Flying Contraptions:
The Flying Platform
After World War II, National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics engineer Charles H. Zimmerman dreamed up a concept initially known as “Flying Shoes.” Zimmerman saw the rotors on top of a helicopter as inherently unstable. Instead, he wanted to put them beneath a flying craft, which he believed a pilot could control using his natural balancing reflexes, in a fashion similar to riding a bicycle or standing on a surfboard. In 1953, aircraft manufacturer Hiller Helicopters signed a contract with the Office of Naval Research to secretly develop a design that incorporated Zimmerman’s theories. Hiller built a prototype, the twin engine Model 1031 Flying Platform, which in January 1955 became the first ducted-fan vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft ever to fly. The U.S. Army subsequently contracted Hiller to develop a larger version of the flying platform, called the VZ-1 Pawnee, which had a third engine. The Pawnee’s added weight, however, made it more difficult for pilots to use their balance to guide the craft, and it was never put into production.
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