1924 Berliner Model C

The Berliners designed a total of 15 different iterations of their Berliner helicopter, which can be categorized into 4 overall models:

Model A was designed and tested by Emile Berliner and his friend John Newton Williams from 1907-1908. This early version went through 3 different variations of a pyramidal machine made up of mostly an engine sitting below propellers. Emile used it to test different propeller shapes, to see which design was better for lifting. However, control was poor. The machine rose in jerks and jumps and there was no way to stop lifting or to safely land. Their experiments ended when an accident led to an employee being hurt. Emile turned his attentions to rotary engines and come back to the helicopter question a decade later. In 1919, Emile’s son Henry joined the experiments, and they designed 9 more variations of model A. The first manned flight was in January 1920, and although they had solved the problem of lift with a rotary engine, control, landing, and stability were still issues. Assistants would hold onto the back of the machine so it wouldn’t lift too high, get blown over by the wind, or spin out of control due to torque. Key innovations from this model were the control vents, or vanes, to direct the wind of the slipstream (air pushed down by the propellers) which helped with stability and possibly with turning, and a movable tail propeller (also called a variable pitch rotor) to help move the machine forward and counteract torque.

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On Model B, designed and tested 1922-1923 at College Park Airport, Henry added a fuselage (airplane body) of a Nieuport 23, in an attempt to increase stability and make landing safer. Many elements remained the same, although the control vanes and propellers were on opposite sides of the fuselage instead of in the middle. It was still difficult to control, and a mildly strong wind could still tip the machine over. Torque was an issue, as well as engine power in descent to make a soft landing, and visibility over the side of the aircraft. It was in this model that the Berliners demonstrated their aircraft for the first time. Naval officials visited College Park on June 22, 1922 for Naval Commander Jerome Hunsaker and five “movie photographers.” The 1,325 lb. Model B, with a 110 HP Le Rhone radial engine, rose 12 feet, both hovered and moved forward about 20 mph, and flew around the airfield. Emile recorded this momentous event in his scrapbook with an understated “Everything went OK”.

Model C—on display on our museum—is the only surviving Berliner helicopter model. It is generously on loan from the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. In the fall of 1923, Henry added tri-wings on either side of the fuselage as a solution to the helicopter problem of how to land safely should the engine die. They also helped the machine withstand gusts of wind, though a strong wind would still destabilize it. This model could comfortably move at 40 mph but still could not get too far off the ground. However, Emile feared for his son’s safety and made Henry promise he wouldn’t push the machine to go higher than 15 feet. Its best performance was on February 23, 1924, at another demonstration before Navy officials. The helicopter reached a height of 15 feet, and it flew for 1 minute and 35 seconds. This was the first recorded successfully-controlled helicopter flight. 

Model D was the last version of the Berliner’s helicopter. Believing that the previous model was too heavy, Henry attempted to make a lighter helicopter in the summer of 1925. The wings were modified into a bi-wing (two wings), the propellers were made larger, and ailerons were added, replacing the control vanes. The details for the 1925 Model D are very scarce but this final model of the Berliner Helicopter was built and tested at the Naval Anacostia Air Station’s Bolling Field. This model was only a slight improvement, however, and the frustrated Berliners abandoned their helicopter experiments.