'Inaugurating helicopter shuttle service for air mail between the New York airport and the 23rd Street Skyport Marina on the east side of Manhattan.' The chopper is the sole example of the GA-45D by G&A. Formerly Pitcairn Aircraft, this was a subsidiary of the Firestone Tire & Rubber Company, but by the time of this photo it had been renamed Firestone Aircraft.

Colour capture of the unsuccessful G & A, later Firestone, helicopter. Photo by: Rudy Arnold / Smithsonian Institution

The civil variant of the G & A XR-9, with side-by-side seats. The sole example has a manufacture date of 15-Mar-1946 and was shown at the National Aircraft Show in Cleveland in November 1946, by then sporting Firestone titles as G & A had become Firestone Aircraft. Photo from: Vertical Flight Society

G&A Aircraft, formerly Pitcairn, became a subsidiary of Firestone Tire & Rubber Company in 1943. Their Model GA-45 first flew as the single-seat XR-9 in Mar-1946, but was converted within a month to the tandem two-seater XR-9B. G & A was renamed to Firestone Aircraft Company in mid 1946, but all development ceased in 1947. Two airframes were built, the second one being the civil Model GA-45D prototype, NX58457, having side-by-side seats. That helicopter is preserved at Fort Rucker, painted as the tandem-seat military prototype. Photo from: Wright State University