Haviland H. Platt's VTOL designs

[Platt-LePage Aircraft]

Rotary Wing Pioneer Haviland Hull Platt's VTOL patents (After the W.W.II Tilt-Rotor work) long after Platt-LePage had closed down :

 

[Stargazer]

Fascinating, thanks! Did any of the major companies use Platt's patents? Did he himself work for one of them (say, McDonnell) when Platt-Lepage dissolved?

 

[Platt-LePage Aircraft]

Haviland Platt's only main connection to McDonnell was through the PL-9 / XHJD-1 "Whirlaway", the deal with McDonnell did not cover the Platt-LePage VTOL work. (There were other deals, with other companies, involved with PL-LP for other projects)

Haviland Platt was savvy enough to keep the Tilt-Rotor patent, which Bell Aircraft would later make a "cash settlement" to Platt, when Bell built the XV-3. (Long story...)

 

[Stargazer]

Haviland Platt was savvy enough to keep the Tilt-Rotor patent, which Bell Aircraft would later make a "cash settlement" to Platt, when Bell built the XV-3. (Long story...)

But surely, one that screams to be told, so that the name Platt won't disappear into oblivion...

 

[Platt-LePage Aircraft]

The short answer is Haviland H. Platt had a young man by the name of Bob Lichten, working with him on the Tilt-Rotor project during W.W.II.
Bob Lichten carried the Tilt-Rotor torch to Transcendental, then on to Bell Aircraft with the XV-3, Bell Aircraft recognized that Platt had an ironclad patent, and that Platt was also a noted expert witness in Patent trials. (Platt also held quite a number of Patents in several non aviation areas as well)

Platt's own Tilt-Rotor patent sketch (dated 1946 from the original PL-LP blueline drawing) looks remarkably like a certain Bell project...

 

[Stargazer]

Topic split. Havilland Platt was the man behind the short-lived Platt-LePage company that produced the U.S. Army Air Corps's XR-1, America's first true twin-rotor helicopter (a version of which became the McDonnell Whirlaway).