The Genius of Charles H. Kaman – Part 2

In 2006, I photographed this odd looking helicopter sitting on the ramp at Tehachapi Airport. It was a Kaman K-Max.

This odd looking "heavy-lift" helicopter in the photograph was developed by Charles Kaman.

The Kaman K-MAX is the first helicopter designed specifically for the external load/lifting market. Look closely at the picture and you will see there is no tail rotor.

The K-MAX "aerial truck," a light-weight craft designed to carry heavy cargo rather than persons was originally designed for the U.S. Navy.

The Kaman K-MAX is a flying crane designed by Kaman Aerospace of Bloomfield Connecticut. It was designed specifically for external load lifting. It has a very narrow fuselage that allows the pilot to look down to see his load easily by looking out either side of the aircraft with specially designed "bug eye" bubble windows. Also, the most important instruments to external lifting are mounted on the left side of the fuselage where the pilot can easily read them while still being able to watch the load.

Kaman Corp. used its trademark intermeshing rotor system for the K-MAX allowing all power to be used for lifting and not be wasted on an anti-torque tail rotor. The K-MAX is being used all over the world for firefighting, logging, road building, dam construction, and general construction.

Kaman Aerospace and Lockheed Martin have successfully transformed Kaman's proven K-MAX power lift helicopter into an unmanned aircraft system (UAS). Its mission: battlefield cargo re-supply. It performs with autonomous flight capability.

This helicopter is powered with a Lycoming T-53-17A gas turbine engine and develops 1800 shaft horsepower. The rotor system consists of two intermeshing all composite blades; 48-feet, 4-inches total span. The empty weight in 5,100 pounds and its gross weight is 12,000 pounds.

Other Kaman inventions now used in various industries include artificial intelligence systems, maintenancefree bearings, (Kaman's self-lubricating bearings are used in virtually every aircraft flying today) and cleaner-burning electromagnetic motors.

The K-Max was certified in 1994 and the production line was shuttered in 2003 after 38 were built, but in 2015 Kaman Aerospace restarted production of the K-Max K-1200. The helicopter lifts up to 6,000 pounds externally and is powered by a single Honeywell T53-17 turboshaft flat rated to 1,500 shaft horsepower (takeoff).

The helicopters are manufactured at Kaman's facilities in Jacksonville, Fla., and Bloomfield, Conn.

Two autonomously piloted K-Max flew for the U.S. Marines in Afghanistan between 2011 and 2014, delivering 4.5 million pounds of cargo. Lockheed Martin and Kaman successfully tested an unmanned K-Max for firefighting operations in November. In one hour, the unmanned K-Max lifted and dropped more than 24,000 pounds of water onto the target fire. In March, an unmanned K-Max successfully flew a mock medevac mission. Civil versions of the manned aircraft have long been used in construction, firefighting and logging applications.

Within the aerospace industry, Mr. Kaman is best known for inventing dual intermeshing helicopter rotors, which move in opposite directions, and for introducing the gas turbine jet engine to helicopters. The company's HH-43 Huskie was a workhorse in rescue missions in the Vietnam War.

As a teenager, he loved building model airplanes from balsa wood and tissue paper and flying them in indoor competitions. He had once hoped to be a professional pilot but abandoned that ambition because he was deaf in his right ear.

Amazingly, he loved music and was a guitar enthusiast and invented the Ovation guitar. He effectively reversed the vibration reducing technology of spruce helicopter blades and created an abundantly vibrating instrument that incorporated aerospace materials into its rounded back. In the mid- 1960s he created Ovation Instruments, a division of his company, to manufacture it.

The Ovation allows musicians to amplify their sound without generating the feedback that often comes from using microphones. It was popularized in the late 1960s by the pop and country star Glen Campbell, who played it on his television show. Others who played the company's guitars included Paul Simon, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Mick Jagger, Eddie Van Halen, Alex Lifeson, Neil Diamond, Kenny Rogers, Melissa Etheridge, Roger Waters and David Gilmour. Sadly, the company closed its doors in June 2014.

With his second wife, Roberta Hallock Kaman, Mr. Kaman also founded the Fidelco Guide Dog Foundation, which trains German shepherds as guide dogs for the blind and the police. Since 1981, Fidelco has placed 1,300 guide dogs in 35 states and four Canadian provinces.

Mr. Kaman was indeed a fantastic visionary who was certainly always thinking outside of the box! He lived a full and wonderful life. Born June 15, 1919, he passed away January 31, 2011.

See you on our next flight!