Baldeagle thanks for giving us The SPAD history. I was wondering about it. Not many WWI aircraft flying in the late '30s - 40s (judging by the age of the truck).
The people in the bottom photo next to the R-5, are Igor Sikorsky and Col. H.F. Gregory, the Helicopter project officer at Wright Field and one of the first USAAF helicopter pilots. His name often appears in helicopter history, he rose from captain to colonel during the war. In the pre-internet days, I tried to find out about him, and I finally learned he retired as a BG in the '70s as a staff officer at HQ SAC. A few years ago, his family was selling some of his items on ebay. I wanted some of his factory models but they were pretty beat up (the dangers of kids and grandkids, I suspect).
He also wrote one of the first helicopter books, "Anything a Horse Can Do" in 1944. (I have an autographed copy along with an autographed copy of Igor's book from the same period).
The helicopter in the next to last photo is the little known G & A (a division of Firestone tires) XR-9. Like most helicopters of the period, it was test flown by Gregory.
First flight was in Dec.1944, but wrecked by a Army pilot (not Gregory), in June '45 while aggressively flying it, which he was told NOT to do. The G & A test pilot thought the mishap was intentionally done by the army ( I assume the alleged motive would have been to favor Sikorsky purchases).
Last edited by
JohnB on Wed Sep 25, 2019 5:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.