An Incredibly Deep Dive Into the Fascinating Invention of the Helicopter

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“Helicopter’s don’t fly -they just beat the air into submission.” and “Helicopters aren’t aircraft -they’re just ten thousand parts flying in close formation.” are just two of the many tongue-in-cheek sayingswhich have been levelled at rotorcraft. Yet despite their often ungainly and precarious appearance, it cannot be denied that helicopters are remarkable pieces of engineering, capable of taking off and landing almost anywhere, hovering perfectly still in midair, and maneuvering in any direction with incredible precision. These unique abilities have made helicopters indispensable in dozens of fields, from search and rescue to construction, tourism, policing, journalism, and warfare. Unsurprisingly, this degree of sophistication and adaptability took considerable time and effort to achieve, with nearly four decades separating the first aeroplane flight and the first practical helicopter. But who was responsible for this technological breakthrough? Who were the Wright Brothers of the helicopter? While one man is usually credited with making the helicopter a practical vehicle, like most important technologies, rotorcraft are the product of dozens of different inventors making incremental developments over many decades. This is the story of how mankind achieved the dream of vertical flight.
Author: Gilles Messier
Host: Simon Whistler
Producers: Samuel Avila, Simon Whistler, Daven Hiskey
This video is #sponsored by NordVPN.

[@TodayIFoundOut]

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[@officialhideyo]

5:58 "inventor extraordinaire" lol dude is calling a fraud guy inventor. All Edison ever did was wait and steal designs. Innovator maybe, inventor hell no. He is pretty much what Apple is in present day. Waiting for other companies to invent things then copy modify paste.

[@TodayIFoundOut]

This is incorrect about Edison. We have a video coming out on it soon. Stay tuned! :-)

[@montecorbit8280]

​@@TodayIFoundOut It's incorrect the NordVPN has a special going on??

[@TodayIFoundOut]

No, the comment about Edison. 😋

[@montecorbit8280]

@@TodayIFoundOut Ah.... Thought something was up....glad you edited it, though maybe it should have been in it's own pinned comment and not under the sponsored pinned comment....

[@susanmolnar9606]

I grew up in the area where the Sikorsky’s lived. Very nice and caring people. When Mrs S was getting older I would see her everyday. Then she got me a ride in one of those great helicopters. Some things you never forget! Miss them.

[@mclovin6829]

If the wings move faster than the fuselage, it is unstable and dangerous and therefore, a helicopter.

[@Zadren]

As an engineer on both fixed-wing and rotary airframes, can definitely confirm. 😆

[@YaM0MsAh03]

No

[@brianedmonds4901]

Gotta love old school CoD death screen sayings...

[@MostlyPennyCat]

Unless you're in a fixed wing in which case you're having an even worse day.

[@kennethmartin1300]

Looked at another way, the 'wings' (blades) do the moving and you and the fuselage stay nice and still. Airplane: you have to move with the wings at insanely high speeds to leave the hard ground.

[@aerowhiz]

Thanks so much for this video. I enjoyed learning the history of my favorite contraption! Here is a helicopter use case I bet you never imagined. Some years ago I was piloting a helicopter back to the airport in Oakland, California. My approach took me over the Oakland Estuary next to Government Island. It was a beautiful sunny Sunday and there were many sailboats on the estuary. I was cruising at about 500 ft along the shoreline watching the many mariners deftly tacking their sailboats back and forth against the wind when suddenly, a man alone on his boat was knocked into the water by the boom of his sail as it shifted in the wind. His sailboat was rapidly approaching large rocks in front of Government Island. He was swimming furiously toward his boat but there was no chance he could catch up with it. I dove the helicopter down between the rocks and his boat and hovered there. My rotor wash literally blew the wind out of his sails and his boat stopped approaching the rocks. I then gently approached and “blew”the sailboat back to him. As he scrambled aboard I turned and resumed my trip to the airport. Flying airplanes is awesome, but the things you can do with a helicopter are amazing... :)

[@CarMad97ci]

That’s badass

[@ItsDaJax]

That's awesome. Mr. Plow of the skys.

