Platt-LePage Aircraft Company

Based in Eddystone, Pennsylvania, the company produced the first helicopter to be officially acquired by the United States Army Air Forces.

[1] LePage, impressed by the performance of the German Focke-Wulf Fa 61,[2] acquired the manufacturing rights to the aircraft.

[6] Having employed designer Grover Loening as a consultant[4] and helicopter enthusiast Frank Piasecki employed as a junior engineer,[7] Platt-Lepage set to work developing the helicopter, using a similar rotor arrangement to that of the Fa 61.

[9] The Army Air Forces, spurred by Congressional accusations of favoritism towards Vought-Sikorsky, ordered seven YR-1A service-test helicopters.

[12] 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.