Platt-LePage Aircraft Company

Wynn Laurence LePage, a British Aeronautical Engineer living in Pennsylvania, who co-founded the Platt-LePage Aircraft Company in partnership with Haviland Hull Platt, the company's intended purpose being the manufacture of helicopters. LePage, impressed by the performance of the German Focke-Wulf Fa 61, acquired the manufacturing rights to the aircraft. Two early helicopter prototypes developed by the company failed to meet with any success; however in 1940, under the terms of the Dorsey-Logan Act, Platt-Lepage was declared the winner of a competition to supply the Army with its first helicopter. ==First Army helicopter==

Having employed designer Grover Loening as a consultant Platt-Lepage set to work developing the helicopter, using a similar rotor arrangement to that of the Fa 61. The aircraft, designated XR-1, flew three months behind schedule in 1941. The XR-1 suffered from significant teething troubles, including control difficulties, vibration, and resonance issues, however the improved XR-1A, flying for the first time in 1943, proved little better than its predecessor, and was damaged in an accident in early 1944. the XR-1's flight testing dragged on through 1944. The Army Air Forces, spurred by Congressional accusations of favoritism towards Vought-Sikorsky, ordered seven YR-1A service-test helicopters. Despite this, Sikorsky's R-4 was proving far superior to the Platt-LePage aircraft, having successfully passed its flight trials and already entering operational service with the Army. Therefore, in early 1945 the Army elected to cancel its contracts with Platt-LePage. ==Disestablishment==

The repaired XR-1A was purchased by Helicopter Air Transport, which intended to operate it for commercial purposes as part of a fleet of 40 helicopters. The company had also developed a number of other concepts for helicopters, including the PL-11, an improved civilian version of the XR-1A; the PL-12, a four-passenger variant of the PL-11; and the PL-14, a twin-rotor helicopter based on a Grumman Widgeon fuselage. In addition, a design for a tiltrotor airliner was developed by the company. However, the cancellation of the company's Army contracts had removed Platt-LePage's primary source of income, and without sufficient funds to continue operating, the company closed its doors on January 13, 1947. and a larger share in 1944, including the design for the PL-9, a twin-engine helicopter that McDonnell would develop into the XHJD Whirlaway. ==References==