[@DramaMustRemainOnTheStage]

❤ what a cool story. My grandson is in flight school now

[@aerowhiz]

@@DramaMustRemainOnTheStage Good for him! I always wanted to fly when I was a kid. I learned when I was 20.

[@Sd1v8v]

Just read a book on helicopters in the Vietnam war and on the first page it said " helicopters don't want to fly and when hit they go down".

[@ryanf1425]

Cool

[@JAY1892]

Was the book ‘Chickenhawk?’ I read it about 8 years ago and really enjoyed it. The way he describes some of the missions is enthralling and scary as F. Not to Mention his journey to becoming a chopper pilot which was really interesting. If not, I do recommend it. 👍

[@iteerrex8166]

More accurately, I think they mean, they don’t wanna glide. It’s some tones of iron held up by the blades, and if it stop, it drops like dead weight.

[@davidsnyder3799]

@@iteerrex8166 Not true. Helicopters are designed to disengage the rotor from the engine if it loses power. This allows the rotor to continue spinning and providing for control of the descent. The rotor blades normally cut through the air with a slight upward angle of attack to effectively push air down and/or provide lift as the air passes over the blade faster than under. This angle creates drag which is normally overcome with the power of an engine. The setting of that angle is known as collective pitch. It is adjustable and controlled by the pilot. To reduce drag on the rotors when there is a loss of power, the pilot will reduce the collective pitch. This flattens the angle of attack or even moves to a position of negative lift. As the helicopter "drops", air rushes up through the rotor and even increases rotor speed. Forward momentum and continued rotation of the rotor allow the craft to "glide" with a reasonable degree of control while looking for a safe place to set it down. In the final moments of descent, the pilot needs to flare the approach. Increase the collective pitch while tilting the rotor back to slow forward motion, and/or banking and turning 180 degrees to transition the available forces of momentum into forces of lift and a cushion of air. The procedure of landing without power is called autorotation. Learning and performing this procedure to the point just before hitting the ground is a standard requirement for obtaining a private pilot license for helicopter. I'm not sure what the flight hour requirements are now. But when I was looking into it, the minimum flight time for private pilot license of a Robinson R22 helicopter was 40 hours. In other words, one of the first things a helicopter pilot learns to do is to not fall like a rock.

[@thomasmann3560]

Author was a genius.

[@ItsSeanTheProducer]

I've lived in Stratford CT my entire life, about 2 miles from the modern Sikorsky plant. My grandfather (Jack Geary) was one of the original 5 police officers on the Stratford PD, and eventually became Chief of Police in the early 1960s. He knew Igor Sikorsky personally, and was at all of the test flights of Sikorsky's early helicopters. He used to tell me about the test flights when I was a kid in the 1970s (I was his only grandson, so I got to hear all of his stories). I'm almost 100% positive that he is the police officer on the left in the photo of the VS-300 test flight around 35:38 in the video.

[@thesausagecontinuim1971]

Breguet's rotorcraft looks like a giant wooden frame quad type drone

[@fishdude666ify]

That was EXACTLY what I thought.

[@billbissenas2973]

My VSTOL instructor at the naval academy was Vadym Utgoff, Sikorsky used to babysit him when Vadym’s dad (V. V. Utgoff) was traveling. Also, Sikorsky’s first helicopter factory was in Vadym’s back yard.

[@matthenley7641]

As a pilot I can confirm that helicopters beat the air into submission, especially true for the Bell 212 which uses sledgehammers for rotors 😄 Also, if you're ever in a training helicopter be sure to get them to demo an autorotation, they are so much fun.

[@CarMad97ci]

They fucking are not fun at all 😂😂😂

[@jenniferbuynitzky412]

As a heli pilot, I wholeheartedly agree!

