A still from a video from the 1940s of a Bendix Model K helicopter in flight.

When we talk about helicopter history and Stratford, the conversation tends to be dominated by the story of Igor Sikorsky. And for good reason. It was, after all, in Stratford in 1939 that Sikorsky completed the flight of the world’s first practical helicopter, and the company bearing his name, Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., is still a major presence in the town. 

However, the story of Stratford and the helicopter is not complete if one focuses only on Sikorsky. In 1943, while practical helicopters were still in their infancy, a second helicopter company opened in town called Bendix Helicopters. While it only operated in Stratford until the late 1940s, the company that purchased its designs helped to pioneer the use of early drones in the military. 

“It existed, but it was forgotten,” says Raymond E. Jankowich, of Bendix Helicopters’ legacy. Jankowich, a retired doctor, co-founded the National Helicopter Museum in Stratford in 1983 and continues to curate the museum. 

Ahead of World Helicopter Day on Aug. 21, I visited the small but impressive helicopter museum housed at the Stratford train station to meet with Jankowich and learn more about Bendix Helicopters. The company was the brainchild of inventor and industrialist Vincent Hugo Bendix. Born in 1881 in Moline, Illinois, Bendix’s initial work as an inventor focused on the automobile. “He went to work as a car salesman,” Jankowich says. “He got tired of cranking the cars to get them started.” 

The story goes that to overcome this inconvenience, in 1910 he invented and patented the Bendix-drive, which made the electric car starter practical. In 1922, Bendix’s father was struck and killed by an automobile that couldn’t brake fast enough to avoid him. After the tragedy, Bendix was inspired to improve braking and pioneered the first four-wheel automotive brake system. 

Raymond Jankowich plays a video from the 1940s of a Bendix Model K helicopter in flight, during an interview at the National Helicopter Museum in Stratford.

Bendix’s success in the automobile industry allowed him to become a well-known socialite, and his company also began manufacturing aviation parts. He sponsored the Bendix Trophy, an aviation race from Burbank, Calif., to Cleveland that attracted many leading pilots who have since become legends in aviation history, including Jimmy Doolittle who won the Medal of Honor for his famous raid on Japan in World War II.

After leaving his first company, Bendix became intrigued by the increasing potential for helicopters, founding the Bendix Helicopter Inc. in Stratford in the early 1940s. 

It’s likely Bendix chose Stratford to recruit expert engineers and other workers who had experience working for Sikorsky. “He was a very savvy guy,” Jankowich says. “He probably came here because there were all these aeronautical workers who knew what they were doing.” 

Indeed, Bendix recruited Sikorksy’s test pilot, Charles Lester Morris. Bendix’s main focus was developing a coaxial rotor helicopter — a helicopter with two sets of blades (rotors) mounted on top of one another. Most helicopters, both then and now, feature a tail rotor design rather than a coaxial design. The tail rotor is necessary to keep the helicopter from being spun in the opposite direction of its main rotor, but this cuts down on the traditional helicopter’s efficiency. “The tail rotor uses up 15 to 20 percent of the engine power,” Jankowich says. “So in other words, you’re running on 85 percent power with a Sikorsky helicopter.” The Bendix design sought to have the helicopter operate with closer to 100 percent of its engine’s power, Jankowich says.

After Jankowich began researching Bendix Helicopters, he met a museum visitor whose father had worked for the company. This visitor donated a series of photos and even videos of Bendix test flights in Stratford. In one spectacular video, which can be viewed at the museum today, a prototype Bendix helicopter races above a train barreling into the Stratford train station. The helicopter appears to easily outpace the train. 

A photograph of Vincent Bendix of Bendix Helicopters.

The future of Bendix Helicopters in Stratford was derailed on March 27, 1945, when its namesake and founder died unexpectedly of natural causes at the age of 64. The company’s assets were sold at auction to Gyrodyne Inc. out of Long Island for $4,100 soon afterward. The new company became an early pioneer in producing unmanned or drone helicopters for the military. 

The story of Bendix Helicopters is one of many which visitors to the National Helicopter Museum in Stratford can learn. They’ll also learn about Connecticut helicopter flights that predated Sikorsky and the basics of flying a helicopter — they’ll even have the opportunity to try some techniques out in a helicopter cockpit. In addition, visitors will, of course, learn all about Sikorsky.

As for the story of Bendix, Jankowich is hoping more people learn about it and keep the memory of Stratford’s other helicopter company alive. 

The National Helicopter Museum is located at the Stratford train station at 2480 Main St. It's open seasonally from Memorial Day weekend through mid-October, Friday through Sunday, 1-4 p.m. Admission is free. For more information, call 203-375-8857 or go to nationalhelicoptermuseum.org.

Many years ago in 1945, the Hartford Courant also lamented the lack of recognition the company received. “Vincent Bendix is a perfect example of the kind of men that have made America great,” the paper wrote shortly after Bendix’s death. “His name, although well known, is not nearly so familiar as a dozen others in the field of politics. Yet through the product of his own brain, he has created more real wealth than any dozen of politicians.”

You can subscribe to Connecticut Magazine here, or find the current issue on sale here. Sign up for our newsletter to get our latest and greatest content delivered right to your inbox. Have a question or comment? Email editor@connecticutmag.com. And follow us on Facebook and Instagram @connecticutmagazine and Twitter @connecticutmag.