JAYCOPTER @ World's Fair '64

[KC]

Today, I came across some old documents of my father's on the Jaycopter. It was an Edmonton Company. Here's a bit of interesting trivia on it taken from The World's Fair Community .org site:

"From an on-line reference:

the Jaycopter Corporation, made a 16-seat model for use at the New York World’s Fair of 1964-65. There, the Jaycopter hosted famous passengers including John F. Kennedy Jr. and Caroline Kennedy. Three eight-seat models were also produced, and were set up at midways throughout North America in Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver and San Diego, California."

http://www.worldsfaircommunity.org/i...?showtopic=477

http://www.worldsfairphotos.com/nywf64/jaycopter.htm


More from Alberta Inventors and Inventions site:

http://www.abheritage.ca/abinvents/i...pter_page1.htm





...AND SOMETHING SOME C2E VISITORS MIGHT EVEN REMEMBER FROM THEIR CHILDHOODS

It was called the "Baby Jay"

http://marvin3m.com/arcade/jaycopt.htm


,

[McBoo]

Wow, thanks KC. That's a very serious blast from the past.

Only thing, shortly after I remembered playing one of those, I needed a Tylenol for arthritis pain .......

[Hull534]

I remember playing with the Jaycopter machine at the Edmonton International airport in the early 70's. I didn't know about its heritage at the time. There is one at the Aviation Museum.

[KC]

I forgot to mention - from the documents its address was:

Building 14, Industrial Airport , Edmonton, Canada.

The 16-passenger model would "fly to a ceiling of 90 fee and have a 125-foot diamatere circular flight path. It (was) powered by electric motors..."



P.S. I hope the City puts together some sort of commemorative for the municipal airport and all that it did for Edmonton. (This is just one more small bit of the airport's history.)

[JBear]

OMG I remember the little arcade JayCopter!!! That was sooo awesome! They were rare when I was a kid though.

[KC]

I gather that the original plan was to build the full scale models for civilian and military pilot training.

Amazing product / marketing line though: They offered everything from a great little toy version, to a World's Fair (entertainment) version to the training version itself.

[Dialog]

Total flashback! I remember playing that once at the Muni.

[Caesar555]

I remember playing the toy version in the airport as well. It was a blast!

[noodle]

Playing with the toy version is my earliest (and one of my only) personal memory of the Muni.

[Thomas Hinderks]

KC

The original Jaycopter is at the Reynolds Alberta Museum awaiting restoration.

Similar to the worlds fair version but designed as a helicopter trainer for instructor and student...never caught on.

The Arcade version as you know did and went around the world.

The Alberta Aviation Museum has (2) you can come down and operate
(1) very early model (1) version from the late 60s, early 70s. Drop down and spend a quarter to relive your childhood.

Tom

[Jim Warman]

Originally Posted by Thomas Hinderks

KC

The original Jaycopter is at the Reynolds Alberta Museum awaiting restoration.

Similar to the worlds fair version but designed as a helicopter trainer for instructor and student...never caught on.

The Arcade version as you know did and went around the world.

The Alberta Aviation Museum has (2) you can come down and operate
(1) very early model (1) version from the late 60s, early 70s. Drop down and spend a quarter to relive your childhood.

Tom

I worked for Pete Jacobs along about '67 or '68. Several of us, including one of his nephews were involved in building Baby Jays as well as running an 8 passenger Jaycopter as an amusement ride in Happy Valley near Calgary.

Pete was a wonderful man to work for and it is a shame that his invention never received the recognition it deserved.

[Thomas Hinderks]

Originally Posted by Jim Warman

I worked for Pete Jacobs along about '67 or '68. Several of us, including one of his nephews were involved in building Baby Jays as well as running an 8 passenger Jaycopter as an amusement ride in Happy Valley near Calgary.

Pete was a wonderful man to work for and it is a shame that his invention never received the recognition it deserved.

Jim

We hope to change that for Pete Jacobs and others in time.

If things can be worked out with the City of Edmonton for additional space on our current site or if we are forced to do something different we hope to gain enough room to be able to tell more of Edmonton's aviation stories and the Jaycopter is one.

We also hope to be able to have the room to showcase the people of:
Aircraft Maintenance #1
North West Industries
SPAR Aerospace

As well as the the lives of the mechanics, ground crews and flight engineers that kept things working day to day...could not have happened without them.

We also need to create galleries for World War One and between the Wars, Agricultural aviation, Water bombing, Air Ambulance Services and expand existing.

We are working on it but it takes time, space and people (yeah money too) and right now the single biggest problem is space.

Thanks for your information.

Thomas Hinderks
Executive Director
Alberta Aviation Museum

[McBoo]

Working Jaycopter in an arena / entertainment district?

Outside the new RAM?

Bedside a funicular platform at Rossdale?

Or, built into the public space of the ECCA development?

[Dialog]

Noise complaints?

[McBoo]

That's ironic because the ECCA idea was an afterthought!

[Thomas Hinderks]

Originally Posted by McBoo

Working Jaycopter in an arena / entertainment district?

Outside the new RAM?

Bedside a funicular platform at Rossdale?

Or, built into the public space of the ECCA development?

It is an interesting idea but a reproduction that would meet today's safety standards and be electrically powered would be hellishly expensive.

Neat but expensive

Tom