Dragoljub Kosta Jovanovich (January 24, 1916 – November 12, 1983), also known under his

pen name A pen name, also called a ''nom de plume'' or a literary double, is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen na ...

D. K. or "Gish" Jovanovich, was a Serbian-American helicopter designer, inventor, and pioneer in autogyro technology. Born in the

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kraljevina Jugoslavija, Краљевина Југославија; sl, Kraljevina Jugoslavija) was a state in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 unt ...

, he subsequently moved to the United States, living first in Philadelphia and later in southern California.

Piasecki and HERC

Jovanovich and Frank Kozloski founded the Helicopter Engineering Research Corporation (HERC) in

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

in 1946. HERC was the predecessor of Jovair. Jovanovich and Kozloski previously worked for

Piasecki Helicopter Corporation Piasecki Helicopter Corporation was a designer and manufacturer of helicopters located in Philadelphia and nearby Morton, Pennsylvania, in the late 1940s and the 1950s. Its founder, Frank Piasecki, was ousted from the company in 1956 and starte ...

where Jovanovich's patented tandem rotary design was used on the

Piasecki PV-3 The Piasecki HRP Rescuer (also called Harp) is a United States tandem-rotor transport or rescue helicopter designed by Frank Piasecki and built by Piasecki Helicopter. The Piasecki PV-3 was adopted as the HRP-1 Rescuer by the United States Navy, ...

. The first helicopter they designed was the HERC JOV-3. This was first flown in 1948. They used the Boulevard Airport (formerly William Penn Airport) as their base.

McCulloch

In 1949 Jovanovich and Kozloski transferred to the McCulloch Aircraft Corporation, the new helicopter and aircraft division of

McCulloch Motors Corporation McCulloch Motors Corporation is an American manufacturer of chainsaws and other outdoor power tools. The company was founded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1943 by Robert Paxton McCulloch as a manufacturer of small two-stroke gasoline engines and ...

. The design principles of the JOV-3 were incorporated into the McCulloch MC-4, which first flew in March 1951. In 1952, the MC-4C, a modified MC-4, was acquired by the US Army in 1952 for testing, but was deemed underpowered and none were further ordered.

Hughes

In 1955 Jovanovich designed a rotor for

Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business magnate, record-setting pilot, engineer, film producer, and philanthropist, known during his lifetime as one of the most influential and richest people in th ...

Hughes 269 The Hughes TH-55 Osage is a piston-powered light training helicopter produced for the United States Army. It was also produced as the Model 269 family of light utility helicopters, some of which were marketed as the Model 300. The Model 300C wa ...

. This was followed by hub blades for the three-blade light helicopter, the 1958

Del Mar DH-1 Whirlymite Del, or nabla, is an operator used in mathematics (particularly in vector calculus) as a vector differential operator, usually represented by the nabla symbol ∇. When applied to a function defined on a one-dimensional domain, it denotes t ...

series, and the hub for the

Hughes 500 500 may refer to: * 500 (number) * 500 BC * AD 500 Buildings and places * 500 Boylston Street of Boston * 500 Brickell in Miami * 500 Capitol Mall in Sacramento * 500 Fifth Avenue * 500 Renaissance Center, one of seven buildings in the GM Rena ...

Jovair

McCulloch J-2 Aero Super Gyroplane - GPN-2000-001904

In 1960 Jovanovich formed Jovair Corporation to continue development of the MC-4. A new version the

Jovair Sedan 4E The McCulloch Model MC-4 was an American tandem-rotor helicopter and was the first helicopter developed by McCulloch Aircraft Corporation, a division of McCulloch Motors Corporation.Harding, Stephen ''U.S. Army Aircraft Since 1947'', Airlife Pub ...

called the Jovairin was type approved by the FAA in March 1963.

Bill Lear William Powell Lear (June 26, 1902 – May 14, 1978) was an American inventor and businessman. He is best known for founding Learjet, a manufacturer of business jets. He also invented the battery eliminator for the B battery, and developed the ...

tried to spark interest in its production without success. In 1968 McCulloch Corp fully acquired Jovair, renaming it McCulloch Aircraft Corp. The company moved its facilities from Culver City to El Segundo at this time with Jovanonich as its Vice Chairman. With McCulloch Corporation funding, Jovanovich designed and developed an

autogyro An autogyro (from Greek and , "self-turning"), also known as a ''gyroplane'', is a type of rotorcraft that uses an unpowered rotor in free autorotation to develop lift. Forward thrust is provided independently, by an engine-driven propeller. Whi ...

, the

McCulloch J-2 __NOTOC__ The McCulloch J-2 was a small, two-seat autogyro with an enclosed cabin, one of only three designs of this type of aircraft to receive a type certificate in the United States. It was built by McCulloch Aircraft Corporation. Design and ...

, that could take off from a residential driveway. Jovanovich had patented a similar concept in 1954. Development was slow because Jovair lacked staff and resources yet the first prototype flew in 1962. ''Flying Magazines review of the J-2 was unflattering to both Jovanovich and the J-2. A retraction of the comments about Jovanovich was published three months later.

Aircraft designed by Jovanovich

* The tandem rotary on the

* HERC JOV-3 *

McCulloch MC-4 The McCulloch Model MC-4 was an American tandem-rotor helicopter and was the first helicopter developed by McCulloch Aircraft Corporation, a division of McCulloch Motors Corporation.Harding, Stephen ''U.S. Army Aircraft Since 1947'', Airlife Pub ...

* The rotor blades on the

Patents

Helicopter
#USD168794 S (Publication Date: 1953)
Means for connecting rotor blades to rotor bodies
#US2672941 A (Publication Date: 1954)
Damping means for blades of aircraft sustaining rotors
#US 2696271 A (Publication Date: 1954)
Rotor blade for helicopters
#US 2712356 A (Publication Date: 1955)
Pitch control means for aircraft sustaining rotors
#US 2753004 A(Publication Date: 1956)
Movement limiting means for blades of aircraft sustaining rotors
#US 2742098 A (Publication Date: 1956)
Helicopter Control Mechanism
#US2856788 A (Publication Date: 1958)
Convertiplane
#US 2852207 A (Publication Date: 1958)
Helicopter rotor blade
#US2941603 A (Publication Date: 1960)
Blade-to-hub connector for thrust producing rotor
#US 2949967 A (Publication Date: 1960)
Helicopter
#US D191929 S (Publication Date: 1961)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jovanovich, Drago Yugoslav emigrants to the United States American people of Serbian descent 1916 births 1983 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople