GIANT HELICOPTER UNDER TEST

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 70, Issue 151, 12 April 1950, Page 5

GIANT HELICOPTER UNDER TEST

CAPABLE OF LIFTING 100 PERSONS NEW YORK, April 10. A giant helicopter capable of lifting 100 persons was being tested by the millionaire aviation expert, Mr Howard Hughes, it was learned to-day. Air Force officers said that the Hughes Aircraft Company had an experimental contract for a helicopter designed to lift at least 10 tons. The builders envisaged it descending verti-* cally from the skies to pick up field artillery, small tanks and guided missiles. The helicopter had rotary blades measuring 125 feet from tip to tip. It was powered by two 4000 horse-power jet engines. The Air Force had also ordered a slightly larger helicopter from the Piasecki Company .of Pennsylvania. Both models were the world’s largest. Mr Hughes during the war built the world’s biggest flying-boat. It cost the United States Government 18,000,000 dollars and Mr Hughes spent 10,000,000 dollars of his own money. The flyingboat made only one flight—in Deccrriber, 1947. Since then it has gone through many modifications. Officials of the Hughes Company said that the flying-boat would have test flights “fairly soon.”