McDonnell XH-20 Little Henry

The McDonnell XH-20 Little Henry was a 1940s American experimental lightweight helicopter designed and built by McDonnell Aircraft.

Development
The McDonnell Model 38 was a lightweight experimental helicopter sponsored by the United States Army Air Force to test the concept of using small ramjets at the tips of the rotor blades. As a functional helicopter it was of simple open-frame steel-tube construction. Allocated the military designation XH-20 the first of two first flew on the 29 August 1947.

Although the XH-20 flew successfully the ramjets were noisy and burnt a large amount of fuel and plans to build a larger two-seat XH-29 were abandoned.

Variants

 * XH-20
 * McDonnell Model 38 experimental lightweight helicopter, two built.


 * XH-29
 * McDonnell Model 79 a proposed two-seat development, cancelled.

Operator

 * United States Air Force
 * United States Air Force

Aircraft on display

 * 46-689 the first XH-20 is on display at the National Museum of the United States Air Force