A great video of Kaman history. I am proud to say that my dad, Herb Carlon, was one of the original that helped to get those helicopters up. He dedicated 40 years to help design the rotter blades of which he was always very proud to be a part of with Jack Roar (sp) Bill Murray, Al Ashley, Lou Shur(sp), Jean hotchis (sp) George Haire and Bill Alex. Im glad a ran across this to see my dad in action as he has since passed in 2017 at 90. Still have the original prototypes of the blades he helped design. One memory I have, Charlies and his wife were at our house jamming with the round back ovation guitar (still have one of the prototypes!) I was serving appetizers as a young girl and spilt the entire platter on Mr. Kamans wife's lap. Thank you Steven Kaman for sharing and letting me go down memory road.
This is NOT a great viideo. It is incredibly full of misinformation! Sikorsky did NOT invent the helicopter or even the modern single lift rotor layout. Kaman was at least a decade behind German eggbeater helicopters, like the Fl282. In fact, Kaman helicopters were not practical until Anton Flettner, himself, joined the company and brought HIS designs.
The drone was amazing, a real engineering feat for its time. I love this design, and can't understand why it is not more popular. I believe Kaman's forte these days is in hauling and lifting copters.
As a fairly accomplished UAV pilot, and fixed wing too, that this design is fantastic!!! So unique. Easy to see that this thing is inherently stable. Two inter - meshing rotors. No tail rotor. Amazing!!! Why even have a tail boom? And maybe, shorten the length and make the blades wider? They've probably tried that? I'm so impressed with the design here. I don't know why all helicopters aren't following this concept.
Watching videos of the K-MAX brought me here, and I'm glad it did. I found it very interesting to see how the company developed. Most people think of radio-controlled aircraft as being a fairly modern achievement. When was this made, the '70s? Impressive. I also find it very interesting that the K-MAX and its predecessors are/were easier to fly than more "conventional" helicopter designs. Thanks for posting this!
The radio remote or R/C variant was I the air in 1954/1955. There were in addition to Charles Kaman several of the core engineers who were involved in the coming of age radio model planes hobby. logic if you can fly an R/C plane why not a helicopter that was the easiest most stable aircraft or rotary-winged plane? The hobby was advancing full-on but was very expensive still. The Husky was inherently more stable than any fixed-wing scale hobby aircraft, even than the 9 ft wingspan piper Cubs which were the first large R/C hobby aircraft that used early custom four-stroke engines made in the right size for said Cub. So yes, the RC Husky was flying 3 years after the first Husky flights. In 1954.
Mr. Charles KAMAN, I have all my respect for you upon you achievements! From Round back Guitar to Distinct Helicopters! Your helicopters are still in use and are nothing less than any other helicopters, you've brought the innovation & that had proven it to be practical as well! Mr. Igor SIKORSKY is considered as the Father of Helicopters & we have respect for him too, but you are the Father of Innovation (for inter-mesh rotors as unique as co-axial rotors) Mr. Charles has never say never & kept working hard & smart to be known as KAMAN the Brand! Love for you Charlie! :-) I hope your rest of the family will take the lead for your legacy!
The innovation was the use of torsionally compliant solid spar spruce rotor blades with servo-flap control, not the adoption of synchropter rotor configuration.
That may be true, but the video makes it sound like Mr. Kaman is taking credit for the general layout. And anyone familiar with helicopter history knows that synchropters had been around for years before this. It would have been better had the video taken more time to explain exactly what the Kaman company was claiming as its innovation, and what existing technologies it was borrowing. It is unfortunate because I doubt that misrepresenting their achievements was probably not what the company intended to do.
@@deezynar Steven Kaman is hardly able to change the contents of the documentary now. TV is like that. You tell them one thing and they prefer to broadcast something else they believe is more popular for the viewer.
Great Vid! Thanks for posting Steve. Was that your dad? So great that the synchropter was kept alive and thrived postwar and performed so well for so many decades with exemplary safety record. The turbine introduction obviously game changing. Was the Drone version developed further and used in any operations? Gyrostabilised?
