Helio Aircraft
The Helio Aircraft LLC is a US manufacturer of light aircraft, which had stopped its production in the meantime, after numerous previous name changes. Currently (2017) the company is planning to continue business with the replica of the two models Courier and Stallion.
history
The founding of what was then Helio Aircraft Corporation in 1948 or 1949 by Lynn Bollinger and Otto Koppen had the aim of building a STOL light aircraft. Bollinger, a former airline pilot who taught at Harvard Business School, served as president. Otto Koppen was a professor at MIT in the field of aerospace engineering and had designed the Ford Flivver in 1925 . He had been concerned with flight safety and STOL concepts since the 1930s. Koppen was responsible for the design of the Helioplane , the first Helio construction, which flew for the first time in March 1949 and is considered to be the first STOL aircraft built in the USA.
The Helioplane prototype led to the Courier , which was used in various versions as a four-seat and six-seat light aircraft in the civil and military sectors. All versions use high-lift aids to achieve STOL capabilities. The first serial version of the Courier was the H-391B, one of which was delivered to the US Army as the L-24 in 1953 . From 1958, the H-395 Super Courier ( L-28 / U-10 ) was primarily used for military purposes . This was followed by the H-392 and, in March 1964, the H-250 Mark II Caballero, a simpler six-seat version of the Courier, but which could carry a 30% higher payload. The HST-550 , which was developed in 1963 and derived from the Courier , received a turboprop drive and was initially able to transport eight to ten people, later 12. The Helio AU-24 Stallion was developed from it for close air support of special forces. The two-engine, six-seater Helio H-500 Twin Stallion, which flew for the first time in 1960, was also procured in the military version U-5A by the USAF and CIA.
In 1967 a new company, the Helio Aircraft Company (HAC), acquired all rights to the Helio designs. The headquarters was set up at the previous location of the Helio production in Pittsburg (Kansas). The company began producing new versions of the Super Courier with the Model 600 (400 HP Lycoming IO-720) and Model 700 (350 HP TIO-540).
In 1969, Helio became a division of the General Aircraft Corporation (GAC) based in El Segundo, California . Lynn Bollinger acted as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of GAC and initiated the planning of a STOL-capable 36-seat short- to medium-haul turboprop airliner. Contracts were still awarded to build a full-scale mock-up of the project known as the GAC-100, but the program was not completed. A prototype of an agricultural aircraft was produced in 1982 and 1984 , with the second machine bearing the additional name Rat'ler . In the mid-1970s, HAC also produced another 18 copies of the Courier.
In 1992, Helio Enterprises Inc. was formed with the intent to acquire all of HAC's fixed assets, including type approvals for the Courier, Twin Courier and Stallion. The production of an agricultural aircraft (Model 800) with a newly designed fuselage and a 1500 liter container for spray was also planned.
Currently (2017) Helio Aircraft LLC in Prescott (Arizona ) owns the rights to build the Courier and the Stallion.
literature
- Howard Levy: Helio Aircraft - Database . In: Airplane Monthly February 2004, pp. 69–81
Web links
- Website of Helio Aircraft LLC
- Article by Otto Koppen on Aviation (accessed January 9, 2017)
- U-10 in Vietnam (accessed January 9, 2017)
Individual evidence
- ^ Otto Koppen: Progress of Research and Invention . In: Aviation, January 1931, p. 39
- ↑ Otto Koppen: Happier Landings . In: Aviation, September 1934, pp. 275-277
- ↑ ER Johnson: American Military Transport Aircraft , McFarland and Co., 2013, pp. 419-421
- ^ ER Johnson: American Military Transport Aircraft , McFarland and Co., 2013, pp. 409-411
- ↑ Helio agricultural aircraft
- ↑ Courier at Helio Aircraft LLC (accessed January 11, 2017)
- ↑ Stallion at Helio Aircraft LLC (accessed January 11, 2017)