National Helicopter Museum National Helicopter Museum traces the evolution of the rotary wing from early predecessors like the boomerang and Chinese tops to designs by Leonardo da Vinci and George Cayley to early motorized experiments to modern helicopters of today. Igor Sikorsky's first helicopter success in Stratford on September 14, 1939 is documented as well as his subsequent productions. Also displayed are the small gas turbine engines developed locally by Dr. Anselm Franz at Avco Lycoming which power such helicopters as the Bell Helicopter UH-1 Iroquois or "Huey" and the Boeing CH-47 Chinook. Other exhibits include ones on tilt rotor development; current photos
Billy Chinook in the Oregon Country. Chinook was an orphan and lived at the mission. In the summer of 1843, then-Lieutenant John C. Frémont and Kit Carson visited the present-day Bend, Oregon and The Dalles, Oregon areas. Chinook was 16 to 19 years old at the time and was recruited by Frémont as a guide. The Frémont expedition (Frémont's second) then explored central Oregon and the Klamath Basin, and further into present-day Nevada and California areas through July 1844. In 1845 Frémont traveled to Washington, D.C. with Chinook. While there, Frémont awarded a medal to Chinook which bore the likeness of the