[@Chris_at_Home]

There’s someone with one of those near here. A few months ago he had a Cub on a sling taking to a runway about 1/4 mile away. I worked in telecommunications in Alaska. I’ve been in many types of helicopters. I worked along the pipeline for many years and would be flown up to mountain top communications sites mostly north of Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay. They used 206s and 407s for this. Many of the pilots flew in Nam and were getting ready to retire.

[@rebokfleetfoot]

if only we could achieve the grace of the common dragonfly... that would be something

[@c1ph3rpunk]

When you have to come up with a word for crashing, that doesn’t contain the word crashing, you have issues. Fixed wing only for me.

[@allenminer6244]

To fly is heavenly; but To Hover, is divine.

[@billdecat855]

A military helicopter instructor I know would describe the craft as 10000 parts violently trying to get away from each other. So, it's not exactly formation but still quite descriptive.

[@jeffc5474]

Formation under protest.

[@khironkinney1667]

I went up in a Huey helicopter, the ones they used in Vietnam, the Korean War. It was one of the coolest experiences of my life. I'm terrified of heights they have the doors pinned open. I had a 600-foot drop from my toes. All I could think was how awesome it was

[@mr.iforgot3062]

Korean war MASH helicopter was a Bell 47. I think anyways. Pretty sure. Im not going to check, Im pretty sure. Sure enough.

[@Howiesgirl]

​@@mr.iforgot3062 Yes, the Bell-47 was used most commonly for transport to & from MASH units in Korea, although the Huey did plenty of MASH transports. Hueys mainly rescued downed pilots, soldiers who were pinned down, & did reconnaissance work. I had to check because my late uncle was in Korea, so I was curious.

[@densealloy]

​​@@borregoayudando1481FYI the oldest aircraft in the HMX-1 fleet (Marine Helicopter Squadron One ) are 7 of the 1960s Era Sikorsky VH-3D, a version of the Seaking They also operate 8 Sikorsky VH-60N, a version of the Blackhawk and they have 12 Bell-Boeing MV-22 Osprey. They Ospery lack the white tops but share the dark green livery as they are support aircraft. Also an interesting fact is though commonly referred to as Marine-1 (not by you, you said it correctly) but just like Airforce-1 that call sign is only applicable when POTUS is on board. Hope that answers your question. Have a wonderful day.

[@borregoayudando1481]

@@densealloy off topic, but it would raise the national security alert rating up a whole DEFCON unit to transport potus on an V22 lmao.

[@92suzukigsx1100g]

@@borregoayudando1481that is a terrifying thought 😂😂😂😂

[@MeppyMan]

Helicopter pilot here. This should be interesting.

[@viciousfish6145]

mad respect, I have taken a few lessons, and if they were not so expensive, I would have obtained my license and bought one. But also, learning how to fly a helicopter is something you can either do, or not do. you have no time to think how to react with logic, it has to be muscle memory, if you have to think about what you need to do at any given point, you are already too late to make the corrections needed.

[@hazezero689]

The odd thing I love about helicopters, is that the way they work, seems just absolutely absurd to me. An airplane has like a certain elegance to its design and how it works, beautiful long sensual wings, a sleek frame and tail. A airplane works with the wind, where as a helo, is like 'I spin, I fly, derrrr', it doesn't give a fart about wind, it makes its own.

[@dianapennepacker6854]

When I realized that the blades literally hold the entire aircraft, and payload? That blew my little peasant mind. Then I learned about the Jesus Nut. It is like all that weight just basically dangling off a relatively small piece of metal is just unfathomable. Then add in the stress of lift, flying, engine vibrations, speed of the rotor, etc etc. I don't know why I never made the connection till I was older. Forgot what I was looking at when I was thought wait a minute... The hell?

[@chillingwarmly5155]

sensual wings

[@dereinzigwahreRichi]

You've never seen a Beluga airplane, did you? Or that russian ground effect plane thing, the caspian sea monster? :⁠-⁠D

[@Idrinklight44]

​@@dianapennepacker6854 on a CH-53, the Jesus nut is hand tight, then backed off a half turn. H-34 had it's torqued on with a hydraulic tool. Thousands of foot-pounds if I remember right.

