The fuselage included a pair of stubby wings that supported the landing gear and had a semi-standard elongated tail assembly. Typical of the day, it had an open cockpit.Īlthough a rotary-winged aircraft, the OP-1 was not a helicopter. The aircraft itself was an odd compilation of a normal front-mounted aircraft engine used to generate thrust and three overhead free-spinning blades attached to a center-mounted tripod to provide lift. It was an autogiro, an airplane propelled by a normal front-mounted aircraft engine but kept aloft by rotating overhead wings, a phenomenon known as “autorotation.” Although rather ungainly looking due their stubby upturned wings, large tails, and drooping rotors, autogiros took well to the air. Their ability to “land on a dime” made them favorites at air shows and an aggressive publicity campaign touted them as “flying autos, the transportation of the future.” Autogiros, however, turned out to be neither a military nor a commercial success. The first rotary-winged aircraft used by naval aviation was not a helicopter.
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