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{|{{Infobox aircraft begin
| name= Bell 30
| image= File:Bell 30 - Sm.edu.jpg
| caption= Bell 30 flight testing
}}{{Infobox aircraft type
| type= [[Experimental aircraft|Experimental]] [[helicopter]]
| national origin= United States
| manufacturer= [[Bell Aircraft]]
| designer= [[Arthur M. Young]]
| first flight= 26 June 1943<!--which is what the page says...--><ref>Note:Aerofiles has the date as the 29 December 1942</ref>
| introduced= 1943
| retired= 1944
| status= Preserved
| primary user=
| number built= 3
| developed from=
| variants with their own articles=
| developed into= [[Bell 47]]
}}
|}
The '''Bell 30''' is the prototype for the first commercial [[helicopter]], and the first helicopter built by the [[Bell Aircraft|Bell Aircraft Company]].<ref name="orbis">{{cite book |title= The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985)|publisher= Orbis Publishing}}</ref> Designed by [[Arthur M. Young]], the type served as a demonstration testbed for the successful [[Bell 47]].<ref name="orbis" />
==Development==
Young had experimented alone with helicopter designs using scale models, and in 1941 he approached the [[Bell Aircraft|Bell Aircraft Corporation]] in [[Buffalo, New York]]. The company agreed to build a number of full-scale prototypes, and Young moved to Buffalo. With the main Bell factories immersed in war production, and to ensure a research and development program that was sufficiently private and free of distractions, Young and his team moved to the Buffalo suburb of [[Gardenville, New York|Gardenville]] ([[West Seneca, New York|West Seneca]]). The ''Ship 1'' prototype's first serious mishap occurred near the very end of 1942 in captive testing, when a Bell corporate pilot asked to try the Ship 1, while not using a [[seat belt]] and hanging onto the controls instead to stay in the open cockpit - this captive flight attempt resulted in the rotor system "going through resonance" as designer Arthur Young had warned about, resulting in a "bucking" instability and accident which cracked the rotor blades loose and sent the pilot up into the disc of the rotor blades, luckily only breaking an arm.<ref>{{cite AV media |year=1943 |title=Helicopter Pioneers- first Bell Flight Testing |medium=YouTube |language=en |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyMUTrcLIBE  |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211220/SyMUTrcLIBE |archive-date=2021-12-20 |url-status=live|access-date=July 25, 2015 |format=YouTube |time=4:40 |location=Gardenville, NY |publisher=burgesco1 }}{{cbignore}}</ref>  The first free flight of ''Ship 1'' was carried out on June 26, 1943,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kamov.net/more-helicopters/bell-helicopters/bell-30/ |title=Bell 30 |publisher=kamov.net |access-date=May 9, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120511151231/http://www.kamov.net/more-helicopters/bell-helicopters/bell-30/ |archive-date=May 11, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> only the third [[United States|American]] helicopter to fly.<ref name="aerofile">{{cite web | title=American airplanes:Bell | url=http://www.aerofiles.com/_bell.html| date=20 April 2009| publisher=www.aerofiles.com
|access-date=2009-12-23| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100102011047/http://aerofiles.com/_bell.html| archive-date= 2 January 2010 <!--DASHBot-->| url-status= live}}</ref>
The '''Ship 1''' prototype [[Aircraft registration|registration]] ''NX41860'' had an open cockpit, an enclosed fuselage for the Franklin piston engine, and fixed three-wheel landing gear.<ref name="orbis" /> The engine drove a two-bladed main rotor and a two-bladed anti-torque tail rotor. The prototype crashed in September 1943 and was subsequently modified with several improvements, including an enclosed cabin for the pilot and passenger, who sat side by side in the cockpit.<ref name="aerofile" /> With all the lessons learned, the third prototype became the basis for the production model, the [[Bell 47|Bell Model 47]].<ref name="orbis" /> The Model 30 Ship 1A, ''Genevieve'', is now on display at the [[Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center]] of the [[Smithsonian Air and Space Museum]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.nasm.si.edu/collections/artifact.cfm?id=A19650240000 |title=Bell Model 30 Ship 1A Genevieve - Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum<!-- Bot generated title --> |access-date=2012-03-25 |archive-date=2010-01-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100123233231/http://www.nasm.si.edu/collections/artifact.cfm?id=A19650240000 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==Variants==
''Data from:''Bell Aircraft since 1935<ref name=Pelletier>{{cite book|last=Pelletier|first=Alain J.|title=Bell Aircraft since 1935|year=1992|publisher=Naval Institute Press for Putnam Aeronautical Books Limited|location=Annapolis|isbn=1-55750-056--8|pages=55–58}}</ref>
;Ship No.1: (c/n 1) The original Bell 30, built with an open-frame tubular steel framework with an open cockpit and four widely splayed undercarriage legs with skids at the ends, made from {{convert|3|in|mm|abbr=on|0}} Aluminium alloy tubing. First flown on 29 December 1942, test flying continued until a serious crash in September 1943.
