Charles Huron Kaman ( ; June 15, 1919 – January 31, 2011) was an American aeronautical engineer, businessman, inventor, and philanthropist, known for his work in rotary-wing flightHall of Fame/Inventor Profile: Charles Kaman
and also in musical instrument design via the

Kaman Music Corporation KMC Music is an owner and distributor of several brands of musical instruments. The company is currently a subsidiary of Canadian corporate group Exertis , JAM. History The company began as Kaman Music Corporation , a part of the Kaman Corpora ...

Biography

Charles Huron Kaman was born in 1919 to Charles William Kaman and Mabel Davis Kaman in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

, the son of a construction supervisor. He later attended Catholic University of America, gaining an engineering degree '' magna cum laude'' in 1940.

Helicopters

Kaman's first aircraft experience was working for

Igor Sikorsky Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky (russian: И́горь Ива́нович Сико́рский, p=ˈiɡərʲ ɪˈvanəvitʃ sʲɪˈkorskʲɪj, a=Ru-Igor Sikorsky.ogg, tr. ''Ígor' Ivánovich Sikórskiy''; May 25, 1889 – October 26, 1972)Fortie ...

. In 1945, he started his own aircraft company,

Kaman Aircraft Kaman Corporation is an American aerospace company, with headquarters in Bloomfield, Connecticut. It was founded in 1945 by Charles Kaman. During the first ten years the company operated exclusively as a designer and manufacturer of several h ...

, to pursue his own designs. In January 1947, the Kaman K-125 helicopter first flew. It utilized

intermeshing rotors Intermeshing rotors on a helicopter are a set of two rotors turning in opposite directions, with each rotor mast mounted with a slight angle to the other, in a transversely symmetrical manner, so that the blades intermesh without colliding. T ...

and Kaman's patented servo-flap rotor control. The

Kaman K-225 The Kaman K-225 is an American experimental helicopter developed by Kaman Aircraft. One example was modified to become the world's first gas turbine-powered helicopter. Design and development The K-125 was Charles Kaman's first helicopter, whi ...

, first flown in 1951, also used intermeshing rotors with servo-flap control and was the world's first helicopter to be powered by a

gas turbine A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas generator or core) and are, in the directio ...

Business

Kaman was an aficionado of the guitar, and in 1966, he founded Ovation Instruments. The company would become the

Ovation Guitar Company The Ovation Guitar Company is a manufacturer of string instruments. Ovation primarily manufactures steel-string acoustic guitars (both 6 and 12-string versions) and nylon-string guitars, often with pickups for electric amplification. In 2015, ...

and developed an acoustic guitar using aerospace

composite material A composite material (also called a composition material or shortened to composite, which is the common name) is a material which is produced from two or more constituent materials. These constituent materials have notably dissimilar chemical or ...

s, featuring a rounded back design. Kaman also founded Kaman Industrial Technologies, one of the largest industrial distributors in North America. He and his second wife, Roberta, created the Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation, and developed a breed of

German Shepherd The German Shepherd or Alsatian is a German breed of working dog of medium to large size. The breed was developed by Max von Stephanitz using various traditional German herding dogs from 1899. It was originally bred as a herding dog, for ...

to act as

guide dog Guide dogs (colloquially known in the US as seeing-eye dogs) are assistance dogs trained to lead blind or visually impaired people around obstacles. Although dogs can be trained to navigate various obstacles, they are red–green colour blin ...

Marriage and children

Kaman's first wife was the former Helen Sylvander. They married in 1945 and divorced in 1971. Later in 1971 he remarried, to Roberta Hallock, who died in 2010. He had three children — C. William Kaman, II; Steven W. Kaman; and Mrs. Cathleen Kaman Wood.

Death

Kaman died in Bloomfield, Connecticut, on January 31, 2011, at the age of 91. He had suffered from Alzheimer's disease in his last years.

Awards

Kaman was awarded honorary degrees by the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university in Storrs, Connecticut, a village in the town of Mansfield. The primary 4,400-acre (17.8 km2) campus is in Storrs, approximately a half hour's drive from H ...

, the

University of Hartford The University of Hartford (UHart) is a private university in West Hartford, Connecticut. Its main campus extends into neighboring Hartford and Bloomfield. The university attracts students from 48 states and 43 countries. The university and it ...

, and the

University of Colorado The University of Colorado (CU) is a system of public universities in Colorado. It consists of four institutions: University of Colorado Boulder, University of Colorado Colorado Springs, University of Colorado Denver, and the University o ...

. His other honors included: *

National Inventors Hall of Fame The National Inventors Hall of Fame (NIHF) is an American not-for-profit organization, founded in 1973, which recognizes individual engineers and inventors who hold a U.S. patent of significant technology. Besides the Hall of Fame, it also oper ...

(2003) * Honorary Fellow of the American Helicopter Society (1950)Preston 2007, p. 38 *

Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy The Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy was established by the National Aeronautic Association (NAA) in 1948 after a trust fund was created in 1936 by Godfrey Lowell Cabot of Boston, a former president of the NAA. It is awarded to a living American ...

(1997) *

National Medal of Technology The National Medal of Technology and Innovation (formerly the National Medal of Technology) is an honor granted by the President of the United States to American inventors and innovators who have made significant contributions to the development ...

(1996) *

Naval Aviation Hall of Honor The United States Naval Aviation Hall of Honor, located at the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola, Florida, recognizes individuals "who by their actions or achievements made outstanding contributions to Naval Aviation." Since its inception ...

at the

National Naval Aviation Museum The National Naval Aviation Museum, formerly known as the National Museum of Naval Aviation and the Naval Aviation Museum, is a military and aerospace museum located at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida. Founded in 1962 and moved to its cur ...

(1996) * Department of Defense Distinguished Public Service Medal (1995) * Honorary Fellow of the

Royal Aeronautical Society The Royal Aeronautical Society, also known as the RAeS, is a British multi-disciplinary professional institution dedicated to the global aerospace community. Founded in 1866, it is the oldest aeronautical society in the world. Members, Fellows, ...

(1995) * Kaman's K-225 helicopter is displayed in the Smithsonian Institution's Vertical Flight exhibition at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, VA. This design was the first helicopter to fly with a gas turbine-driven transmission. *

International Air & Space Hall of Fame The International Air & Space Hall of Fame is an honor roll of people, groups, organizations, or things that have contributed significantly to the advancement of aerospace flight and technology, sponsored by the San Diego Air & Space Museum. Si ...

inductee (1999)Sprekelmeyer, Linda, editor. ''These We Honor: The International Aerospace Hall of Fame''. Donning Co. Publishers, 2006. .

References

13 < https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/kaman-k-225 (retrieved 7/5/2018)

Sources

* * * * * * * *

External links

— Rotor Control Mechanism for Aircraft of Rotary Wing Type

: Obituary of Charles Kaman on the Kaman Corporation web site
Bill Kaman Interview - NAMM Oral History Library (2007)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kaman, Charles 1919 births 2011 deaths American aerospace engineers Aviation inventors American inventors National Medal of Technology recipients People from Bloomfield, Connecticut People from Washington, D.C. Catholic University of America alumni Engineers from Connecticut