--- In BATN@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, "4/24 San Mateo Journal" <batn@...> wrote: Published Monday, April 24, 2006, in the San Mateo Daily Journal Aviation pioneer, Stanley Hiller Jr., dies Stanley Hiller Jr., one of the world's principal developers of vertical flight and the founder of the Hiller Aviation Museum in San Carlos died Thursday at his Atherton home from complications associated with Alzheimer's Disease. He was 81. Hiller was born Nov. 15, 1924 in San Francisco to the late Stanley Hiller Sr. and Opal Perkins Hiller. On May 25, 1946 he was married to Carolyn Balsdon Hiller. Stanley Hiller, Jr., began his career as one of the world's three principal developers of vertical flight, while still a teenager. After leading a company that produced thousands of helicopters for military and commercial markets worldwide, Hiller began a second career, applying management techniques widely sought in the turnaround of troubled American companies. Hiller innovations in the technology of vertical flight included the first helicopter flown in the western United States, the world's first successful co-axial helicopter, the famed Flying Platform, the one- man foldable "Rotorcycle," the unique "Hornet" helicopter powered by rotor-tip-mounted ramjet engines, and the first high-speed vertical take-off-and-landing tilt-wing troop transport. Stanley Hiller's company, Hiller Aircraft Corporation, started in 1949 as United Helicopters when he was 18 years old, and it was soon producing the first battlefield evacuation helicopters for the French Indochinese War and the Korean Conflict in the 1950s. In his "second career" beginning in 1966, after leaving Fairchild Hiller Corp. into which he had merged Hiller Aircraft, Stanley Hiller created The Hiller Group, which turned around failing companies in diverse fields, including Reed Tool Company, Bekins Corp. and York International air conditioning manufacturer. Hiller spent his youth in Berkeley. His father was an engineer and a dedicated inventor. He was one of the nation's "Early Birds," having built and flown his own airplane in 1910 at age 20. When son Stanley was asked by a reporter years later how he had achieved so much in so few years, the 23-year-old replied, "I was fortunate in my choice of a father." By 1944, Hiller completed the first successful flight of a helicopter in the western United States. He flew his yellow fabric-covered contraption himself, although he had never flown a helicopter nor seen one fly. After at least one mishap, in August of that year a successful demonstration was made at San Francisco's Marina Green, where a plaque today commemorates the historic event. The flight propelled the young inventor-who had no engineering degrees and, in fact, never finished college-into international headlines. He became the youngest person ever to receive the coveted Fawcett Aviation Award for major contributions to the advancement of aviation. Eventually, the little co-axial XH-44 "Hiller-Copter" would earn a permanent place in Smithsonian Institution. Hiller was often quoted in the media on his abiding opposition to business practices which undermine the vitality of corporations. Among them were the unfriendly takeovers; "slash-and-burn" tactics aimed not at building companies but draining their assets; die excessive remuneration of many American CEOs ... and the "feudal system" at the top of many companies that stifles change and innovation. A Hiller motivation throughout his long career, stretching from age 15 to beyond 70, was what people can do when motivated and enabled. Hiller created an education-based aviation museum -- now one of the nation's largest -- in San Carlos. He considered it his contribution to the community which nurtured his own success. The Hiller Aviation Museum is an institution of education and research and has a goal to stimulate and engage our communities to discover the past, celebrate the present, and imagine the future of greater aviation with a focus on unique technological innovations and innovators. In his 78th year, Stanley Hiller was awarded Smithsonian's 2002 National Air and Space Museum Trophy for Lifetime Achievement, "for ... [a] distinguished career as a leader in aviation innovation and excellence." That year also, his aviation community honored his lifelong contribution to the progress of aviation with its Medal of Achievement, presented by the San Francisco Aeronautical Society. Stanley is survived by his wife, Carolyn Balsdon Hiller; his sons, Jeffrey and Stephen Hiller and their wives, Mary Hiller and Barbara Hiller; his seven granddaughters, Christy Hiller Myronowicz and her husband Cameron of Hermosa Beach, California, Brooke and Carrie Hiller of Atherton, daughters of Stephen and Barbara Hiller and Maryann, Kristen, Constance and Samantha Hiller, of Atherton, California, daughters of Jeffrey and Mary Hiller; and his sister, Patricia Hiller Chadwick, of London, England. Memorial services for Stanley Hiller, Jr. will be held 1 p.m., Friday, May 5, 2006 at the Hiller Aviation Museum, 601 Skyway Road, San Carlos. Pastor Richard Foster will officiate. In lieu of flowers, memorial funds have been established in his name for the Hiller Aviation Institute & Museum Educational Fund. Checks may be made to: Hiller Aviation Museum C/o Stanley Hiller Education Fund 601 Skyway Road San Carlos, Calif. 94070 --- End forwarded message ---