Helicopter Collection

Gemini 12 descends for splashdown, 1966. Creator: NASA
Gemini 12 descends for splashdown, 1966. As a helicopter hovers above, the Gemini 12 spacecraft with parachute open descends to the Atlantic with astronauts Jim Lovell

Shepard hoisted from Mercury capsule, 1961. Creator: NASA
Shepard hoisted from Mercury capsule, 1961. A U.S. Marine helicopter recovery team hoists astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. from his Mercury spacecraft after a successful flight

Gemini VI recovery, Atlantic Ocean, December 16, 1965. Creator: NASA
Gemini VI recovery, Atlantic Ocean, December 16, 1965. A helicopter hovers over the Gemini VI spacecraft after it splashed down 12 miles from the aircraft carrier USS Wasp in the western Atlantic

Failed attempt to recover Liberty Bell 7, Atlantic Ocean, 1961 Creator: NASA
Failed attempt to recover Liberty Bell 7, Atlantic Ocean, 1961. After the hatch of the " Liberty Bell 7" opened prematurely, gallons of seawater entered the spacecraft

Navy frogmen swim to spacecraft to begin retrieval, Pacific Ocean, 1963. Creator: NASA
Navy frogmen swim to spacecraft to begin retrieval, Pacific Ocean, 1963. U.S. Navy frogman, deployed from the hovering helicopter, swims next to the spacecraft and makes contact with astronaut L

NASA research into rotor blades. Creator: NASA
NASA research into rotor blades. Rotor blades made with piezoelectric materials can flex when subjected to electrical fields

Apollo 10 Helicopter Recovery, 1969. Creator: NASA
Apollo 10 Helicopter Recovery, 1969. A Navy helicopter arrivies to recover the Apollo 10 astronauts, seen entering a life raft

Gemini 4 Recovery with Green Marker Dye, 1965. Creator: NASA
Gemini 4 Recovery with Green Marker Dye, 1965. Overhead view of the Gemini 4 spacecraft showing the yellow flotation collar used to stabilize the spacecraft in choppy seas

Bell H-13J, ca. 1957. Creator: Bell Helicopter Textron Inc
All-metal helicopter with single main rotor and single tail rotor, powered by reciprocating engine, equipped with skid landing gear made of metal tube, fitted with large

Adams-Farwell Rotary 5 Engine, 1907. Creator: Adams-Farwell Company
The first successful rotary engine is generally attributed to F.O. Farwell in 1896, and was built by the Adams Company of Dubuque, Iowa

Hiller XHOE-1 Hornet, 1940s. Creator: United Helicopters Incorporated
All aircraft designers attempt to maximize lifting power and reduce airframe weight. During the late 1940s, helicopter pioneers began to experiment with alternative propulsion methods that did not

General Electric XT700-GE-700 Turboshaft Engine, ca. 1974
The T700 engine evolved directly from Army experience in the Vietnam Wars difficult operating conditions that created helicopter engine maintenance problems

Hiller XH-44 Hiller-Copter, 1943-1945. Creator: United Helicopters Incorporated
In 1944, at the age of 19, Stanley Hiller, Jr. designed, built, and test flew the first helicopter with coaxial rotors to fly successfully in the United States

Bell 206L-1 LongRanger II "Spirit of Texas", 1982
Single-rotor light utility helicopter. In this aircraft, H. Ross Perot Jr. and J. Coburn completed the first round-the-world flight by helicopter

Astronauts being recovered from the sea, Apollo 16 mission, 27 April 1972. Creator: NASA
Astronauts being recovered from the sea, Apollo 16 mission, 27 April 1972. Prime recovery helicopter hovering over the Apollo 16 spacecraft after splashdown, 11 days after launch

Westland Whirlwind helicopter making a rescue, 1973. Artist: Michael Walters
Westland Whirlwind helicopter making a rescue, 1973. A Westland Whirlwind HAS 10 beloning to RAF Search & Rescue lowers a member of the rescue team to recover a pilot in his life raft

The Hafner Gyroplane, c1935 (c1937). The Hafner AR III Gyroplane, a British autogyro designed by Austrian Raoul Hafner (1905-1980), and built by the AR III Construction Company at Denham

Westland Whirlwind, 1941. The twin-engined Whirlwind was one of the fastest and most heavily armed fighters when it first flew in 1938

Helicopter landing at Tan Son Nhut Air Base, Saigon, Vietnam, 1953

Autogiro, designed by Spanish engineer Juan de la Cierva, 1928
Autogiro (1928), designed by Spanish engineer Juan de la Cierva (Cordoniu) 1896-1936. From Le Petit Inventeur, Paris, 1928

Curtiss Bleeker helicopter, Virginia, USA, June 18, 1930. Creator: Unknown
Curtiss Bleeker helicopter, Virginia, USA, June 18, 1930. Curtiss Bleeker prototype rotary wing aircraft, introduced in 1926

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