Firestone XR-14
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__NOTOC__ The Firestone XR-14 was a proposed 1940s
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lightweight
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 ...
, designed by the
Firestone Aircraft Company Firestone Tire and Rubber Company is a tire company founded by Harvey Firestone (1868–1938) in 1900 initially to supply solid rubber side-wire tires for fire apparatus, and later, pneumatic tires for wagons, buggies, and other forms of wheeled ...
to operate in the liaison and
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helicopter for the
United States Army Air Forces The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
. Due to changing requirements no examples of the type were built.


Design and development

Three Firestone Model GA-50 helicopters were ordered by the United States Army Air Forces for evaluation in the liaison and observation roles, competing against the Bell XR-15 for a production contract. Derived from the Model GA-45 (XR-9) helicopter, the XR-14 was intended to be a four-seat aircraft, powered by a
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four-cylinder
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; unconventionally, the XR-14 was intended to be equipped with two tail rotors. Prior to any of the aircraft being converted, however, the Army cancelled the contract; while Firestone attempted to market the GA-50 on the civilian market, no interest was forthcoming and the project was abandoned.


See also


References

;Notes ;Bibliography * * {{USAF helicopters R-14 Cancelled military aircraft projects of the United States