I flew nearly 3000 hours in SH-2D/F helicopters as a crewman (Backseat, radar, sonar etc), 1976 through 1992. I felt we were always on mission, on time. Scary flying sometimes but that is the nature of flying at sea.
There's always a trade-off. Round back guitars are easier to make and fit the human body a little better, but do not offer the rich sound musicians love most. Still, some people love them. Kamans produce more lifting power than a single rotor and do not worry about tail rotor strike issues, but trade high speed away due to the higher drag of dual rotor masts, rotor heads and the associated hardware. Not great for distance travel but great for cargo load hauling. Kaman found his niche.
I worked for Kaman Aerospace in the '90s. We developed a laser system for the SH-2 that could look under water and detect mines. It was called "Magic Lantern" and used by the Navy. When I talked to Charles Kaman one day I asked him how he came up with his intermeshing rotor idea. He replied "It was obvious!" Uh, maybe to Chalie Kaman but not to anyone else. (Well maybe to Klettner). BTW, "Kaman" rhymes with "Japan", not "Cayman".
@usmc7242 Sorry, the Magic Lantern airborne mine detection system was in prototype development when the first Gulf War broke out. The Iraqi forces floated many mines down into the Persian Gulf to hinder shipping so the Allies deployed minesweepers to clear them. After a ship hit a mine in an area that the British minesweepers had declared "cleared". the US Navy approached Kaman to see if their laser system could be mounted on an SH-2 helicopter. Kaman mounted a prototype on a US Navy helicopter within 30 days and it was flown over to the Gulf where it was immediately deployed, detecting mines. The advantage of the Magic Lantern system was that it could detect mines in an area FAR larger that a minesweeper (ship) due to its higher speed. "Magic Lantern" is a typical military system name, just random words strung together. It was not named for anywhere in MA or anywhere else. Later a follow-on project was developed for the Marine Corps, called ML-A (Magic Lantern- Adaptation)
@usmc7242 I worked at the Kaman Electro-Optical Division in Tucson. We designed & built the Magic Lantern system here, it was only installed on the helicopter in Bloomfield. The people you mentioned worked at Bloomfield; I don't know any of them. I never visited Bloomfield. We did send some Tucson people back to help in the installation but I won't mention their names.. In the very late Eighties the system was only in the experimental phase, it was not accepted by the Navy until later. I designed all the electronics for a similar but much simplified laser system that was used for detecting schools of fish. It was called "Fisheye" and it was demonstrated in the Gulf of Mexico. Wealso travelled down to Chile twice to demonstrate its capability to a large Chilean fishing company. Linea Area del Norte provided fixed-wing aircraft and mechanics for us to mount our system on. We also flew with their pilots, collecting data.
Kinda sad that he not even once mentioned Anton Flettner, as Flettner's (and his partner Hohenemser's) ideas were crucial to Kaman helicopters. I think he also worked for Kaman for a few years, so to mention his name here would be appropriate. Otherwise I enjoyed this video very much, it's informative and entertaining at the same time.
Its a shame Kaman didn't get to keep the Sea Sprite in production for the military, it seems like the SH2 offered several advantages over the Sikorsky Black Hawks. Now our military are buying helicopters that aren't even made in the US.
Well, it was quite small. I was an asac in the navy for 12 years and flew onboard ship to ship many times (scary stuff), and while it always looked cool, it felt and sounded like a bag of bolts (similar to the super noisy sh-3 seaking - omg a noise factory!). I thought the H-60's were a welcomed replacement, with more room and payload.
Following the end of the Cold War, cost efficiency became critical because of limited funding for the military. Reducing the types of aircraft was a significant way to cut costs. The H-60 became the multi-purpose helo.
Why was the UH-2 a conventional design, with a tail rotor? Was there some overpowering technical reason? Or was that the way the military contract specification was written, and Kaman had to follow it?
Primarily the UH-2 was designed for a different mission than H-43 series and the conventional tail rotor configuration is faster in forward flight. In the beginning the early power plants were low horsepower for their weight, the intermeshing design was chosen to maximize lift as no engine power had to be diverted to a tail rotor. With the advent of the gas turbine that became less of an issue. However the KMAX of today is still the intermeshing configuration for it's heavy lift capabilities.
