Piasecki HUP-2 Retriever

The Piasecki H-25 Army Mule/HUP Retriever was a compact single radial engine, twin overlapping tandem rotor utility helicopter developed by the Piasecki Helicopter Corp. during the late 1940s and produced during the early 1950s. The company changed its name in the 1956 to Vertol Aircraft Corporation and subsequently was bought by Boeing Aircraft Company in 1960, and became Boeing-Vertol. First flight March 1948.

The Museum’s Retriever is Bureau# 128517. This type of aircraft was the result of requirements set by the Bureau of Aeronautics for a utility helicopter based on aircraft carriers. The aircraft served the Navy from June 1952 to April 1963. The Museum acquired the aircraft in 1997 from Dr. Brent Follweiler.

Photo 36, Wings of Freedom Aviation Museum, Aug 2014

Piasecki HUP-2 "Retriever"

Photo 37, Wings of Freedom Aviation Museum, Aug 2014