enlarged, twin-engined aircraft; however Platt-LePage was by now in serious financial difficulty following the cancellation of its Army contract, and in mid 1946 the XR-1's flight test program was concluded, the aircraft being retired to the Smithsonian Institution. In the meantime, the company's former test pilot, Lou Leavitt, had purchased the wreckage of the XR-1A at a price of 4 cents per pound. Leavitt was a pilot with Helicopter Air Transport, which was providing helicopter services in anticipation of a postwar aviation boom, and the XR-1A was returned to flying condition. The projected boom failed to materialise, however, and HAT quickly entered bankruptcy, selling the XR-1A to Frank Piasecki, another former Platt-LePage employee who had now started his own helicopter company. Leavitt flew the helicopter to Piasecki, who never flew it due to airworthiness concerns, and used the airframe in the development of the PA-2B, a planned tiltrotor which failed to proceed beyond the mock-up stage. Surviving aircraft Following the conclusion of flight testing, the XR-1 was returned to the Army Air Forces, who placed the aircraft in storage before donating it to the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum. The unrestored aircraft is stored at the Paul Garber Restoration and Storage Facility in "remarkable condition". Variants XR-1 First prototype; one built. XR-1A Second prototype with increased cockpit glazing and improved engine; one built. YR-1A Seven pre-production aircraft ordered; contract cancelled before any completed. Piasecki PA-2B Proposed tiltrotor based on XR-1 airframe; not built. Operators United States Army Air Forces Specifications (XR-1A) See also Notes References Sources External links "Twin Rotors", October 1944, Popular Science bottom of page 78 Wright Field Tests XR-1 – Technical Data Digest R-1 R-01, Platt-LePage Rigid rotor helicopters Military helicopters 1940s United States helicopters Cancelled military aircraft projects of the United States Transverse rotor helicopters Single-engined piston helicopters Aircraft first flown in 1941