Hoppi-Copter

Last updated
Hoppi-Copter
Pentecost Backpack Helicopter.JPG
Pentecost HX-1 Hoppi-Copter on display at Pima Air & Space Museum, in Arizona, U.S.
Role Backpack helicopter
National origin United States
ManufacturerHoppi-Copters Inc.
First flightc.1940

The Hoppi-Copter was a functional backpack helicopter developed by the American company Hoppi-Copters Inc. founded by Horace T. Pentecost in the 1940s. [1] The original Hoppi-Copter consisted of two contra-rotating rotors on a pole attached to a motorized backpack. [2] Although it was capable of flight, it was extremely hard to control. [3]

Contents

Later prototypes of the Hoppi-Copter included versions with the pilot in a sitting position, and were in effect miniature one-man helicopters of a more conventional design, though retaining the contra-rotating rotors and thus obviating a tail rotor. [1] [4] Despite interest from the British Ministry of Supply in the 102 and 104 models, [5] none were adopted commercially. [3]

Variants

Pentecost HX-1 Hoppi-Copter (Hoppi-Copter 100)
original back-pack version.
Hoppi-Copter 101
equipped with a seat and landing gear, proved that more development was necessary. [6]
Hoppi-Copter 102
framed, with seat for pilot. [4]
Hoppi-Copter 103
as the 102, but lighter with a more powerful engine and slightly greater rotor diameter
Hoppi-Copter 104
as the 103, with even greater rotor diameter [5]
Hoppi-Copter Firefly

Specifications (Hoppi-Copter 102)

Data from Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1948 [4]

General characteristics

Performance

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hiller YH-32 Hornet</span> American ultralight helicopter

The Hiller YH-32 Hornet is an American ultralight helicopter built by Hiller Aircraft in the early 1950s. It was a small and unique design because it was powered by two Hiller 8RJ2B ramjet engines mounted on the rotor blade tips which weigh 13 lb (5.9 kg) each and deliver an equivalent of 45 hp (34 kW) for a total of 90 hp (67 kW). Versions of the HJ-1 Hornet were built for the United States Army and the United States Navy in the early 1950s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Backpack helicopter</span> Helicopter system designed to be worn on a persons back

A backpack helicopter / helipack is a helicopter motor and rotor and controls assembly that can be strapped to a person's back, so they can walk about on the ground wearing it, and can use it to fly. It uses a harness like a parachute harness and should have a strap between the legs. Some designs may use a ducted fan design to increase upward thrust. Several inventors have tried to make backpack helicopters, with mixed results.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Seibel S-4</span>

The Seibel S-4 was a two-bladed, single-engine helicopter built by Seibel Helicopter. Designed by Charles Seibel, the S-4 was evaluated by the United States Army under the designation YH-24 Sky Hawk, but would be rejected for service. The S-4B would serve as the basis for the design of the Cessna CH-1 Skyhook, the only helicopter Cessna ever produced.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brantly B-2</span>

The Brantly B-2 is an American two-seat light helicopter produced by the Brantly Helicopter Corporation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cierva W.11 Air Horse</span>

The Cierva W.11 Air Horse was a helicopter developed by the Cierva Autogiro Company in the United Kingdom during the mid-1940s. The largest helicopter in the world at the time of its debut, the Air Horse was unusual for using three rotors mounted on outriggers, and driven by a single engine mounted inside the fuselage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GIL BŻ-4 Żuk</span>

The BŻ-4 Żuk, formerly known as GIL-4, was a Polish four-seat light helicopter built in the 1950s. Although it pioneered a novel rotor and transmission system, it never entered series production.

The SNCASE SE.3120 Alouette ("Lark") was a utility helicopter developed in France in the early 1950s but which did not enter production. Designed in parallel with the SE.3110, the Alouette shared that machine's dynamic components, with the exception of the SE.3110's unusual twin tail rotor, which was replaced by a single rotor, and the addition of a three-bladed gyroscopic stabiliser under the main rotor (similar to the stabiliser bar used by Bell helicopters. The Alouette featured an open-framework fuselage behind a cockpit that was enclosed by a bubble canopy. Skid undercarriage and tricycle gear were both tested.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gyrodyne RON Rotorcycle</span> Experimental US Navy & Marine Corps helicopter

The Gyrodyne RON Rotorcycle was a tiny, single-seat helicopter designed under contract for the United States Navy. in the mid-1950s. It later was redesigned for a U.S. Marine Corps requirement for a small personal helicopter that would fulfill an array of roles, including observation, liaison, small unit tactical maneuvers, and which could be dropped to downed airmen behind enemy lines to facilitate their escape.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kellett XR-10</span> Type of aircraft

The Kellett XR-10 was a military transport helicopter developed in the United States in the 1940s that only flew in prototype form. It was designed in response to a USAAF Technical Instruction issued for the development of a helicopter to transport passengers, cargo, or wounded personnel within an enclosed fuselage. Kellett's proposal followed the general layout that the company was developing in the XR-8, with twin intermeshing rotors, and was accepted by the Air Force on 16 October over proposals by Sikorsky, Bell, and Platt-LePage.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piasecki H-16 Transporter</span> Type of aircraft

The Piasecki H-16 Transporter was a tandem-rotor transport or rescue helicopter designed by Frank Piasecki and built by Piasecki Helicopter. The prototypes were evaluated by the United States Air Force and Army, but the crash of the second test aircraft led to cancelling the project.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hiller ROE Rotorcycle</span> Type of aircraft

The Hiller ROE Rotorcycle is a single-seat ultralight helicopter designed in 1953 for a military requirement. A total of 12 were produced for the United States Marine Corps. And in 1954, the Hiller Helicopters was selected by the US Navy's Bureau of Aeronautics to build this design of a one-man, foldable, self-rescue and observation helicopter. It featured a two-blade rotor system. Its original empty weight was 290 lb (132 kg).

de Lackner HZ-1 Aerocycle 1954 experimental personal helicopter model by de Lackner Helicopters

The HZ-1 Aerocycle, also known as the YHO-2 and by the manufacturer's designation DH-5 Aerocycle, was an American one-man "personal helicopter" developed by de Lackner Helicopters in the mid-1950s. Intended to be operated by inexperienced pilots with a minimum of 20 minutes of instruction, the HZ-1 was expected to become a standard reconnaissance machine with the United States Army. Although early testing showed that the craft had promise for providing mobility on the atomic battlefield, more extensive evaluation proved that the aircraft was in fact too difficult to control for operation by untrained infantrymen, and after a pair of crashes the project was abandoned. A single model of the craft was put on display.

The I.P.D BF-1 Beija-Flôr was a two-seat light helicopter designed by Henrich Focke.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aero HC-2 Heli Baby</span> Type of aircraft

The Aero HC-2 Heli Baby is a two-seat general-purpose light utility helicopter, designed by engineer Jaroslav Šlechta, and produced by the Czechoslovak company Aero Vodochody in the 1950s. It has a three-blade main rotor, and a two-blade tail rotor. The helicopter has an entirely metal frame and cockpit, and windows made of Plexiglas. It was the first and the only Czechoslovak-designed helicopter to be produced.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SNCASE SE-3101</span> Experimental French helicopter

The SNCASE SE-3101 or Sud-Est SE-3101 was an early, experimental French helicopter with twin tail rotors. Only one was built.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matra-Cantinieau MC-101</span> Type of aircraft

The Matra-Cantinieau MC-101 was an early 1950s French experimental two seat helicopter of conventional tail rotor configuration but with its engine mounted close to the main rotor, above the seating.

The Nord 1700 Norélic or SNCAN N.1700 Norélic was a French helicopter with several novel control features. Only one prototype was built, though it was intended to lead to series production.

The Gyrodyne GCA-2 was a general-purpose helicopter built by the Gyrodyne Company of America in the late 1940s.

The Kaman K-17 was a two-seat experimental helicopter built by Kaman in the late 1950s. It used a cold-jet rotor system.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nagler-Rolz NR 54</span> German experimental backpack helicopter

The Nagler-Rolz NR 54 is a German experimental foldable backpack helicopter developed during World War II. An enlarged variant, the NR 55, was also built.

References

  1. 1 2 "The Hoppi-Copter" (PDF). Flight. October 14, 1948. Retrieved January 7, 2016.
  2. Pentecost, Horace T. (17 Oct 1945), US2461347 A, Helicopter adapted to be attached to a pilot , retrieved 2016-01-07
  3. 1 2 "Pentecost HX-1 (Model 100) Hoppi-Copter". Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Retrieved 2016-01-07.
  4. 1 2 3 Bridgman, Leonard (1948). Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1948. London: Sampson, Low, Marston and Co. Ltd. p. 271c.
  5. 1 2 Bridgman, Leonard (1949). Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1949. London: Samson, Low, Marston and Co. Ltd. p. 234c.
  6. Bridgman, Leonard (1951). Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1951. London: Samson, Low, Marston and Co. Ltd. p. 248c.