The Bell 30 was the prototype for the first commercial

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 attribu ...

, and the first helicopter built by the Bell Aircraft Company. Designed by Arthur M. Young, the type served as a demonstration testbed for the successful

Bell 47 The Bell 47 is a single-rotor single-engine light helicopter manufactured by Bell Helicopter. It was based on the third Bell 30 prototype, which was the company's first helicopter designed by Arthur M. Young. The 47 became the first he ...

Development

Young had experimented alone with helicopter designs using scale models, and in 1941 he approached the

Bell Aircraft Corporation The Bell Aircraft Corporation was an American aircraft manufacturer, a builder of several types of fighter aircraft for World War II but most famous for the Bell X-1, the first supersonic aircraft, and for the development and production of man ...

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...

. The company agreed to build a number of full-scale prototypes, and Young moved to Buffalo. With the main Bell factories immersed in war production, and to ensure a research and development program that was sufficiently private and free of distractions, Young and his team moved to the Buffalo suburb of Gardenville ( West Seneca). The ''Ship 1'' prototype's first serious mishap occurred near the very end of 1942 in captive testing, when a Bell corporate pilot asked to try the Ship 1, while not using a

seat belt A seat belt (also known as a safety belt, or spelled seatbelt) is a vehicle safety device designed to secure the driver or a passenger of a vehicle against harmful movement that may result during a collision or a sudden stop. A seat belt red ...

and hanging onto the controls instead to stay in the open cockpit - this captive flight attempt resulted in the rotor system "going through resonance" as designer Arthur Young had warned about, resulting in a "bucking" instability and accident which cracked the rotor blades loose and sent the pilot up into the disc of the rotor blades, luckily only breaking an arm. The first free flight of ''Ship 1'' was carried out on June 26, 1943, only the third

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

helicopter to fly. The Ship 1 prototype registration ''NX41860'' had an open cockpit, an enclosed fuselage for the Franklin piston engine, and fixed three-wheel landing gear. The engine drove a two-bladed main rotor and a two-bladed anti-torque tail rotor. The prototype crashed in September 1943 and was subsequently modified with several improvements, including an enclosed cabin for the pilot and passenger, who sat side by side in the cockpit. With all the lessons learned, the third prototype became the basis for the production model, the

Bell Model 47 The Bell 47 is a single-rotor single-engine light helicopter manufactured by Bell Helicopter. It was based on the third Bell 30 prototype, which was the company's first helicopter designed by Arthur M. Young. The 47 became the first he ...

. The Model 30 Ship 1A, ''Genevieve'', is now on display at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the

Smithsonian 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 Na ...

Variants

''Data from:''Bell Aircraft since 1935 ;Ship No.1: (c/n 1) The original Bell 30, built with an open-frame tubular steel framework with an open cockpit and four widely splayed undercarriage legs with skids at the ends, made from Aluminium alloy tubing. First flown on 29 December 1942, test flying continued until a serious crash in September 1943. ;Ship No.1A: (c/n 1A) Ship No.1, rebuilt after the crash with a strutted tricycle undercarriage with nosewheel, and semi-enclosed cockpit, rejoined the test programme by March 1944. ;Ship No.2: (c/n 2) The second aircraft was built with a new three wheeled undercarriage, semi-monocoque fuselage, new tail rotor mounting and fully enclosed cockpit for pilot and passenger. ;Ship No.3: (c/n 3) The third aircraft was built with a triangular-section welded tubular steel tailboom, four-wheeled undercarriage, full set of instruments, but a completely open cockpit. Performance and handling of this aircraft were found to be much better than its predecessors but the open cockpit was viewed as a major handicap. Young described flying the aircraft as being ''"like sitting in a chair and flying through space."'' However, Bell company officials who flew in it found the experience to be thoroughly frightening. The solution to the open cockpit was the plexiglas bubble that was to become iconic on Bell 47/H-13 production aircraft. Bell Model 30 Ship 1A Genevieve

Surviving aircraft

Ship No.1A is 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 N ...

Specifications

References

Notes

Bibliography

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External links

Stabilizing Device on Tail Keeps Rotor Horizontal
August 1944 article on Bell 30. Photo at bottom of page. {{Bell Aircraft 1940s United States helicopters 1940s United States experimental aircraft 030 Single-engined piston helicopters Aircraft first flown in 1943