Kaman Electric Helicopter (technology demonstrator)

(Photo credit: Howard Levy)

Kaman Electric Helicopter (technology demonstrator)
Kaman Corporation
Bloomfield, Connecticut, USA
www.kaman.com

Founded in 1945 by Charles Kaman, Kaman Corporation is an aerospace company that is headquartered in Bloomfield, Connecticut, USA. The company originally designed and manufactured helicopters for its first ten years as a company and set world records and achieved many aviation firsts. Kaman, a guitarist, then diversified outside the aerospace industry and worked with engineers and other musicians to create a composite-body Ovation guitar which lead to the creation of Kaman Music, now KMC Musicorp.

Throughout company's history, it continued to diversify and build helicopters including the HH-43 Huskie (and variants), the Seasprite (and variants), the K-MAX helicopter and others. Kaman Corporation today is a multi-billion dollar company that designs and produces a large variety of products for the aerospace industry, the space industry, the medical industry, the military, industry, provides engineering consulting services and more.

Kaman passenger electric helicopter technology demonstrator
In August 1952, the Office of Naval Research (USA) awarded Kaman a contract to develop a remotely-controlled helicopter. The company used a modified HTK-1 intermeshing-rotorblade helicopter (a predecessor to the HH-43 Huskie). Then in 1958, the company then took one of its drone helicopters and retrofitted it with a Task Corporation lightweight high-voltage A.C. electric motor and created the world's first electric helicopter.

While very little specifications are known about the two-seat electric helicopter, the helicopter could be piloted remotely or manually by a helicopter pilot. The helicopter had two intermeshing-rotorblades, three fins on one tail boom and had fixed quadricycle wheeled landing gear. The helicopter windows and open cockpit provided excellent views for the pilot.

The remote flight controls, including a joystick, was so easy to use that a non-pilot could pilot the helicopter remotely with very little training. A ground-based 250 kW turbine-driven generator powered the helicopter and a cable was connected from the ground power supply to the helicopter, to provide electricity to the helicopter's electric motor.

Specifications:

• Aircraft type: Passenger electric VTOL helicopter technology demonstrator
• Piloting: Pilot or remote control
• Capacity: 2 passengers
• Cruise speed: Unknown
• Rotorblades: 2 intermeshing-rotorblades
• Electric motor: 1 Task Corporationn lightweight high-voltage A.C. electric motor
• Power source: 250 Kw turbine-driven generator on the ground with a cable connected to the helicopter
• Fuselage: Aircraft aluminium
• Windows: Large full-helicopter windows allowing forward, left and right for excellent visibility
• Tail: 3 fins on one boom tail
• Landing gear: Fixed quadricycle wheeled landing gear
• Safety features: In case of loss of power and if at a high enough altitude, the helicopter can autorotate to the ground safely.

Company Insights:

• Kaman Corporation Crunchbase
• Kaman Corporation Pitchbook
• Kaman Corporation Tracxn
• Kaman Corporation  Wikipedia
• KMC Musicorp Wikipedia
• KMC Music website

Resources:

• Kaman Corporation website
• Kaman Corporation Facebook
• Kaman Corporation Instagram
• Kaman Corporation YouTube
• Kaman Corporation X (Formerly Twitter)
• Kaman Corporation LinkedIn
• HTK Drones web page
• HTK-137835 web page
• Video: Kaman You Asked For It 1957, Kaman Air Vehicles, June 4, 2020
• Article: Less Than a Year After His Death, Charlie Kaman’s Helicopters Achieve Another First, Defense Media Network, Jan. 12, 2012
• Article: Charles H. Kaman (1919–2011), Vertical Flight Society, Dec. 2012