Cessna CH-1 Skyhook

The Cessna CH-1 Skyhook is the only helicopter that Cessna ever built. Cessna bought the Seibel Helicopter Company of Wichita, Kansas, on 14 January 1952 and began work on the CH-1 design that summer. The helicopter has a single two-bladed main rotor and a front-mounted reciprocating engine that gives it a stable center of gravity, in a semi-monocoque airframe that resembles Cessna light airplanes. The first test bed hovered in July 1953, the Civil Aeronautics Administration issued type certificate 3H10 on 9 June 1955, and the CH-1A became the first helicopter to land on the summit of Pikes Peak on 15 September 1955. A CH-1B set a world altitude record for helicopters, and the United States Army evaluated ten CH-1Bs and designated the CH-1C the YH-41 Seneca. About 50 machines were built before Cessna ended production in December 1962.