2104 - A Flashcards
DATE MEMORIZATION
The earliest references for vertical flight came from China. Since around 400 BC. Chinese children have played with bamboo flying toys (or Chinese top) This bamboo-copter is spun by rolling a stick attached to a rotor. The spinning creates lift, and the toy flies when released.
Circa 400 B.C., Chinese Bamboo Helicopters
Trade from the Far East resulted in the Chinese toys reaching Europe in the early Renaissance, likely inspiring Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) to create a drawing called the Aerial Screw.
1483 To 1486, Leonardo Da Vinci’s Vite Aerea — The Aerial Screw
One vertical-flight enthusiast, Gustave Vicomte de Ponton d’Amécourt, designed a model flying machine using coaxial propellers and a coiled spring for propulsion. While that model could fly, another version using a steam engine had failed. Ponton d’Amecourt and his group of enthusiasts inspired Jules Verne to add helicopters to his stories.
1863, Call Them “Helicopteres”
Brothers Louis and Jacques Bréguet began work on their version of a helicopter in 1905 under the tutelage of Professor Charles Richet. In late summer 1907 – sources vary on whether it was Aug. 24 or Sept. 29 – the machine achieved its first vertical ascent, hovering off the ground for two minutes. However, the craft – christened Gyroplane No. 1 – needed four men to steady it, as the primitive helicopter lacked any way to control its flight. The craft had a 45-horsepower engine, just powerful enough to hover
August 1907, The Bréguet-Richet Gyroplane No. 1
Paul Cornu designed and built the Cornu helicopter which used two 6.1-metre (20 ft) counter-rotating rotors driven by a 24 hp (18 kW) Antoinette engine. On 13 November 1907, it lifted its inventor to 0.3 metres (1 ft) and remained aloft for 20 seconds. Cornu’s helicopter completed a few more flights and achieved a height of nearly 2.0 metres (6.5 ft), but it proved to be unstable and was abandoned
1907 Paul Cornu
As helicopter historians begin to question the veracity of Paul Cornu’s achievement in 1907, de la Cierva’s flights in 1923 are increasingly considered to be the start of the helicopter era. Despite the strange configuration of the autogiro, de la Cierva pioneered the use of hinged rotor blades to stop the vehicle from tilting, as well as creating workable controls for lateral motion and pitch and yaw. On Jan. 17, 1923, de la Cierva took his first flight in Autogiro No. 4, considered to be the first controlled helicopter flight.
1923, De La Cierva’s Flight
In 1938, United Aircraft - which had bought Sikorsky’s company - granted him permission to create an experimental helicopter design. Eschewing the coaxial rotors that had been used up to that point, Sikorsky used a single three-bladed main rotor and a two-bladed vertical rotor on the tail to offset torque. On Sept. 14, 1939, Sikorsky himself took the prototype on its first flight. The helicopter, known as the VS-300, hovered.
September 1939, Sikorsky’s Vs-300
Based on his success with the VS-300, the U.S. Army Air Corps gave Sikorsky a $50,000 contract in December 1940 to build an easily manufactured version of the aircraft. Sikorsky demonstrated his new aircraft, designated the XR-4, in January 1942.
1942, Igor Sikorsky’s Xr-4
Designated by the Army as the HU-1H – thus the nickname “Huey” and later designated the UH-1H, the helicopter became a veritable Swiss Army knife: ferrying the wounded, troops and cargo around Vietnam for all branches of the military. The helicopter also changed the way that troops were mobilized for quick assaults on military targets. Nearly 900,000 wounded were transported by helicopter in the Vietnam War, 50 times more than the Korean War.
October 1956, Bell Uh-1h
The U.S. Army requested a new design for a utility transport helicopter in 1972. the helicopter has a unique flattened appearance because of the requirement that it fit in the transport hold of a C-130 Hercules cargo plane without removing the rotors. The helicopter has a number of interesting safety features, including a crash-resistant cabin, landing gear that can cushion a hard landing, and two engines, either of which can keep the aircraft aloft on its own. Today, the Black Hawk is the most popular helicopter in the U.S. military, with more than 2,400 in use, according to the Smithsonian Institution.
1976, Sikorsky “Black Hawk” Helicopter
The U.S. Army requested proposals in 1972 for a helicopter gunship whose form was dictated less by the Vietnam War and more by the perceived need to destroy Soviet tanks. Nearly a decade later, the Pentagon granted the contract to aircraft-maker Hughes to build the AH-64 “Apache“ helicopter. The development of the Apache was controversial, because it cost far more than previous contracts.
1982, Hughes “Apache” Helicopter
The joint U.S. military services began development in 1981 of a hybrid helicopter and airplane that could carry more and move faster than a typical helicopter. The V-22 Osprey used tilting rotors to vertically take off and then move to horizontal flight, where it would use its airplane-like aerodynamics to move faster and lift more. Full-scale development began in 1986 with Bell Helicopter and Boeing
1989, Bell-Boeing V-22 “Osprey” Tiltrotor Craft
Using concepts pioneered by early VTOL aircraft, aeronautical engineer Philip Carter is designing a plane intended to excel at acrobatics. The inventor says on his website that that the plane, dubbed the Hummingbird, will be able to perform maneuvers impossible for other aircraft including the ability to hover like a hummingbird.
2006, Hummingbird Hovers
