Worlds First Helicopter Loop - H. E. Thompson 1949

[kyrkbymannen]

Why do it at such low altitude?

[btbisbee]

@kyrkbymannen He told me that he could orient himself better by keeping track of the horizon. He said he would swivel his head around and check that he was on track by looking behnd. I think the craft wasn't as stable as an airplane doing the same maneuver and could wander off if he couldn't get ground reference.

[JaleelJohanson62]

Your father was a brave and confident man. May he rest in peace.

[meatisdeliciouse]

Is there and propeller aro plane or helicopter that can break the sound barrier?

[forrest225]

@meatisdeliciouse nope. 

[meatisdeliciouse]

How does somone know how to fly a plane or a helicopter like that if it's only just been succesufuly invented?

[cors0]

omg awsome,almost like my bf2 heli stunt videos :D

[posquint]

I guess I was expecting a powered loop, like a fixed wing aircraft would do. Here, he apparently 'flips' the tail over at about 270 degrees.

[soar8hours]

I flew in helicopters in the Army and jumped from them in the 82nd Airborne. This first loop your dad did was amazing!

I currently own two planes... C-150M and

Luscombe 8A. I have some videos posted

on you tube also... serch for & check out my tail number NC71845. Thanks for the post! Your dad & I share two things in common, Flying & our names...By the way, my name is Tommy Eugene Thompson :)

[btbisbee]

@soar8hours I told my Mom about the coincidence. You made her day! They were married for 60 years when he passed.

[CORSAIR001]

Faire un loop à quelques metres du sol, cela me semble plutot osé ! Surtout avec un hélicoptère de cette époque ! Elle serait pas truquée cette vidéo ?

[btbisbee]

omment osez-vous la question de savoir si cette vidéo est fausse! Faire des recherches et se renseigner sur la réputation de mon père. En 1948, il a même appris quelques pilotes français qui est venu aux États-Unis pour apprendre à piloter un hélicoptère à Sikorsky Aircraft. J'ai une photo de mon père, debout à côté de Igor Sikorsky de Bridgeport dans le Connecticut.

[CORSAIR001]

Désolé, je ne voulez pas vous blesser, je me suis renseigné et en effet la vidéo est vraie ! Faire un looping à quelques mètres du sol... il fallait oser !

Félicitations !

You can be proud of your father !

[DjReplayRemix]

wow, really impressive!

can anyone tell me though, why he is flying so close to the ground, doesn't it makes the loop way more dangerous?

[btbisbee]

He told me that he could gauge his position in the air more easily if he could keep an eye on the horizon. He said he looked over his shoulder repeatedly during the maneuver.

[treetopflyer06]

I am hoping to fly Black Hawks once I graduate officer training. God Bless him for all that he has done for aviation and America!

[shrubbo4me]

Thank you for the upload, it was a pleasure to watch.

[hugojpinto]

Thanks you for such an important piece of documentary and showcase of bravery. Truly amazing to see the work of pioneers.

[SarasotaShotgun]

I think your audio/visual tribute is fantastic! How lucky are you to have this from the past! Can you i.d. the gentlemen in the photo? Im looking for information on Roger Knoll.Or Noll or something like that. He told my husband (in 1986) he did some kind of helicopter loop thats in the record book. I was doing a search of helicopter loop and came across yours! Really, I think its a proud and wonderful thing. I cant get over the fact you have this from so long ago! WOW!

[btbisbee]

Left to right in the still photo is "unknown mechanic", Mr. Whelan - General Manager of United Technologies Sikorsky Stratford Plant, H. E. Thompson, Ralph Alex - S-52 Designer, and Adolf Plenefisch - crew chief for the S-52. He was a passenger on some of the loops.

Thanks for viewing.

[TwigletWoof]

If you look carefully it isn't a loop in the conventional sense. He climbs vertically and then rotates at the top of the climb using his tail rotor to change his direction of travel and then uses cyclic pitch to roll round to ensure that he continues in the same direction of travel before the start of the manouver. I believe he is actually carrying out a stall turn followed by a roll.

[btbisbee]

I'm always willing to entertain informed and constructive feedback. I have added my fathers written comments about the maneuver to the info section for the video. He wrote a memoir that was published posthumously. Sikorsky considered this a loop and it is describe as such on their historical archives pages. They also have the movie playing in the lobby of their Stratford headquarters. Thanks for watching.

[fletchb]

You could be right about the second shot, it does look he is doing the "airwolf" loop. But the film is too washed out to say for sure. The first shot looks like an honest-to-God true loop to me !

[jgapainting08]

ive done alot of painting in the stratford plant,and every time i enter the building or the property i always seem to get ahuge sence of aw of how amazing the plant is U ROCK SIKORSKYS!!

[vispaaja]

That there is big ballz :O