Frank Piasecki
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Frank Nicolas Piasecki (Template:IPAc-en Template:Respell; Script error: No such module "IPA".; October 24, 1919 – February 11, 2008) was an American engineer and helicopter aviation pioneer. Piasecki pioneered tandem rotor helicopter designs and created the compound helicopter concept of vectored thrust using a ducted propeller.[1]
Early life and education
Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to an immigrant Polish tailor, Piasecki worked for autogyro manufacturers while still attending Overbrook High School,[2] then studied mechanical engineering at the University of Pennsylvania before graduating with a bachelor's degree from New York University. He was employed by the Platt-LePage Aircraft Company as a control engineer on their XR-1 twin-rotor project.[3] In 1940, he formed PV Engineering Forum with former Pennsylvania classmate Harold Venzie.[4] He built a single-person, single-rotor helicopter designated the PV-2 and flew it on April 11, 1943. This helicopter impressed the United States Navy sufficiently to win Piasecki a development contract.[5]
Career
The name PV Engineering was changed to Piasecki Helicopter Corporation in 1946. After a boardroom dispute, Piasecki was forced out of Piasecki Helicopter in 1955, and formed the Piasecki Aircraft Company.[6]
At Piasecki Aircraft, he participated in the development of the Piasecki 16H-1 the world's first shaft driven compound helicopter, the PA-59K/VZ-8P Flying Geep (also known as the AirGeep) the Piasecki PA-97 Helistat heavy vertical airlifter and the Piasecki X-49 experimental compound helicopter.
Personal life
Piasecki married Vivian Weyerhaeuser on December 20, 1958.[7] They had seven children: Nicole, Frederick, John, Lynn, Frank, Michael, and Gregory.[6]
His son John W. Piasecki is now President and CEO of Piasecki Aircraft. His son Fred W. Piasecki is Chairman of the Board and Chief Technology Officer of Piasecki Aircraft.[8] His daughter Nicole Piasecki was the vice president and general manager of Propulsion Systems for Boeing Commercial Airplanes.[9][10]
Later life and death
Piasecki died at his home on February 11, 2008, of a heart attack after a series of strokes. He was 88.
Awards
- Philip H. Ward, Jr. Medal from The Franklin Institute in 1979.
- National Medal of Technology - President Ronald Reagan presented Piasecki with the country's highest technical honor in 1986.
- Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Lifetime Achievement award - awarded in 2005
- National Aviation Hall of Fame Inducted 2002.[11]
See also
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References
External links
- Founder Origins: Frank Nicholas Piasecki
- Exclutive Biography of Frank N. Piasecki
- The Boy Who Grew Flying Bananas by L.B. White 1951 article on Piasecki at age 31 and his early helicopters. Rare photos.
- Frank Piasecki biography on National Aviation Hall of Fame site
- Summary of Frank's aviation legacy from AIN online
- Template:PAGENAMEBASE at Find a GraveTemplate:EditAtWikidata
- ↑ Spenser, Jay P. Whirlybirds, A History of the U.S. Helicopter Pioneers. University of Washington Press, 1998. Template:ISBN.
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ P-V Engineering Forum PV-2 Template:Webarchive - Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
- ↑ Wall Street Journal, February 16–17, 2008, p. A6
- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Twining, Charles E. F.K. Weyerhaeuser: A Biography. St. Paul, Minn: Minnesota Historical Society Press, 1997. p. 289. Template:ISBN
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- ↑ "All Female Flight"
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- Pages with script errors
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- 1919 births
- 2008 deaths
- Businesspeople from Philadelphia
- American people of Polish descent
- American aerospace engineers
- American aviation pioneers
- Aviation inventors
- Businesspeople in aviation
- 20th-century American inventors
- National Medal of Technology recipients
- Commanders of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland
- 20th-century American businesspeople
- University of Pennsylvania alumni
- New York University alumni