Yeah right. The Elephant in the room is called Anton Flettner who designed intermeshing rotor, synchrocopters in Germany during the war and was chief designer at Kaman. So it wasn't Kaman's idea at all.
Which state does the first man said dat many inventors who lives der dat built the type writer n helicopter etc??? N hpe kaman helicopter will use the sea sprite to develop new helicopters nw n kaman helicopters can do it SH 2 is best dan sikorsky smehow
A great video of Kaman history. I am proud to say that my dad, Herb Carlon, was one of the original that helped to get those helicopters up. He dedicated 40 years to help design the rotter blades of which he was always very proud to be a part of with Jack Roar (sp) Bill Murray, Al Ashley, Lou Shur(sp), Jean hotchis (sp) George Haire and Bill Alex. Im glad a ran across this to see my dad in action as he has since passed in 2017 at 90. Still have the original prototypes of the blades he helped design. One memory I have, Charlies and his wife were at our house jamming with the round back ovation guitar (still have one of the prototypes!) I was serving appetizers as a young girl and spilt the entire platter on Mr. Kamans wife's lap.
Thank you Steven Kaman for sharing and letting me go down memory road.
He had all the fun.
This is NOT a great viideo. It is incredibly full of misinformation! Sikorsky did NOT invent the helicopter or even the modern single lift rotor layout. Kaman was at least a decade behind German eggbeater helicopters, like the Fl282. In fact, Kaman helicopters were not practical until Anton Flettner, himself, joined the company and brought HIS designs.
I thought Flettner came up with the intermeshing synchroptor rotor design for the Kaman helicopter... He developed it in the '30s
I flew 2,200 hours in Kaman helos in my Navy career and never got my feet wet. Great birds. I had the honor of meeting Mr Kaman in about '82 or 83'.
Somehow I missed seeing this film for my whole career as a helicopter pilot. 🚁 🚁🚁🚁 Thank you so much sharing 👍 Awesome!
The drone was amazing, a real engineering feat for its time. I love this design, and can't understand why it is not more popular. I believe Kaman's forte these days is in hauling and lifting copters.
Thanks, great video, and I have an ovation.
As a fairly accomplished UAV pilot, and fixed wing too, that this design is fantastic!!! So unique.
Easy to see that this thing is inherently stable.
Two inter - meshing rotors. No tail rotor. Amazing!!!
Why even have a tail boom?
And maybe, shorten the length and make the blades wider? They've probably tried that? I'm so impressed with the design here. I don't know why all helicopters aren't following this concept.
Wow,as a private helicopter pilot,and guitarist I had no idea the ovation connection. Thanks.
Watching videos of the K-MAX brought me here, and I'm glad it did. I found it very interesting to see how the company developed. Most people think of radio-controlled aircraft as being a fairly modern achievement. When was this made, the '70s? Impressive. I also find it very interesting that the K-MAX and its predecessors are/were easier to fly than more "conventional" helicopter designs. Thanks for posting this!
The radio remote or R/C variant was I the air in 1954/1955. There were in addition to Charles Kaman several of the core engineers who were involved in the coming of age radio model planes hobby. logic if you can fly an R/C plane why not a helicopter that was the easiest most stable aircraft or rotary-winged plane? The hobby was advancing full-on but was very expensive still. The Husky was inherently more stable than any fixed-wing scale hobby aircraft, even than the 9 ft wingspan piper Cubs which were the first large R/C hobby aircraft that used early custom four-stroke engines made in the right size for said Cub.
So yes, the RC Husky was flying 3 years after the first Husky flights. In 1954.
My grandfather was a flight test engineer for them. Grew up with Kaman.
Mr. Charles KAMAN, I have all my respect for you upon you achievements! From Round back Guitar to Distinct Helicopters! Your helicopters are still in use and are nothing less than any other helicopters, you've brought the innovation & that had proven it to be practical as well! Mr. Igor SIKORSKY is considered as the Father of Helicopters & we have respect for him too, but you are the Father of Innovation (for inter-mesh rotors as unique as co-axial rotors) Mr. Charles has never say never & kept working hard & smart to be known as KAMAN the Brand! Love for you Charlie! :-) I hope your rest of the family will take the lead for your legacy!
