Bothezat, George de, 1881-1940.

Born in Bessarabia, a province of Imperial Russia, George de Bothezat came to the United States in 1918. Recognized as the leading European authority in aerodynamics, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics appointed him to the position of "aerodynamic expert." In 1921, de Bothezat undertook the building of the de Bothezat helicopter, the first rotocraft ordered by the United States Army. The helicopter was built and tested at McCook Field, Dayton, Ohio, and was the first military helicopter to actually perform sustained, passenger-carrying flights. From December 1922 to April 1923, the de Bothezat helicopter made over 100 flights carrying from one to three passengers, rising to a height of 15 feet. De Bothezat demonstrated that his vehicle could be quite stable and that the practical helicopter was theoretically possible. The Army tested the machine and commented favorably on it, but ultimately abandoned it because of its complexity and unreliability and blocked further funding to de Bothezat. With no government sponsorship or private funds to support development of a second helicopter, De Bothezat organized the de Bothezat Impellar Company in New York in 1925 for the commercial development of his fan and blower patents and to use his "blade-screws" theory. By 1936, he organized and headed the Helicopter Corporation of America, which engaged in manufacturing his coaxial and other types of helicopters.