Piasecki CH-125 (PV-22) Serial No 9641 "Flying Banana" on display at the Comox Museum Heritage Air Park BC Canada.
The Piasecki H-21 Workhorse/Shawnee is an American helicopter, the fourth of a line of tandem rotor helicopters designed and built by Piasecki Helicopter (later Boeing Vertol). Commonly called the "flying banana", it was a multi-mission helicopter, utilizing wheels, skis, or floats. It was used for Arctic rescue because it performed so well at low temperatures. Frank Piasecki was born in Philadelphia in 1919, the son of an immigrant Polish tailor. He earned degrees in aeronautical and mechanical engineering by the age of 20 and in 1940, he gained the support of a few friends and started a small aeronautical company. He built a single-person, single-rotor helicopter designated the PV-2 and test-flew it by 1943. Piasecki realized that Sikorsky was the favored helicopter manufacturer for the Army, so he made an appeal to the Navy with his PV-2. Navy leaders initially showed little interest in helicopters, but soon changed their minds. Piasecki also had an idea for a much larger helicopter capable of fulfilling various naval missions, such as rescuing sailors at sea. On January 1, 1944, he received a Navy contract for a single new heavy-duty transport helicopter. Piasecki decided to build a helicopter that had two rotors, one at each end of a long, somewhat cylindrical fuselage. The two rotors were easier to manufacture and control than a single large rotor, and the long fuselage could be loaded with cargo or people, without much concern for even weight distribution. Piasecki also simply did not like the idea of a tail rotor, which had given Igor Sikorsky problems with his VS-300 and which looked like a circular saw mounted right at head-chopping level—and robbed valuable horsepower from the lifting rotor. The Army became aware of the H-21's potential as a medium utility helicopter soon after the type's maiden flight, and in 1952 awarded Piasecki a contract for the production of the H-21C variant.
Size: 5620px × 3733px
Location: Comox Air museum Vancouver Island BC British Columbia Canada
Photo credit: © David Gowans / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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