Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The History of Helicopters

Starting point is 00:00:00 For centuries, inventors dreamed of creating a flying machine that could rise straight into the air, hover in place, and move in any direction. While airplanes conquered the skies in the early 20th century, achieving the seemingly simple feat proved far more difficult. It required breakthroughs in aerodynamics, engineering, and flight control before the dream finally became a reality. The result was an aircraft that would revolutionize warfare, transportation, and emergency rescue. Learn more about the history of the helicopter on this episode of Everything Everywhere Daily. New from Nespresso. Blend wellness into your coffee routine with a coffee plus range infused with functional

Starting point is 00:00:52 benefits. Choose the coffee you love with added B vitamins, like coffee plus B12 to help support immune function and coffee plus B6 to keep your day moving. Or go with the flow and choose ginseng delight. Our new double espresso with ginseng extract. Whatever lies ahead, don't change your morning. Let your morning change you. Discover Coffee Plus on Nespresso.com.

Starting point is 00:01:16 Do you ever climb into bed ready to sleep only to have your mind start racing the moment your head hits the pillow? Thoughts bouncing around, replaying the day or jumping ahead to tomorrow? That is exactly why Catherine Nikolai created Nothing Much Happens. Each episode is a gentle, cozy bedtime story where, well, nothing much happens. No drama, no tension, nothing you need to follow closely. Just soft narration, calming repetition, and soothing sensory details designed to help your mind, slow down and your body relax. It's not about entertainment, it's about rest.

Starting point is 00:01:46 And millions of listeners around the world use it every night to quiet their thoughts and finally fall asleep. If you've ever struggled to shut your brain off at night, this might be exactly what you've been missing. You can listen to Nothing Much Happens wherever you get your podcasts. Episodes are every Monday and Thursday. The helicopter is one of the most remarkable inventions in aviation history. Unlike an airplane, which generally needs to move forward to generate enough

Starting point is 00:02:17 lift to remain airborne, a helicopter can rise vertically, hover motionless in the air, ply sideways, and even move backwards. These abilities make helicopters uniquely useful, but also extraordinarily difficult to design and operate. Believe it or not, the helicopter's history is much older than that of the airplane. The dream of vertical flight dates back centuries, and inventors were experimenting with helicopter-like devices long before the Wright brothers made their first powered flight in 1903. Some of the earliest known devices demonstrating rotary wing flight appeared in China, where spinning bamboo toys could rise into the air.

Starting point is 00:02:58 These toys consisted of a small rotor mounted on a stick. By rapidly spinning the stick between your hands, a person could propel the rotor upward. The exact origin of these devices is uncertain, but descriptions of them appear in European accounts by the Renaissance. Although they were simple toys, They demonstrated the essential principle that rotating blades could create enough lift to overcome gravity. The most famous early attempt to conceptualize a helicopter came from Leonardo da Vinci.

Starting point is 00:03:28 Around the late 1480s, Leonardo sketched an apparatus now known as the aerial screw. It consisted of a large helical surface wrapped around a central vertical shaft. Leonardo imagined that turning the screw rapidly would allow the machine to rise through the air. The device was never successfully constructed or flown, and it almost certainly would not have worked as Leonardo envisioned it. The structure was too heavy to be powered by a human, and it's designed to not adequately account for the aerodynamic problems of vertical flight. Nevertheless, Leonardo's drawing demonstrated that the concept of powered vertical flight had been seriously considered centuries before modern aviation.

Starting point is 00:04:10 During the 18th century, inventors began building more sophisticated experimental flying devices, In 1754, the Russian scientist Mikhail Lamanosov reportedly demonstrated a small spring-powered apparatus with counter-rotating rotors. It was intended to partially lift meteorological instruments. In 1784, the French inventor Christian de L'Anneux demonstrated a small model using two rotors powered by the tension of a bent bow. These experiments showed that powered rotating wings could create vertical lift, but they were a long ways away from carrying people. The main obstacle was the lack of a sufficiently powerful, lightweight engine. During the 19th century, experiments with vertical flight became increasingly sophisticated. Steam engines provided more power

Starting point is 00:05:01 than human muscles or springs, and inventors began imagining full-sized flying machines. The word helicopter itself emerged during this period. In 1861, the French, inventor, Gustave de Ponton de Amacore, developed a small steam-powered rotary wing model and popularized the term helicopter. The name combined the Greek words helix meaning spiral and Tehran meaning wing. Demacourt's models did not achieve sustained-powered flight, but his work helped establish the helicopter as a distinct category of flying machine. Other inventors made their own contributions. In 1778, the Italian engineer Enrico Foralini demonstrated a small, unmanned, steam-powered helicopter in Milan. His experimental device reportedly climbed to a height of

Starting point is 00:05:53 approximately 12 meters and remained airborne for about 20 seconds. This was a remarkable accomplishment for the period, even though the machine was unmanned and incapable of practical operation. In the late 19th century, Thomas Edison also investigated the helicopter. Edison recognized that the critical problem was the relationship between an aircraft's weight and the power required to lift it. He experimented with rotor designs and lightweight engines, but eventually concluded that engines available at the time were not sufficiently capable. By the end of the century, the underlying idea of the helicopter was well established. What remained missing was an effective combination of propulsion, lift, and controllability. The first decade of the 20th century saw enormous advances in aviation.

Starting point is 00:06:44 In 1903, the Wright brothers demonstrated sustained, controlled, powered flight in an airplane. Their success encouraged helicopter experimenters who hoped that lightweight internal combustion engines would finally make vertical flight practical. In France, two competing efforts produced some of the earliest proto-helicopter flights. The first took place in 1907. the French inventor Louis Brigay worked with his brother Jacques and psychologist Charles Rochet to build gyroplane number one. It featured four large rotor assemblies, each with multiple blades driven by a gasoline engine. On September 29, 1907, the aircraft reportedly lifted itself about half a meter off the ground.

Starting point is 00:07:30 However, the machine was extremely unstable and assistance had to hold it steady during its brief flight. Nevertheless, it was an important proof that a gasoline engine could produce enough power to lift a human-carrying rotary wing aircraft. The second event took place just weeks later on November 13, 1907. Another French inventor, Paul Corneau, conducted an experiment with his own helicopter, which had two large rotors driven by a gasoline engine. During its test, it reportedly rose briefly off the ground without physical support from any assistance. And for this reason, Kournou is frequently credited with making the first free flight of a piloted helicopter. However, aviation historians still dispute the extent to which his machine genuinely achieved unsupported flight. The aircraft was unstable, could not be controlled effectively, and never became a practical flying machine.

Starting point is 00:08:26 The challenge now was to make them controllable and stable. During the 1910s and 1920s, helicopter development continued. in Europe in the United States. Among the important experimenters were Emil and Henry Berliner, a father and son team in the United States. Emil Berliner was already famous for his work on sound recordings in the gramophone. He became interested in helicopters partially because he envisioned aircraft that could operate without dedicated airfields. The Berliners built several helicopter prototypes and investigated a variety of rotor arrangements. In 1924, Henry Berliner demonstrated a machine.

Starting point is 00:09:05 that could hover briefly and fly at modest speeds, although it could not achieve the performance or control needed for regular operations. Another important pioneer was the Spanish engineer Raoul Pateras Pescara, who conducted helicopter experiments in France. Pescara developed aircraft with coaxial counter-rotating rotors and experimented with mechanisms for varying blade pitch. His machines demonstrated increasingly sophisticated control systems, but they remained limited by insufficient engine power and aerodynamic difficulties. The most important breakthrough during this period, however, came from an inventor who was not actually trying to build a helicopter.

Starting point is 00:09:48 The Spanish engineer Juan de la Sierra developed a different form of rotary wing aircraft called the auto-gyro, a topic that I've covered in a previous episode. Unlike a helicopter, an auto gyro generally does not power its main rotor in flight. Instead, a conventional propeller pushes the aircraft forward, and airflow through the rotor keeps the blades turning through auto rotation. The rotating blades then generate lift, enabling the aircraft to fly at much lower speeds than many conventional airplanes. Sierra's early auto gyros encountered a serious problem.

