Frank Piasecki, the aviation pioneer who founded what is now Boeing Rotorcraft in Philadelphia, passed away earlier today at the age of 88.  Born in Philadelphia in 1919 - the son of an immigrant Polish tailor, he worked while still in his teens for the Kellett Aircraft Corporation, an autogiro manufacturer.  By the time he was 20, he had earned a degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and an aeronautical engineering degree from New York University.  He then served as a designer for the Platt-LePage Aircraft Company, which was at the time in competition with Sikorsky Aircraft for the development of an Army helicopter.

In 1940, Piasecki - exempted from military service during WWII because of his critically needed skills as an aeronautical engineer - gained the support of a few friends and started his own company. Working out of a garage in Philadelphia, he built a Sikorsky-style helicopter  with a single main rotor (Frank would probably not appreciate this description).  By the spring of 1943 he was test-flying the machine around the countryside.  He had a sense of humor and once startled a filling station attendant by setting down for a tank of fuel and a windshield wipe.

In the meantime, Piasecki was making progress with his innovative tandem-rotor concept for a heavy lift transport helicopter.  The craft's load was spread between two rotors, each of which was smaller and simpler to build than a single rotor of the same lifting capacity.  And since they supported the aircraft at both ends, the cargo could be loaded almost haphazardly in the fuselage without dangerously affecting the aircraft's center of gravity.  Designated the PV-3, the new helicopter made its first flight in March 1945.

It was the precursor of the US Marine Corps CH-46 Sea Knight and the much larger US Army CH-47 Chinook.  Both aircraft have been mainstay's of the two services since their introduction during the Vietnam War in the mid-1960s.  Like Igor Sikorsky, Frank Piasecki was his own test pilot and images from the 1940s and later invariably showed him - always smiling - at the controls of a helicopter aircraft of Piasecki design.  His views, guidance and opinions were sought to the end.  Just this past month, AHS celebrated his latest design, the X-49A SpeedHawk, on the cover of Vertiflite magazine.  The X-49A, currently in flight test, is poised to demonstrate vectored thrust ducted propeller flight at speeds exceeding 200 kts.

Frank Piasecki was a founding member of the American Helicopter Society and the creator in 1952 of its Alexander A. Klemin Award given for notable achievement in rotary wing aeronautics.  He was named an Honorary Fellow of AHS in 1947 and served as AHS president in 1951-1952.  In 1980 he received the Klemin Award in recognition of his many achievements.  Some may recall that this was the first year he could be prevailed upon to accept the award.

Frank was one of the last surviving US helicopter pioneers, a list which includes Igor I. Sikorsky, Stan Hiller, Arthur Young and Bart Kelly.  He will be missed by all within the world rotorcraft community.