Helicopter

Early history

Gibbs-Smith, Aviation, 1970, p. 16:

The model helicopter—in use certainly since the 14th century as a toy—has recently been claimed by the Russian authorities to have been revived in 1754 with a twin contra-rotating rotor model operated by clockwork, made by the well-known scientist Michael Vasilyevitch Lomonosov, which is said to have flown successfully: but we have no documents. In 1768 the French mathematician, A. J. P. Paucton, in his Théorie de la Vis Archimède, suggested a man-carrying and man-powered helicopter with two helical screws (ptérophores), one to sustain it and the other to propel it: it was never built . But, oddly enough, this must rank was the first specific suggestion for horizontal aerial propulsion by an airscrew.

Enclosing categories	Aircraft, Propulsion
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