Classic Rotors Museum

Classic Rotors is a flying aviation museum specializing in helicopters and other rotorcraft, located at the Ramona Airport in Ramona, California, United States.[1][2][3][4]

Classic Rotors Museum
Established1992
LocationRamona Airport, Ramona, California, USA
Coordinates33.039167°N 116.915278°W / 33.039167; -116.915278
TypeAviation Museum
CuratorMark DiCiero
Websitewww.rotors.org
View from the H-21's cockpit of the museum rotorcraft collection.

The museum bills itself as "the rare and vintage rotorcraft museum" and claims to be one of the "three dedicated rotorcraft museums in the world".[1]

History

The museum was founded in 1992 by Mark DiCiero after he built and learned to fly his own helicopter. The museum is a non-profit and all-volunteer organization, with no paid staff. The museum currently has five helicopters in flying condition, which are flown in air displays.[1]

The museum describes its mission as being:

...dedicated to the preservation of rare and vintage rotorcraft. Our mission is to preserve these rotorcraft as a tribute to the pioneers who risked so much to develop vertical flight technology. A key objective is to provide education about, and demonstrate various designs in rotor technology including tandem, co-axial, conventional (single), sync (intermeshing) and tip powered.[1]

Aircraft
The Piasecki H-21B in the Classic Rotors hangar.
A front view of the H-21.
The inside of the H-21 showing where the crew sits looking to the back of the helicopter.

The museum collection includes:[1][5]

Airworthy
  • Hiller UH-12
  • Kamov Ka-26 - registered N4106H it was built in 1976[6]
  • Piasecki H-21B - registered N64606, it is the only H-21 still flying today.[1][7][8] Built in 1957, the helicopter was obtained by Classic Rotors on January 23, 1990 and restored to flying condition. In 2008 it had an engine failure resulting in an emergency landing in a field at a dairy farm in San Pasqual Valley in California. It was returned to the museum and repaired to flying condition again in October 2009. The cause of the engine failure was a spring on one of the pistons that broke.
  • Sikorsky H-19
On display
Under restoration
Other
  • Vertol V-44B - Once obtained by the museum, it will be restored to flying condition.
  • Piasecki HUP-1 - Was the only HUP-1 still flying,[1] until it crashed in November 2009

See also
  • List of aerospace museums

References
  1. Classic Rotors Museum (n.d.). "About Us". Retrieved 2009-11-13.
  2. Kaman H-43 Huskie (April 2009). "Classic Rotors, Ramona, California". Archived from the original on 2011-07-21. Retrieved 2009-11-13.
  3. Riordan, Jack (August 2009). "Public treated to inside look at county airport". Retrieved 2009-11-13.
  4. Musicar, Jessica (July 2005). "Museum pays homage to 'rotorcraft'". Retrieved 2009-11-13.
  5. Classic Rotors Museum (n.d.). "Rotorcarft". Retrieved 2009-11-13.
  6. "N4106H". Federal Aviation Authority. 13 November 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-14.
  7. "FAA REGISTRY: N64606". Federal Aviation Administration. 11 November 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-12.
  8. Classic Rotors Museum (n.d.). "Vertol H-21 Shawnee/Work Horse - (Last "Flying Banana" Still Flying)". Retrieved 2009-11-13.
  9. Robinson, Skip (30 January 2019). "The home of classic helicopters". Vertical. MHM Publishing. Retrieved 20 February 2020.
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