A Russian Immigrant
A Russian Immigrant
A Russian immigrant to the United States, George de Bothezat, designed and built a four-rotor machine powered by a 180-horsepower (134-kilowatt) rotary engine under the sponsorship of the U.S. Army. It weighed 3,600 pounds (1,633 kilograms), and the x-shaped structure was more than 60 feet (18.3 meters) wide, with four huge fan-shaped rotors mounted at each corner. The pilot controlled individual collective pitch mechanisms for each rotor. De Bothezat flew the electric rc helicopters on its first flight at McCook Field near Dayton, Ohio, in October 1922. This flight lasted about a minute and a half as the craft rose six feet (1.8 meters), drifted with the wind, and landed some 500 feet (152 meters) away. Over the next two years, the gas rc helicopters made more than 100 test flightssome rising to 15 feet (4.6 meters) and one with three passengers clinging to the frame to demonstrate the machine’s stability. The U.S. Army tested the machine and commented favorably on it. But the Army abandoned it because of its complexity and unreliability and because de Bothezat was difficult to work with.
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