;Ship No.1A: (c/n 1A) Ship No.1, rebuilt after the crash with a strutted tricycle undercarriage with nosewheel, and semi-enclosed cockpit, rejoined the test programme by March 1944.
;Ship No.2: (c/n 2) The second aircraft was built with a new three wheeled undercarriage, semi-monocoque fuselage, new tail rotor mounting and fully enclosed cockpit for pilot and passenger.
;Ship No.3: (c/n 3) The third aircraft was built with a triangular-section welded tubular steel tailboom, four-wheeled undercarriage, full set of instruments, but a completely open cockpit. Performance and handling of this aircraft were found to be much better than its predecessors but the open cockpit was viewed as a major handicap. Young described flying the aircraft as being ''"like sitting in a chair and flying through space."'' However,  Bell company officials who flew in it found the experience to be thoroughly frightening.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.airvectors.net/avbell47.html |title=The Bell Model 47 |last=Gobel |first=Greg |website=www.airvectors.net}}</ref> The solution to the open cockpit was the plexiglas bubble that was to become iconic on [[Bell 47|Bell 47/H-13]] production aircraft.
[[File:Bell Model 30 Ship 1A Genevieve.jpg|thumb|''Ship 1A'' on display at the National Air and Space Museum, 2012]]
==Surviving aircraft==
Ship No.1A is on display at the [[National Air and Space Museum]]{{citation needed|date=February 2019}}
==Specifications==
{{Aircraft specs
|ref=<!-- reference --><ref name="orbis" />
|prime units?=<!-- imp or kts first for US aircraft, and UK aircraft pre-metrification, met(ric) first for all others. You MUST choose a format, or no specifications will show -->imp
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|capacity=two passengers
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|eng1 number=1
|eng1 name=[[Franklin O-335|Franklin 6V4]]
|eng1 type=flat-six piston engine
|eng1 kw=<!-- prop engines -->
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|eng1 kn=<!-- jet/rocket engines -->
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|rot number=<!-- helicopters -->1
|rot dia m=<!-- helicopters -->
|rot dia ft=<!-- helicopters -->33
|rot dia in=<!-- helicopters -->0
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|rot area sqft=<!-- helicopters -->855.3
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==See also==
{{aircontent
<!-- include as many lines are appropriate. additional lines/entries with carriage return. -->
|see also=
|related=<!-- related developments -->
*[[Bell 47]]
|similar aircraft=<!-- similar or comparable aircraft -->
* [[Vought-Sikorsky VS-300]]
|sequence=<!-- designation sequence, if appropriate -->
|lists=<!-- related lists -->
}}
==References==
===Notes===
{{Reflist}}
===Bibliography===
{{Refbegin}}
*{{cite book |title= The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985)|publisher= Orbis Publishing}}
*{{cite book|last=Pelletier|first=Alain J.|title=Bell Aircraft since 1935|year=1992|publisher=Naval Institute Press for Putnam Aeronautical Books Limited|location=Annapolis|isbn=1-55750-056--8|pages=55–58}}
*{{cite web | title=American airplanes:Bell | url=http://www.aerofiles.com/_bell.html| date=20 April 2009| publisher=www.aerofiles.com
|access-date=2009-12-23| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20100102011047/http://aerofiles.com/_bell.html| archive-date= 2 January 2010 <!--DASHBot-->| url-status= live}}
{{Refend}}
==External links==
{{Commons category|Bell 30}}
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=PN8DAAAAMBAJ&dq=popular+science+antitank+1941&pg=PA39 Stabilizing Device on Tail Keeps Rotor Horizontal] August 1944 article on Bell 30. Photo at bottom of page.
{{Bell 47 family}}
{{Bell Aircraft}}
[[Category:1940s United States helicopters]]
[[Category:1940s United States experimental aircraft]]
[[Category:Bell aircraft|030]]
[[Category:Single-engined piston helicopters]]
[[Category:Aircraft first flown in 1943]]
[[Category:Single-rotor helicopters]]
[[Category:Aircraft with fixed conventional landing gear]]