I have been extremely fortunate to have met and worked with a lot of very interesting people over the years. One of those people was Tommy Thompson. I worked with Tommy, or as we always called him, Mr. Thompson, in my early years working at FAA. Mr. Thompson was a veteran of World War II and had a lot fascinating stories.
One story that I remember was that he helped assemble the first “helicopter” that was procured by the U.S. Army air Corps. Unfortunately, I don’t remember all the details of the story, but I always thought it was pretty cool….
The world’s first practical helicopter was designed by Igor Sikorsky and built by the Vought-Sikorsky Aircraft Division of the United Aircraft Corporation. It’s first flight was made on September 14, 1939 at Stratford, Connecticut. That flight was “tethered” and lasted only a few seconds. The first free (un-tethered) flight took place on May 13, 1940. The machine (the word helicopter wasn’t used until much later) was called the VS-300.
The VS-300 became the model for all modern single-rotor helicopters and the U.S. Army Air Corps contracted with Sikorsky Aircraft (in December of 1940) to build an easily manufactured version of the VS-300. The new version was designated the XR-4 and was demonstrated in January 1942.
Now here’s what I remember about Mr. Thompson’s story — The first delivery of the new machine was made to Wright Field in Dayton, Ohio (I think) to be tested by the Army Air Corps. It was delivered by truck and had to be assembled. Mr. Thompson was one of the group of Army personnel that put the machine together. He said he had never seen anything like it and didn’t even know what it was supposed to do. People were calling it an aircraft, but it didn’t have any wings… I can imagine the skepticism from Mr. Thompson and his team. He said everyone was amazed that they apparently put it together correctly, and the thing did “fly.” You may have noticed that I used “machine” and not “helicopter” while writing this — the term helicopter wasn’t used until 1948. Mr. Thompson helped put the “thing” together in 1942.
Not sure why I thought of this today, but it was nice to remember Mr. Thompson and his stories. You probably won’t ever see his name in history books, but if you ever visit the helicopter exhibits in the Smithsonian or the Edison Museum in Dearborn Michigan , think of Mr. Thompson.
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