This exhibit in the Museum’s lobby helps explain why the American Helicopter Museum and Education Center is located here in West Chester, PA. It chronicles the rich history of rotary wing development in the Philadelphia area, including:
– the first rotary wing aircraft flight in America in 1928
– the world’s “First Rotating Wing Aviation Meeting” at the Franklin Institute in 1938
– more early aviation and rotary wing aviation accomplishments than almost anywhere else in the world
– where rotary wing aircraft design, development, and manufacture continues to flourish today, at companies like Leonardo, Boeing Vertical Lift Division, Piasecki Aircraft, and Sikorsky, a Lockheed Martin Company
More information about the aeronautics and aerospace industry in our region as well as the local history of helicopters can be found in The Encyclopedia of Greater Philadelphia.