Sikorsky R-4

what is it?

The Sikorsky R-4 is a two-seat light helicopter that was designed by Igor Sikorsky with a single, three-bladed main rotor and powered by a radial engine. The R-4 was the world's first large-scale mass-produced helicopter and the first helicopter used by the United States Army Air Forces, the United States Navy, the United States Coast Guard, and the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force and Royal Navy. In U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard service, the helicopter was known as the Sikorsky HNS-1.

🔎How to recognise it: 1 piston engine · 11.6 m main rotor

base stats

• speed 121 km/htop speed
• size 1,152 kgmax take-off weight
• built 131made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 84 years ago, in 1942.
• 🚗Rotor of 11.6 m: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.

piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.

spec sheet

first flight

1942-01-14

introduced

1944

retired

1946

status

retired

number built

131

role

helicopter

makers

Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation

engines

1× Warner R-550-1

crew

2

length

14.7 m

rotor diameter

11.6 m

height

3.8 m

max take-off weight

1,152 kg

top speed

121 km/h

cruise speed

105 km/h

range

—

ceiling

2,438 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.