The Piasecki PV-2 was a helicopter designed by
Frank Piasecki
Frank Nicolas Piasecki ( ; ; October 24, 1919 – February 11, 2008) was an American engineer and helicopter aviation pioneer. Piasecki pioneered tandem rotor helicopter designs and created the compound helicopter concept of vectored thrust using ...
. The PV-2 is best known for being one of the first successful
helicopter
A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...
s flown in the United States. The PV-2 first flew on April 11, 1943.
[National Aviation Hall of Fame - Frank Piasecki]
Developed as a technology demonstrator, the PV-2 brought several new features such as the first dynamically balanced rotor blades, a rigid tail rotor with a tension-torsion pitch change system, and a full
cyclic and collective rotor pitch control.
[
The PV-2 is now on display at the ]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 ...
's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center
The Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, also called the Udvar-Hazy Center, is the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM)'s annex at Washington Dulles International Airport in the Chantilly area of Fairfax County, Virginia. It holds numerous ...
Specifications
References
External links
P-V Engineering Forum PV-2
at the 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 ...
''Popular Science'' August 1951, page 30
rare photo of PV-2 in flight
{{Piasecki/Vertol aircraft
PV-02
1940s United States helicopters
Single-engined piston helicopters
Individual aircraft in the collection of the Smithsonian Institution
Aircraft first flown in 1943