Goodyear GA-400R Gizmo

Goodyear developed the GA-400R Gizmo for one man helicopter duties such as liaison and observation.

Development
Goodyear started developing light helicopters in 1954. The GA-400R was the third in the series. The helicopter was not put into production.

Design
The one man helicopter was designed to be light weight and simple. The airframe is made of welded aluminum tubing. The rotor blades have wooden cores with fiberglass surfaces. The engine is a Johnson outboard marine engine. The transmission used rubber belts. The Gizmo has demonstrated low autorotation sink rates of 1200 ft/min.

Operational history
First test flights were performed at Akron, Ohio in 1954. The GA-400R was tested by the United States Navy in 1957 at Patuxent River Naval Air Base in Maryland. In 1966, Goodyear donated the prototype to the EAA Airventure Museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.

Variants

 * GA-400R - A 55hp Mercury outboard powerplant.
 * GA-400R-2, GA-400R-3 - A 38hp Johnson two stroke powerplant