and the pilot and observer ' s positions being reversed , the pilot now seated in the rear cockpit . During flight testing the XR - 1A was found superior in flight performance to the XR - 1 ; however , the controls were still proving troublesome , although the worst of the bugs did seem to have been worked out . Following a cross - country flight to Wright Field in Ohio from Platt - LePage ' s Pennsylvania plant , testing of the XR - 1A continued until a mechanical failure in the rotor hub led to a crash landing on 26 October 1944 , the company deciding to sell the wreckage for scrap . The XR - 1 , having been repaired in the meantime , was once again flying , and a contract had been awarded to Platt - Lepage for the construction of seven pre - production aircraft , to be built to an improved version of the XR - 1A design , and designated YR - 1A . Motivated by Congressional concerns about potential favouritism towards Sikorsky Aircraft , which had in the meantime been given a contract for development of an improved version of their VS - 300 experimental helicopter , the contract called for delivery of the first YR - 1A to the Army in January 1945 . However , due to continued financial and flight - testing problems , Platt - Lepage proved incapable of meeting this schedule . Although the XR - 1 ' s problems seemed to be approaching resolution by late 1944 , the protracted development of the aircraft meant that alternative , improved helicopters , such as Sikorsky ' s XR - 4 , less expensive and more maneuverable than Platt - LePage ' s aircraft , were becoming available . In addition , even the XR - 1A ' s improvements had failed to cure the aircraft of all of its control and vibration problems , and the AAF ' s Air Material Command considered the company " inept " in its work , applying a " hit - or - miss method " to research and development . As a result of this assessment , the Army ' s contracts with the company were universally cancelled in early April 1945 . Following the cancellation of the Army ' s contract , the XR - 1 was returned to the company , Platt - LePage believing that the design had potential as a civilian aircraft . The planned civilian version , the PL - 9 , would have been an enlarged , twin - engined aircraft ; however Platt - LePage was by now in serious financial difficulty following the cancellation of its Army contract , and in mid 1946 the XR - 1 ' s flight test program was concluded , the aircraft being retired to the Smithsonian Institution . In the meantime , the company ' s former test pilot , Lou Leavitt , had purchased the wreckage of the XR - 1A at a price of 4 cents per pound . Leavitt had formed a new company , Helicopter Air Transport , intending to provide helicopter flight training in anticipation of a postwar aviation boom , and he returned the XR - 1A to flying condition . The projected boom failed to materialise , however , and HAT quickly entered bankruptcy , Leavitt selling the XR - 1A to Frank Piasecki , another former Platt - LePage employee who had now started his own helicopter company . Piasecki soon grounded the aircraft due to airworthiness concerns , and used the airframe in the development of the PA - 2B , a planned tiltrotor which failed to proceed beyond the mock - up stage . Survivors . Following the conclusion of flight testing , the XR - 1 was returned to the Army Air Forces , who placed the aircraft in storage before donating it to the Smithsonian Institution ' s National Air and Space Museum . The unrestored aircraft is stored at the Paul Garber Restoration and Storage Facility in " remarkable condition " .