Hiller Aircraft Corporation is an American private aerospace company, based in Firebaugh, California. It was founded in 1942 as Hiller Industries by Stanley Hiller to develop helicopters, and was purchased in 1964 by Fairchild Aircraft. An independent company again since 1994, Hiller filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on November 21st, 2024.

History

Stanley Hiller, then seventeen, established the first helicopter factory on the West Coast of the United States, located in Berkeley, California,Berkeley Historical Society Newsletter, Summer 2006, p.6 in 1942, under the name "Hiller Industries," to develop his design for the coaxial-rotor XH-44 "Hiller-Copter" for the U.S. Army. The XH-44 became operational in 1944.Hiller Helicopters timeline (accessed Nov 9 2011) In collaboration with Henry J. Kaiser, it became United Helicopters in 1945. In the postwar years, United Helicopter produced a number of innovative helicopter designs for military and civilian purposes, including coaxial-rotor and tailless designs, as well as more conventional models. In January, 1949, a Hiller 360 became the first civilian helicopter to cross the United States.

Besides helicopters, in the year after World War II, Stanley Hiller researched a two-man rocket-jet aircraft design that took off and landed vertically, called the VJ-100, in which he tried unsuccessfully to interest the U.S. military."Blue Print For Passenger Rocket" Popular Mechanic, July 1949

The company was renamed Hiller Helicopters in 1948. It was involved in the development of a number of prototype helicopters. From the early 1960s to 1969, its Palo Alto plant served as a CIA cover for the production of the CORONA reconnaissance satellites.

Hiller was purchased by Fairchild Aircraft in 1964.

Jeff Hiller, the son of Stanley Hiller, repurchased the company in 1994 with the help of a dozen Thai investors led by Patrick C. Lim, part owner of Siam Steel and many other Asian ventures. For ownership of Hiller aircraft, these investors helped cover the company's liabilities about $1 million and commit about $10 million to build at least 30 new helicopters at the new East Bay production site and also setting up the first aerospace company in Thailand.

Stanley Hiller donated money and a number of aircraft to form the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos, California, which opened in 1998.

In 2009, the Hiller (China) Aircraft Manufacturing Company began construction of a production facility in Zhangjiakou City, northwest of Beijing. The company is a joint venture between Hiller Aircraft Corporation, Zhangjiakou Chahar General Aviation Company. At the time, Zhangjiakou Chahar General Aviation was already carrying out low-rate production of UH-12 parts and sub assemblies.

In July 2018 an accident in which a truck driver drove over his co-driver occurred at the Hiller Firebaugh facility. On May 4 a jury found Hiller 70% at fault for the accident and awarded the injured driver over 9 million dollars in damages. Prior to filing for bankruptcy protection in 2024, the company's website news update from February 15, 2021, indicated the company was struggling financially, with the owners hesitating to provide further funding to keep the company operating.

Aircraft

Model name First flight Number built Type Hiller XH-44 1944 1 Hiller VJ-100 Hiller 1094 CAMEL An experimental, ultralight collapsible helicopter developed as a single-seat aircraft for tactical armed forces use, the name CAMEL served as an acronym for Collapsible Airborne Military Equipment LifterUnited States Army Combat Forces Journal - Volume 12 - Page 65 (1961) Hiller Autogyro Hiller Transonic VTOLFlight 1960Fundamentals of Aircraft Design - Page 9-30, Leland Malcolm Nicolai · 1975A Technical Summary and Compilation of Characteristics and Specifications on Steep-gradient Aircraft Volume 88 By United States. Federal Aviation Agency · 1961, Page 137 Hiller Ductoplane Hiller X-2-235 Hiller J-5 Hiller UH-4 Commuter Hiller UH-5 Rotormatic Hiller UH-12 1948 2000 + Single piston-engine observation helicopter Hiller HH-120 Hornet Hiller HJ-1 Hiller VXT-8 N/A Coleopter Hiller YH-32 Hornet 1950 18 Tip Ramjet engine helicopter Hiller VZ-1 Pawnee 1955 6 "Flying platform" Hiller 1098 STORCNichols, J.B. The Storc Approach to the Helicopter Ferry Problem. Journal of the American Helicopter Society, Volume 8, Number 1, 1 January 1963, pp. 19-25(7), https://doi.org/10.4050/JAHS.8.19 Tip turbojet convertible plane/helicopter Hiller 1123Nichols, J., "Tip-Mounted Turbojets for Helicopter Propulsion - A Progress Report," SAE Technical Paper 640345, 1964, https://doi.org/10.4271/640345. Tip turbojet cargo helicopter designed for US Army's Transportation Research and Engineering Command (TRECOM) Hiller Air Tug A proposal to NASA: Rotary Wing system for Booster Recovery. Report No.65-5, Hiller Advanced Planning & Research Division, Hiller Aircraft company, Palo Alto, California, 1 May 1965 Tip turbojet super heavy lift helicopter for mid air Saturn S-IC Booster recovery Hiller ROE-1 Rotorcycle 1956 12 Ultralight piston-engine helicopter Hiller X-18 1959 1 Experimental twin engine tiltwing Hiller Ten99 1961 1 Single turbine engine helicopter Fairchild Hiller FH-1100 1963 253 Single turbine engine helicopter Fairchild Hiller FH-227 1966 78 Twin-engine turboprop commercial airliner

References

External links

Hiller's home page

Hiller Helicopter Owners and Pilots Forum A Technical Summary and Compilation of Characteristics and Specifications on Steep-gradient Aircraft Hiller VTOL/VSTOL/STOL projects