The Piasecki Helicopter Corporation was an American designer and manufacturer of helicopters in Philadelphia and nearby Morton, Pennsylvania, in the late 1940s and the 1950s. Its founder, Frank Piasecki, was ousted in 1956 and started a new company, Piasecki Aircraft. Piasecki Helicopter was renamed Vertol Corporation in early 1956. Vertol was acquired by Boeing in 1960 and renamed Boeing Vertol.
History
The Piasecki Helicopter Corporation was founded in 1940 by Frank Piasecki and fellow aeronautics student Harold Venzie as the P-V Engineering Forum (shortened from Piasecki-Venzie); the other partners were F.J. Kosloski, Donald N. Meyers, Elliott Daland, and Walter Swartz. The first design from P-V Engineering was the PV-1, a rotorless-tail design that used a tapering tail cone and pressurized air to suppress main rotor torque. Venzie left the firm in 1943.
The PV-2 (NX-37061) was a more conventional design and became the third helicopter flown in the United States (following Igor Sikorsky's VS-300 and Sikorsky R-4). It was designed and flown by Frank Piasecki on April 11, 1943. Piasecki had limited pilot experience; the PV-2 was tethered to the ground as a safety measure, but the clothesline he used broke. He towed the helicopter behind his car in October 1943 to Washington, DC to demonstrate it to federal government officials; because the wheels had no bearings, he had to stop every 10 to 15 minutes to cool them. When asked to show his pilot's license following the demonstration in Washington, Piasecki admitted he did not have one and he was issued the first helicopter pilot's license on October 20, 1943, by the Civil Aeronautics Administration.
Piasecki is forced out
thumb|right|YH-16 prototype in flight
Don R. Berlin was brought in as president and director of Piasecki Helicopters in 1953, while Frank Piasecki was chairman of the board. Under Piasecki, the company began the PV-15 large transport tandem helicopter project (designated H-16). The prototype PV-15 was first flown in 1953, but a fatal crash in January 1956 led to the cancellation of the project. and was acquired by Boeing on March 30, 1960, who renamed it Boeing Vertol.