They had a drone in the 1950's... MIND BLOWN!
Royal NZ Navy still flies the Kaman SH-2G(I) Super-SeaSprite.
That they got from Australia, who got them from the US.
There's nothing like a good third hand helicopter.
Cool vide thanks.
That was fabulous to watch. Imagine the hidden technology they have today
The innovation was the use of torsionally compliant solid spar spruce rotor blades with servo-flap control, not the adoption of synchropter rotor configuration.
That may be true, but the video makes it sound like Mr. Kaman is taking credit for the general layout. And anyone familiar with helicopter history knows that synchropters had been around for years before this. It would have been better had the video taken more time to explain exactly what the Kaman company was claiming as its innovation, and what existing technologies it was borrowing. It is unfortunate because I doubt that misrepresenting their achievements was probably not what the company intended to do.
@@deezynar Steven Kaman is hardly able to change the contents of the documentary now. TV is like that. You tell them one thing and they prefer to broadcast something else they believe is more popular for the viewer.
@@ahmetcemturan The video looks like it was commissioned by the company for P.R.
Yes but it is archive footage and I appreciate that we are able to watch it. Also he made a comment about it to clarify..
Great Vid! Thanks for posting Steve. Was that your dad? So great that the synchropter was kept alive and thrived postwar and performed so well for so many decades with exemplary safety record. The turbine introduction obviously game changing. Was the Drone version developed further and used in any operations? Gyrostabilised?
I flew nearly 3000 hours in SH-2D/F helicopters as a crewman (Backseat, radar, sonar etc), 1976 through 1992. I felt we were always on mission, on time. Scary flying sometimes but that is the nature of flying at sea.
There's always a trade-off. Round back guitars are easier to make and fit the human body a little better, but do not offer the rich sound musicians love most. Still, some people love them.
Kamans produce more lifting power than a single rotor and do not worry about tail rotor strike issues, but trade high speed away due to the higher drag of dual rotor masts, rotor heads and the associated hardware. Not great for distance travel but great for cargo load hauling. Kaman found his niche.
I worked for Kaman Aerospace in the '90s. We developed a laser system for the SH-2 that could look under water and detect mines. It was called "Magic Lantern" and used by the Navy.
When I talked to Charles Kaman one day I asked him how he came up with his intermeshing rotor idea. He replied "It was obvious!" Uh, maybe to Chalie Kaman but not to anyone else. (Well maybe to Klettner). BTW, "Kaman" rhymes with "Japan", not "Cayman".
@usmc7242 Sorry, the Magic Lantern airborne mine detection system was in prototype development when the first Gulf War broke out. The Iraqi forces floated many mines down into the Persian Gulf to hinder shipping so the Allies deployed minesweepers to clear them. After a ship hit a mine in an area that the British minesweepers had declared "cleared". the US Navy approached Kaman to see if their laser system could be mounted on an SH-2 helicopter. Kaman mounted a prototype on a US Navy helicopter within 30 days and it was flown over to the Gulf where it was immediately deployed, detecting mines. The advantage of the Magic Lantern system was that it could detect mines in an area FAR larger that a minesweeper (ship) due to its higher speed.
"Magic Lantern" is a typical military system name, just random words strung together. It was not named for anywhere in MA or anywhere else. Later a follow-on project was developed for the Marine Corps, called ML-A (Magic Lantern- Adaptation)
@usmc7242 I worked at the Kaman Electro-Optical Division in Tucson. We designed & built the Magic Lantern system here, it was only installed on the helicopter in Bloomfield. The people you mentioned worked at Bloomfield; I don't know any of them. I never visited Bloomfield. We did send some Tucson people back to help in the installation but I won't mention their names.. In the very late Eighties the system was only in the experimental phase, it was not accepted by the Navy until later.
