 Lockheed's Covert "Advanced Projects" Facility at Hiller Aircraft (Menlo Park, CA) | |
| Industry | Aerospace |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1942 |
| Founders | Stanley Hiller |
| Headquarters | |
Hiller Aircraft Company is an American private aerospace company, based in Firebaugh, California. It was founded in 1942 as Hiller Industries by Stanley Hiller to develop helicopters.
Stanley Hiller, then seventeen, established the first helicopter factory on the West Coast of the United States, located in Berkeley, California, [1] in 1942, under the name "Hiller Industries," to develop his design for the coaxial-rotor XH-44 "Hiller-Copter" for the U.S. Army. The XH-44 became operational in 1944. [2] In collaboration with Henry J. Kaiser, it became United Helicopters in 1945. In the postwar years, United Helicopter produced a number of innovative helicopter designs for military and civilian purposes, including coaxial-rotor and tailless designs, as well as more conventional models. In January, 1949, a Hiller 360 became the first civilian helicopter to cross the United States. [2]
Besides helicopters, in the year after World War II, Stanley Hiller researched a two-man rocket-jet aircraft design that took off and landed vertically, called the VJ-100, in which he tried unsuccessfully to interest the U.S. military. [3]
The company was renamed Hiller Helicopters in 1948. It was involved in the development of a number of prototype helicopters. From the early 1960s to 1969, its Palo Alto plant served as a CIA cover for the production of the CORONA reconnaissance satellites. [4]
Hiller was purchased by Fairchild Aircraft in 1964.
Jeff Hiller, the son of Stanley Hiller, repurchased the company in 1994 with the help of a dozen Thai investors led by Patrick C. Lim, part owner of Siam Steel and many other Asian ventures. For ownership of Hiller aircraft, these investors helped cover the company's liabilities about $1 million and commit about $10 million to build at least 30 new helicopters at the new East Bay production site and also setting up the first aerospace company in Thailand. [5]
Stanley Hiller donated money and a number of aircraft to form the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos, California, which opened in 1998.
In 2009, the Hiller (China) Aircraft Manufacturing Company [6] began construction of a production facility in Zhangjiakou City, northwest of Beijing. The company is a joint venture between Hiller Aircraft Corporation, Zhangjiakou Chahar General Aviation Company. At the time, Zhangjiakou Chahar General Aviation was already carrying out low-rate production of UH-12 parts and sub assemblies. [7]
In July 2018 an accident in which a truck driver drove over his co-driver occurred at the Hiller Firebaugh facility. On May 4 a jury found Hiller 70% at fault for the accident and awarded the injured driver over 9 million dollars in damages. [8] The company's website news update from February 15, 2021, indicates the company is struggling financially with the owners hesitating to provide further funding to keep the company operating. [9]
| Model name | First flight | Number built | Type |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hiller XH-44 | 1948 | 1 | |
| Hiller VJ-100 | |||
| Hiller Autogyro | |||
| Hiller X-2-235 | |||
| Hiller J-5 | |||
| Hiller UH-4 Commuter | |||
| Hiller UH-5 Rotormatic | |||
| Hiller UH-12 | Single piston-engine observation helicopter | ||
| Hiller HH-120 Hornet | |||
| Hiller HJ-1 | |||
| Hiller VXT-8 | N/A | Coleopter | |
| Hiller YH-32 Hornet | 1950 | 18 | Tip Ramjet engine helicopter |
| Hiller VZ-1 Pawnee | 1955 | 6 | "Flying platform" |
| Hiller 1098 STORC [10] | Tip turbojet convertible plane/helicopter | ||
| Hiller 1123 [11] | Tip turbojet cargo helicopter designed for US Army's Transportation Research and Engineering Command (TRECOM) | ||
| Hiller Air Tug [12] | Tip turbojet super heavy lift helicopter for mid air Saturn S-IC Booster recovery | ||
| Hiller ROE-1 Rotorcycle | 1956 | 12 | Ultralight piston-engine helicopter |
| Hiller X-18 | 1959 | 1 | Experimental twin engine tiltwing |
| Hiller Ten99 | 1961 | 1 | Single turbine engine helicopter |
| Fairchild Hiller FH-1100 | 1963 | 253 | Single turbine engine helicopter |
| Fairchild Hiller FH-227 | 1966 | 78 | Twin-engine turboprop commercial airliner |
The Bell UH-1 Iroquois is a utility military helicopter designed and produced by the American aerospace company Bell Helicopter. It is the first member of the prolific Huey family, as well as the first turbine-powered helicopter in service with the United States military.
Fairchild was an American aircraft and aerospace manufacturing company based at various times in Farmingdale, New York; Hagerstown, Maryland; and San Antonio, Texas.
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The Hiller YH-32 Hornet is an American ultralight helicopter built by Hiller Aircraft in the early 1950s. It was a small and unique design because it was powered by two Hiller 8RJ2B ramjet engines mounted on the rotor blade tips which weigh 13 lb (5.9 kg) each and deliver an equivalent of 45 hp (34 kW) for a total of 90 hp (67 kW). Versions of the HJ-1 Hornet were built for the United States Army and the United States Navy in the early 1950s.
A coaxial-rotor aircraft is an aircraft whose rotors are mounted one above the other on concentric shafts, with the same axis of rotation, but turning in opposite directions (contra-rotating).
On a helicopter, the main rotor or rotor system is the combination of several rotary wings with a control system, that generates the aerodynamic lift force that supports the weight of the helicopter, and the thrust that counteracts aerodynamic drag in forward flight. Each main rotor is mounted on a vertical mast over the top of the helicopter, as opposed to a helicopter tail rotor, which connects through a combination of drive shaft(s) and gearboxes along the tail boom. The blade pitch is typically controlled by the pilot using the helicopter flight controls. Helicopters are one example of rotary-wing aircraft (rotorcraft). The name is derived from the Greek words helix, helik-, meaning spiral; and pteron meaning wing.
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The Hiller ROE Rotorcycle is a single-seat ultralight helicopter designed in 1953 for a military requirement. A total of 12 were produced for the United States Marine Corps. And in 1954, the Hiller Helicopters was selected by the US Navy's Bureau of Aeronautics to build this design of a one-man, foldable, self-rescue and observation helicopter. It featured a two-blade rotor system. Its original empty weight was 290 lb (132 kg).
Stanley Hiller Jr., was an American pioneering developer of the helicopter.
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The Hiller XH-44 Hiller-Copter is an American experimental helicopter designed by Stanley Hiller.
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