First public flight of the first practical British helicopter (Weir W.5)

Description

There had been two British helicopters flown earlier (Mumford at Dumbarton and Brennan at Farnborough) but this was the first truly successful aircraft. The pilot was pilot Raymond A. Pullin, son of Weir's Chief Designer, Cyril G. Pullin. The aircraft is said to have flown 80 hours before the outbreak of World War II.

Source: "British Helicopters", The Editor, FLIGHT May 11th 1944, Page 499

and

Source: "Weir W.5/W.6 Lateral-Twin Helicopters", Bruce H. Charnov, VFS web page, Last accessed Feb26, 2020