Maurice Ramme, a founder of the American Helicopter Society and the 87th licensed commercial pilot in the United States, died in December 1995. His helicopter experience began in 1948 when he served as test pilot for Hoppi Copter in Seattle.
There he tested and promoted a counter rotating, one man, back pack helicopter which looked like something out of "Buck Rogers." Mr. Ramme also tested Hoppi's one man, tricyc1e landing gear) counter rotating helicopter which was the forerunner of many of today's ultra light machines. While teaching turbine theory at Edison TechniCal Institute he learned that gas turbine air might be used to power a helicopter. In 1953, Mr. Ramme formed MonteCopter, Inc. to develop one of the first air driven rotor helicopters in the
United States. His prototypes include the Model 10, the first helicopter to fly using boundary layer slots as the only means of propelling the rotors, the Model 12, the first twin turbine pressure jet helicopter in the U.S., and the Model 15 Triphibian, capable of operating on land, sea or in the air.
