On July 17, 2018, residents of Homewood, Manitoba, honored the community’s past with a reunion to celebrate the flight of the first helicopter built in Canada — the Froebe helicopter – which took place 80 years ago.
With over 300 former Homewood residents in attendance of the celebration, reunion chair and emcee Charlie Froebe was amazed at the turnout because the tiny community never amounted to more than 50 people.
The Froebe helicopter was the first Canadian-made rotary-wing aircraft, and was built by the three Froebe brothers – Douglas, Theodore (Charlie’s uncles) and Nicholas (Charlie’s father). The Froebe name is legendary in Homewood.
With the assistance of the Canadian Aviation Historical Society (CAHS), Manitoba Chapter president Jim Bell worked with CAHS member Gerry Suski (who was a Froebe family friend), to determine the pedigree of the Froebe helicopter as Canada’s first helicopter.
Further support from the community led to a cairn that identifies Homewood as the site of the Froebe Brothers’ helicopter, the first to fly in Canada.
The Homewood reunion was marked by speeches from RM of Dufferin Reeve George Gray, MLA Blaine Pedersen and CAHS representative Bell, as well as a greeting from the crew of STARS Air Ambulance, who flew a helicopter on a special trip to Homewood, landing near where the Froebe helicopter had made its proving flights in the 1930s.
In the 1930s, the Froebe brothers were the typical backyard mechanics who tinkered with machinery of all kinds, including souping up jalopies and crafting homebuilt aircraft, and even teaching themselves to fly.
The brothers soon turned their energies to solving the problems of building a helicopter. Throughout a protracted period of experimentation that began in 1937, the Froebes put together a sturdy twin-rotor contra-rotating machine, powered by a used 4-cylinder, air-cooled, front-mounted de Havilland Gipsy engine.
The open tube frame and rotors built from aircraft chrome molybdenum steel purchased at the MacDonald Brothers in Winnipeg also had a bevy of handcrafted or adapted parts salvaged from automotive or farm machinery.
Doug Froebe was the primary test pilot during a series of test flights undertaken in 1937-39, recording Canada’s first controlled manned vertical flights. His notebooks, logbook and letters (now preserved at the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada) provide a vivid picture of the pioneering flights.
“During the first attempt to fly, the tail came off the ground about three feet. I hauled the stick clear back and the front wheels came off one at a time,” said Doug. “When I’d shut the throttle down, it would just take its time coming down – didn’t stall – just float down like a feather.”
Although the helicopter suffered from severe torsional vibration and overheating, it easily transitioned into vertical and hovering flight, and while only flights of short duration were attempted, a total of four hours and five minutes was logged before the test flights ended on March 2, 1939.
After an effort to sell their design to the U.S. Navy during the Second World War failed to gain a contract, the Froebe helicopter was stored at the family farm. Later, the family donated the helicopter to the Royal Aviation Museum of Western Canada (formerly the Western Canada Aviation Museum) where it resides today.
The most amazing part of this story is the fact that these young gentlemen were in their early 20’s when they began this project and none of them even had a high school diploma. They manufactured this historical machine in their small farm machine shop in part from old salvaged parts during the great depression. They acquired the Gypsy Moth engine from a used aircraft dealer in Los Angeles. They had an aunt that lived in Oakland, California. They designed, built and flew this work for the love for flying. They were convinced that everyone would be flying these machines as we drive cars now. They built two homes with flat rooves to land their helicopters on. Of course there weren’t all that many cars back in those days. They saw the future. We all may be flying in computer controlled flying vehicles as in futuristic movies some day.
Incidentally in your photo of the Homewood Reunion committee; the chap on the far left is Roger Froebe, fourth and youngest son of Nic and Hazel Froebe, next to him is Gerry Suski. Third from the right is Charlie Froebe, third son of Nic and Hazel Froebe. Jim Bell is on the far right.
Thank you for the article.