Struchen Ultralight Helicopter

General Description

The Struchen (strew-shen) single-seat ultralight helicopter was designed and built by Fred Struchen of North Vancouver. He used a combination of helicopter, motorcycle, automobile and hardware store components that were modified as required.

The powerplant is a Honda Civic engine, cooled by a motorcycle radiator. The drive belt came from a Harley Davidson, while the transmission is from a Yamaha and the canopy is created from a residential skylight. Numerous precision parts were machined or modified by the builder. The Struchen is complete and fully operational, but it is believed that it was never registered or flown by the builder, although it has done low altitude +“hover” tests.

Fred Struchen was an avid helicopter pilot and owned numerous helicopters include a Bell 47, Rotorway Exec 90, Robinson R22 and R44.

Our Struchen Helicopter

This Struchen Homebuilt helicopter was donated to the museum by its builder, Fred Struchen, in 1996. This aircraft serves as an excellent example of a scratch-built helicopter that incorporated various pre-existing components such as a Honda car engine, motorcycle radiator, and many others.

It is a physical representation of the passion Fred Struchen had for aviation and helicopters specifically, and it serves as a proof-of-concept that Fred could design and build himself a helicopter. The Canadian Museum of Flight is proud to present the Struchen helicopter as an example of local aviation ingenuity. Come to the museum and check out this one-of-a-kind mini helicopter.

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