I designed all the electronics for a similar but much simplified laser system that was used for detecting schools of fish. It was called "Fisheye" and it was demonstrated in the Gulf of Mexico. Wealso travelled down to Chile twice to demonstrate its capability to a large Chilean fishing company. Linea Area del Norte provided fixed-wing aircraft and mechanics for us to mount our system on. We also flew with their pilots, collecting data.
This helicopter principle was first invented by Anton Flettner from Germany
Actually, it was invented by Leonardo DaVinci
Yes, and Charles Kaman credited him with inventing the intermeshing rotor design.
@@joshuacorrington153 this sistem it's german. Anton Flettner. This isn't norteamerican!!
also the Focke Wulf and Focke Angelis helicopters, all before Sikorsky and Kaman
@@Pablo-kw5jb to the victors go the spoils. Germany lost the war. We won. Its American.
Kinda sad that he not even once mentioned Anton Flettner, as Flettner's (and his partner Hohenemser's) ideas were crucial to Kaman helicopters. I think he also worked for Kaman for a few years, so to mention his name here would be appropriate. Otherwise I enjoyed this video very much, it's informative and entertaining at the same time.
1:38 Flettner?
I hope they got remote id on that thing.
Its a shame Kaman didn't get to keep the Sea Sprite in production for the military, it seems like the SH2 offered several advantages over the Sikorsky Black Hawks. Now our military are buying helicopters that aren't even made in the US.
The Seasprite is my favorite helo. I also liked the old "eggbeaters", as I recall seeing them fly around my local air force base in the 1960s.
Well, it was quite small. I was an asac in the navy for 12 years and flew onboard ship to ship many times (scary stuff), and while it always looked cool, it felt and sounded like a bag of bolts (similar to the super noisy sh-3 seaking - omg a noise factory!). I thought the H-60's were a welcomed replacement, with more room and payload.
Following the end of the Cold War, cost efficiency became critical because of limited funding for the military. Reducing the types of aircraft was a significant way to cut costs. The H-60 became the multi-purpose helo.
Was the twin counter-rotating head designed by Kaman or Fletner of Germany?
The Germans first used the intermeshing rotor configuration during WW2
@@swk91356 so who can claim the invention?
Flettner ?
Yeeeees !!! Flettner sistem.
Stat: Yes, Flettner went to work for Kaman after the war.
They are making the new choppers basically more like the erly design with no router and 2 blades
Not one mention of Anton Flettner. Hmm.
Why was the UH-2 a conventional design, with a tail rotor? Was there some overpowering technical reason? Or was that the way the military contract specification was written, and Kaman had to follow it?
Primarily the UH-2 was designed for a different mission than H-43 series and the conventional tail rotor configuration is faster in forward flight. In the beginning the early power plants were low horsepower for their weight, the intermeshing design was chosen to maximize lift as no engine power had to be diverted to a tail rotor. With the advent of the gas turbine that became less of an issue. However the KMAX of today is still the intermeshing configuration for it's heavy lift capabilities.
@@swk91356 Thank you very much.
if the intermeshing rotor is so good why is it only used by kaman?
not that i dont think its cool or anything but why is it so rare?
@MB fucking patents, its always patents with americans
That's exactly what I was wondering.
Great project
Yeah right. The Elephant in the room is called Anton Flettner who designed intermeshing rotor, synchrocopters in Germany during the war and was chief designer at Kaman. So it wasn't Kaman's idea at all.
Anton Flettner was not chief designer at Kaman, or ever employed by Kaman.
@@stevenkaman3326 That is not what Wikipedia says. Twice.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaman_HH-43_Huskie
Well Steven, nothing to say?
At kaman it was all about the future
The Husky had what I called rotor song the only one that could sing that song was the Husky h43 B
А наш Камов Ка-10 был готов в 1949 году...и если бы не предатели в правительстве,весь мир летал бы на них!
Great
Which state does the first man said dat many inventors who lives der dat built the type writer n helicopter etc??? N hpe kaman helicopter will use the sea sprite to develop new helicopters nw n kaman helicopters can do it SH 2 is best dan sikorsky smehow
The had that helicopter flying in WW2
I’ll never forgive Kaman for leaving Moosup. The town died when they left.......😕