.

It is late at night so just a quick start to this historical helicopter article ....it flew successfully for several hours at low level during testing and was then set aside because of World War 2

The machine has been preserved and is now in a small aviation museum in Winnipeg. I have about 50 excellent photographs and close-ups but back then (1982) I was using slides and will have to get them converted to digital.

For now , here is a picture of the 3 farm boys who built the machine .... plus a few others already on my computer

.

Getting ready for start-up

.

.

Rotors turning

.

.

High angle shot

.

.

Picture of the controls .... collective pitch to both blades for lift .... but swash plate for directional control is only used on the lower rotor

.

.

Front view parked in front of the workshop

.

.

And a wonderful bit of trivia ..... the Froebe family were farmers about 30 miles from where Stan;s farm is in Illinois USA..... then they moved to Canada and lived about 30 miles from where I am .

Truth be told I think they put helicopter gas in the drinking water around Paxton .... Haaaaaa

.

.

Much more to come in later days ..... heading to bed now that we hit new years 2020

For all practical purposes the Froebe Brothers built this machine in what we would call a blacksmith shop ..... forges , torch welding , and they made most of the components themselves. They used 4130 chrome moly tubing for the frame , and a 98 horsepower De Havilland Gipsy Moth engine

True homebuilders.

That is close to me. I built a large hickory stairway recently near that town for another farmer.