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Auction: 312 - Numismatic Collector's Series Sale
Lot: 2616

Piasecki Aircraft (PA) Ca. 1955. Specimen. Shares. Green. Eagle with outstretched wings. EF. Frank Nicholas Piasecki was an aeronautical engineer and pioneer for the development of transport helicopters and vertical lift. In 1940 Piasecki founded and headed a research group, the PV-Engineering Forum. Piasecki flew their first helicopter, the PV-2, on April 11, 1943; this was only the second successful helicopter to fly in the U.S. This technical achievement attracted the attention of the U.S. Navy, who awarded the young designer a contract for the construction of a large tandem rotor helicopter capable of carrying heavy payloads in a large cabin. Thirteen months later, in March 1945, Piasecki flew the world´s first successful tandem rotor helicopter, which was also the first helicopter designed for the U.S. Navy. Popularly called the “Flying Banana”, it was the forerunner of modern tandem rotor transport and was capable of carrying as many passengers as comparable fixed wing airplanes.

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