On this day in 1956, the prototype Piasecki Helicopter Company YH-16A-PH Transporter twin-turboshaft, tandem-rotor helicopter was returning to Philadelphia from a test flight, when the aft rotor desynchronized and struck the forward rotor and the aircraft broke up in flight and was completely destroyed. Test pilots, Harold W. Peterson and George Callahan, were tragically killed. At the time, the YH-16 was the largest helicopter in the world. The United States Air Force intended it as a very long-range rescue helicopter, while the U.S. Army expected it to serve as a heavy lift cargo and troop transport. A second YH-16A was modified during manufacture but the program was canceled.
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