Dragoljub Kosta Jovanovich (January 24, 1916 – November 12, 1983), also known under his

pen name A pen name or nom-de-plume is a pseudonym (or, in some cases, a variant form of a real name) adopted by an author and printed on the title page or by-line of their works in place of their real name. A pen name may be used to make the author's na ...

D. K. or "Gish" Jovanovich, was a Serbian-American helicopter designer, inventor, and pioneer in autogyro technology. Born in the

Kingdom of Yugoslavia The Kingdom of Yugoslavia was a country in Southeast Europe, Southeast and Central Europe that existed from 1918 until 1941. From 1918 to 1929, it was officially called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, but the term "Yugoslavia" () h ...

, he subsequently moved to the United States, living first in Philadelphia and later in southern California.

Piasecki and HERC

Jovanovich and Frank Kozloski founded the Helicopter Engineering Research Corporation (HERC) in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

in 1946. HERC was the predecessor of Jovair. Jovanovich and Kozloski previously worked for

Piasecki Helicopter Corporation The Piasecki Helicopter Corporation was an American designer and manufacturer of helicopters in Philadelphia and nearby Morton, Pennsylvania, in the late 1940s and the 1950s. Its founder, Frank Piasecki, was ousted in 1956 and started a new co ...

where Jovanovich's patented tandem rotary design was used on the Piasecki PV-3. The first helicopter they designed was the HERC JOV-3. This was first flown in 1948. They used the Boulevard Airport (formerly William Penn Airport) as their base.

McCulloch

In 1949 Jovanovich and Kozloski transferred to the McCulloch Aircraft Corporation, the new helicopter and aircraft division of

McCulloch Motors Corporation McCulloch Motors Corporation is an American manufacturer of chainsaws and other outdoor power tools. The company was founded in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in 1943 by Robert Paxton McCulloch as a manufacturer of small two-stroke gasoline engines and ...

. The design principles of the JOV-3 were incorporated into the McCulloch MC-4, which first flew in March 1951. In 1952, the MC-4C, a modified MC-4, was acquired by the US Army in 1952 for testing, but was deemed underpowered and none were further ordered.

Hughes

In 1955 Jovanovich designed a rotor for

Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American Aerospace engineering, aerospace engineer, business magnate, film producer, and investor. He was The World's Billionaires, one of the richest and most influential peo ...

' Hughes 269. This was followed by hub blades for the three-blade light helicopter, the 1958 Del Mar DH-1 Whirlymite series, and the hub for the Hughes 500.

Jovair

McCulloch J-2 Aero Super Gyroplane - GPN-2000-001904

In 1960 Jovanovich formed Jovair Corporation to continue development of the MC-4. A new version the Jovair Sedan 4E called the Jovairin was type approved by the FAA in March 1963.

Bill Lear William Powell Lear (June 26, 1902 – May 14, 1978) was an American inventor and businessman. He is best known for founding Learjet, a manufacturer of business jets. He also invented the battery eliminator for the B battery, and developed th ...

tried to spark interest in its production without success. In 1968 McCulloch Corp fully acquired Jovair, renaming it McCulloch Aircraft Corp. The company moved its facilities from Culver City to El Segundo at this time with Jovanonich as its Vice Chairman. With McCulloch Corporation funding, Jovanovich designed and developed an

autogyro An autogyro (from Greek and , "self-turning"), gyroscope, gyrocopter or gyroplane, is a class of rotorcraft that uses an unpowered rotor in free autorotation to develop lift. A gyroplane "means a rotorcraft whose rotors are not engine-d ...

, the

McCulloch J-2 __NOTOC__ The McCulloch J-2 was a small, two-seat autogyro with an enclosed cabin, one of only three designs of this type of aircraft to receive a type certificate in the United States. It was built by McCulloch Aircraft Corporation. Design and ...

, that could take off from a residential driveway. Jovanovich had patented a similar concept in 1954. Development was slow because Jovair lacked staff and resources yet the first prototype flew in 1962. ''Flying Magazines review of the J-2 was unflattering to both Jovanovich and the J-2. A retraction of the comments about Jovanovich was published three months later.

Aircraft designed by Jovanovich

* The tandem rotary on the Piasecki PV-3 * HERC JOV-3 * McCulloch MC-4 * The rotor blades on the Hughes 269 * Jovair Sedan 4E *

Patents

Helicopter
#USD168794 S (Publication Date: 1953)
Means for connecting rotor blades to rotor bodies
#US2672941 A (Publication Date: 1954)
Damping means for blades of aircraft sustaining rotors
#US 2696271 A (Publication Date: 1954)
Rotor blade for helicopters
#US 2712356 A (Publication Date: 1955)
Pitch control means for aircraft sustaining rotors
#US 2753004 A(Publication Date: 1956)
Movement limiting means for blades of aircraft sustaining rotors
#US 2742098 A (Publication Date: 1956)
Helicopter Control Mechanism
#US2856788 A (Publication Date: 1958)
Convertiplane
#US 2852207 A (Publication Date: 1958)
Helicopter rotor blade
#US2941603 A (Publication Date: 1960)
Blade-to-hub connector for thrust producing rotor
#US 2949967 A (Publication Date: 1960)
Helicopter
#US D191929 S (Publication Date: 1961)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jovanovich, Drago Yugoslav emigrants to the United States American people of Serbian descent 1916 births 1983 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople