HELICOPTER

Inventor: Many inventors

  • First practical helicopter invented by Germans in 1936 (Focke-Wulf FW 61)
  • Igor Sikorsky invents the first US helicopter (VS-300)
  • The helicopter uses a tail rotor to counteract torque on the main rotor
  • First used in WWII

The problem of the helicopter had been confounding humans for centuries. A number of innovations had to be developed to solve many different problems for the aircraft to work. One of these problems was torque, which caused the fuselage to spin in the opposite direction of the rotor. Another was the tendency for the helicopters to flip over. This was solved by the invention of the swashplate, which altered rotor blade angles to keep the lift symmetrical. The first practical helicopter was the German Focke-Wulf Fw 61, made in 1936. The first American helicopter was the VS-300, invented by Igor Sikorsky. This helicopter used the first tail rotor to counteract the forces of the torque from the main rotor. This design is still in use today.

*Picture from Microsoft Encarta Encyclopedia

SOURCES:

Helicopter History Site. Last modified 1997. Accessed April 12, 2004: <http://www.helis.com/introduction>

  • This site contained detailed information about the history of the helicopter. It went from Chinese history to modern history.

Modern Helicopter History. Accessed April 12, 2004: <http://www.aerospaceweb.org/design/helicopter/history2.shtml>

  • This site contained lots of great information about the first modern helicopters, including the German and American helicopters mentioned in the body of this work.

 

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