Starting point is 00:10:23 As the aircraft move forward, the rotor blades onward, one side experienced a higher relative air speed than those on the other, and this produced unequal lift and caused the aircraft to roll. Sierrava solved the problem by introducing flapping hinges, which allowed rotor blades to move up and down independently as they rotated. His successful experiments in 1923 demonstrated how a rotary wing aircraft could maintain stability in forward flight. Throughout the 1920s and 30s, there were continual advancements. Louis Brigay returned to helicopter development and worked with engineer René Dorand on their gyroplane Labradorois, which made its first flight in 1935. Unlike earlier experimental

Starting point is 00:11:09 helicopters, it incorporated a workable combination of rotor control, stability, and engine power. The aircraft featured two counter-rotating rotors mounted one above the other. In Germany, engineer Heinrich Fokka was developing the Fokowulf FW-61, which made made its first flight on June 26, 1936. It used two large rotors mounted on outriggers extending from either side of the fuselage. The rotors turned in opposite directions, eliminating the need for a tail rotor to counteract torque. The creation of the aircraft, which is considered the first true helicopter, was the Sikorsky v.S. 300. It was developed by Igor Sikorsky, an immigrant to the United States who fled Russia after the 1917 revolution.

Starting point is 00:11:58 The machine was relatively simple in appearance, consisting of an exposed metal framework, a seat for the pilot, an engine, and a large main rotor. But its most important innovation was the arrangement of its rotors. Instead of using two large counter-rotating lifting rotors, Sikorski concentrated most of the aircraft's lifting capability into a single main rotor. A small tail rotor then counteracted that. resulting torque, which otherwise would cause the body of the aircraft to rotate in the opposite direction of the main rotor. The Vs-300 made its first tethered flight on September 14, 1939,

Starting point is 00:12:37 with Sikorsky himself at the controls. Its first untethered flight followed on May 13th, 1940. Sikorsky spent the next several years refining his design. In May of 1941, Sikorsky flew the Vs-300 for more than an hour and a half, a second. establishing a new helicopter endurance record. The Second World War spurred the demand for helicopters. The Sikorsky R4 was developed from the VS300 and became the world's first helicopter produced in substantial numbers. The U.S. military adopted the helicopter for training and rescue missions.

Starting point is 00:13:14 In April of 1944, U.S. Army Lieutenant Carter Harmon used an R4 to rescue personnel from behind Japanese lines in Burma. The very first use of a helicopter. in a rescue mission. Following World War II helicopter manufacturers began developing aircraft for the civilian market, and one of the most important early ones was the Bell 47. Design under the leadership of Arthur Young and developed from the experimental Bell Model 30, the Bell 47 made its first flight in December 1945.

Starting point is 00:13:46 On March 8, 1946, it became the first helicopter to receive civilian certification in the United States. The Korean War, which began in 1950, was the first major conflict in which helicopters played a substantial operational role. Korea's mountainous terrain and frequently poor roads created enormous problems for military transportation. Wounded soldiers often needed to be carried considerable distances before reaching medical treatment. Helicopters offered a new solution. American forces began using Bell H-13-Soup helicopters to evacuate wounded soldiers directly to mobile army surgical hospital. or mash units. The next great technological leap came with the introduction of gas turbine engines.

Starting point is 00:14:33 Early helicopters had been powered by conventional piston engines, which were heavy relative to the power that they produced. A gas turbine engine offered a much better power-to-weight ratio. In 1951, an experimental Cayman K-225 became the first helicopter to fly with a gas turbine driving its rotor through a mechanical transmission. As helicopters became more powerful, their use in warfare changed dramatically. It was no longer just used for rescue and evacuation.

Starting point is 00:15:03 During the Vietnam War, it began to be used offensively. And there's a lot more to be said about helicopters, much of which I'll be covering in future episodes. The helicopter was one of the most difficult challenges in aviation history. Although the basic concept of vertical flight had existed for centuries, it took generations of inventors to solve the problem of lift, stability, and control. Even after the first airplanes took to the skies, it took another four decades for practical helicopters to become a reality. But today helicopters perform tasks that no other aircraft can easily accomplish, from rescuing people in remote locations, to transporting heavy equipment and operating in the middle of. of cities. What began as a century's old dream of flying straight up has become one of the

Starting point is 00:15:56 most versatile forms of transportation ever invented. The executive producer of Everything Everywhere Daily is Charles Daniel. The associate producers are Austin Otkin and Cameron Kiefer. My big thanks go to everyone who supports the show over on Patreon. Your support helps make this podcast possible. And I also want to remind everyone about the community groups on Facebook and Discord. That's where everyone, everyone, everyone, everything happens that's outside the podcast, and links to those are available in the show notes. As always, if you leave a review on any major podcast app or in the above community groups, you too can have it read in the show.

Everything Everywhere Daily: History, Science, Geography & More - The History of Helicopters

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.