The Hiller ROE Rotorcycle was a single-seat
ultralight helicopter designed in 1953 for a military requirement.
A total of 12 were produced for the
United States Marine Corps. And in 1954, the Hiller Helicopters was selected by the
US Navy's
Bureau of Aeronautics to build this design of a one-man, foldable, self-rescue and observation helicopter.
[Hiller Museum: ''Rotocycle'']
It featured a two-blade
rotor system. Its original empty weight was .
[Apostolo, p. 68]
Development
The helicopter folded up and could be carried on a sled-like carrier by two people or could be air-dropped to pilots trapped behind enemy lines. The Marines did not accept the YROE due to its low performance, vulnerability to small-arms fire and the lack of visual references on the structure. This problem could cause the pilot to experience spatial disorientation at all but very low altitudes.
[NASM: ''Hiller YROE-1 Rotorcycle''](_blank)
/ref> The YROE or ROE never saw military service.[
In 1954, the United States Navy′s Bureau of Aeronautics selected Hiller to build its proposed design of a one-man helicopter. The XROE Rotocycle completed flight testing in mid-1957.
It was demonstrated at the ]Pentagon
In geometry, a pentagon (from the Greek πέντε ''pente'' meaning ''five'' and γωνία ''gonia'' meaning ''angle'') is any five-sided polygon or 5-gon. The sum of the internal angles in a simple pentagon is 540°.
A pentagon may be simpl ...
in Arlington, Virginia, for military and other government officials in early April 1958.
Production was by Saunders-Roe, which made five for the United States Marine Corps and five for Helicop-Air of Paris.
A Porsche
Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see #Pronunciation, below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany ...
engine of 62 hp (46 Kw) developed for the YROE completed trials by 1961.
Variants
;XROE-1
:2 prototypes built as Model 1033 at the Hiller Helicopter Plant in Palo Alto, California[Helicópteros:''The Site'']
/ref>
:The first flight in November 1956
One donated to the Smithsonian Institution after completion of its testing in 1961
Specifications
Survivors
* XROE-1, on display at Hiller Aviation Museum, San Carlos, California
San Carlos (Spanish for "St. Charles") is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States. The population is 30,722 per the 2020 census.
History
Native Americans
Prior to the Spanish arrival in 1769, the land of San Carlos was occupi ...
* YROE-1, ser. no. 4021, on display at Hiller Aviation Museum
* YROE-1, on display at National Air and Space Museum
The National Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian Institution, also called the Air and Space Museum, is a museum in Washington, D.C., in the United States.
Established in 1946 as the National Air Museum, it opened its main building on the Nat ...
, Washington, DC
* YROE-1, N4230U, ser. no. 4024, El Cajon, California
El Cajon ( , ; Spanish: El Cajón, meaning "the box") is a city in San Diego County, California, United States, east of downtown San Diego. The city takes its name from Rancho El Cajón, which was in turn named for the box-like shape of the va ...
* YROE-1, N777MV, ser. no. 4020, Minicopter Inc., Saginaw, Texas
* YROE-1, third one in production on display at Evergreen Aviation Museum
* XROE-1, repainted in blue, powered by a Rotax 503 and renamed "fantacopter", in working order at Bois-la-Pierre, France.
See also
References
;Notes
;Bibliography
* Apostolo, Giorgio. ''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Helicopters''. New York: Bonanza Books. 1984. .
External links
Hiller Aviation Museum: The First 100 Years of Aviation
NASA: ''FLIGHT TESTS OF A ONE-MAN HELICOPTER AND A COMPARISON OF ITS HANDLING QUALITIES WITH THOSE OF LARGER VTOL AIRCRAFT''
Photo: XROE-1 at Hiller Aviation Museum
Photo: YROE-1 (s/n 4021 at Hiller Aviation Museum
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hiller Yroe
Military helicopters
RO1E
1950s United States helicopters
Aircraft first flown in 1956
Single-engined piston helicopters