VS-300 America's first practical helicopter.

Igor I. Sikorsky's VS-300 was America's first practical helicopter and the first successful helicopter in the world to perfect the now familiar single main rotor and tail rotor design. The VS-300 was first flown (tethered) on September 14, 1939 and the first untethered flight was on May 13, 1940. Testing continued and on May 6, 1941 Sikorsky piloted the VS-300 to a new world helicopter endurance record of 1 hour, 32 minutes and 26 seconds. The VS-300 underwent several major configuration changes until December 8, 1941 when it was flown in its final configuration; a single main lifting rotor with full cyclic-pitch for both roll and pitch control and a single tail rotor for both directional control and anti-torque. On October 7, 1943 the VS-300 was presented to Henry Ford and his Edison Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. During her career the VS-300 had logged 102 hours, 35 minutes and 51 seconds. The development of the VS-300 established the concepts and principles that were utilized in the design of the VS-316 (R-4), the world's first production helicopter. Thus began the world's helicopter industry