R-4
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Coast Guard HNS-1 Hoverfly 19 May 1944
First rescue mission of helicopter YR-4B, Burma 1945
HNS-1 035 over captured U-858 Cape Henlopen, Delaware 14 May 1945
HNS-1 BuNo 39040 equipped with an early rescue hoist flying over CGAS Brooklyn, NY 1944
HNS-1 BuNo 39040 ex USAAF 43-46525 YR-4B
HNS-1 helicopter during simulated rescue 1944
HNS-1 of U.S. Coast Guard during the testing of detachable floats in the waters off Brooklyn 17 October 1945
HNS-1 operations on board the USCG Cutter Cobb WPG-181 29 June 1944
HNS-1 releasing wire from a rescue hoist while flying around CGAS Brooklyn 1 June 1944
R-4B helicopter 43-46531 hovers over a B-29 K-267 of the 500th Bomb Group
R-4B land in the fighter strip on Iwo Jima 23 Mach 1945
Sikorsky YR-4B 42-107237 and L-5, Chindwin River Burma
Sikorsky YR-4B 43-28223
Sikorsky YR-4B 43-28223 Burma
USCG demonstrates R-4 Helicopter at Floyd Bennett Field August 1945
USCG demonstrates R-4 Helicopter at Floyd Bennett Field August 1945 2
USCG HNS-1 Hoverfly
Wreck of B-25J 43-3951 "Cornhusker" and YR-4B, Burma
XR-4 flown by Col Frank Gregory takes off from deck of USS Bunker Hill during trials in Long Island Sound, 1943
XR-4 May 26 1943
YR-4B 42-107237 and B-25C 41-12492, Burma
YR-4B 42-107237 and L-5 Burma
YR-4B 42-107237 Burma 23 January 1945
YR-4B 42-107237, Burma 23 January 1945 2
YR-4B Hoverfly
R-4 was the world’s first mass produced helicopter and the United States Army Air Force’s first service helicopter. The original military model, the XR-4, was developed from the famous experimental VS-300 helicopter, invented by Igor Sikorsky and publicly demonstrated in 1940. The XR-4 made its initial flight on January 14, 1942.