[@grahamstretch6863]

@@dereinzigwahreRichi The ekranoplan. A ground effect aircraft.

[@outwiththem]

The first practical Rotorcraft (That can be taken places, not just attached to the ground) was The Cierva 4 of 1924 (In Spain). He made the rotors tilt when gyrating the opposite direction of flight. The concept is still used but with modern electronics to adjust it faster for faster speeds. All The previous were a failure due they could not get any speed over 4 miles per hour before helicopters tried to turn hard, tilt and crash.

[@fishdude666ify]

I've long thought that the swashplate is one of the most unlikely, counterintuitive, and as such, genius inventions produced by mankind.

[@LuoJun2]

“I’d rather you become an alcoholic than build airplanes.” Sounds like my wife. (I’m an aircraft mechanic.)

[@keithstudly6071]

You found out things and also bought into much of the 'manufactured' history of the helicopter. This starts in the USA in the 1930's and the leading suspect is the US military, represented by Captain H. Franklin Gregory and the beneficiary is Sikorsky. The victim was Pitcarn. The Pitcairn PA36 autogiro had demonstrated that it met the requirements set out in Army requirements (See the Dorsey Bill) for a rotary wing aircraft but after the demonstration flight in October 1941 the Pitcairn PA-36 seemed to be set for production and the contract assured. But Capt. Gregory had other ideas and went to Sikorsky where he was given a demonstration of the VS-300 test bed. It was able to hover and move in a controlled fashion to an extent but was not a deliverable product to any degree and didn't meet the government requirements that the Pitcairn PA-36 had demonstrated it could. The secret was that Pitcairn had the US rights to Cierva's Cyclic and Collective control systems and without these features Sikorsky's craft was really not practical. Capt. Gregory made a deal with Sikorsky that he would hold up the contract while Sikorsky redesigned his craft with collective and cyclic controls, which he did. With the entry of the US into the war a few months later the patent rights would be suspended anyway and after patent concerns were lifted in short order Sikorsky, Bell and Kellett all had flying prototypes. It was the cyclic and collective systems developed by Cierca and Pitcairn that had opened the way to way to the practical helicopter. Pitcairn finally decided to give the Army what it wanted and built a prototype with Firestone, the XR-9 but by that time the Army had turned it's back on them. After WW2 Pitcairn expected to start getting payments for his patents but the Army told US manufactures not to honor them and started one of the longest lasting court cases in US history with Pitcairn winning but not being paid until the 1980's. Unfortunately Harold Pitcairn didn't live to see the day. The Focke-Achgelis Fa-61 did use the Cierca patents as well but Pitcairn didn't control them in Europe.

[@SimonAmazingClarke]

One of the hardest parts to fathom out was that the blades move 90 degrees out of phase to the input.

[@oldtimer2192]

Gyroscopic precession! One of those quirks of physics.

[@SimonAmazingClarke]

@oldtimer2192 I'm not sure if it is that. I'm trying to remember back to the helicopter course that I did in the RAF in 87. I seem to remember that it's about the reaction time of the blade. Then again I could be wrong

[@manifold1476]

@@SimonAmazingClarke They probably taught you wrong reasons for actual phenomena, like saying the Bernoulli effect plays a part in wing lift on a fixed wing. Bernoulli's phenomenon plays a part in a carburetor venturi. A positive angle of attack and *thrust* provides lift.

[@SimonAmazingClarke]

@manifold1476 Yes, speed, angle of attack, and shape provide lift, but if you look at the Swash Plate on a helicopter a forward movement of the cyclic doesn't move the swash plate forwards, its 45 degrees out. The input arm to the blade is also 45 degrees out. It takes 90 degrees for the blade to action the input.

[@davidpeacock8788]

⁠@@manifold1476a positive angle of attack causes air flowing over a wing to speed up, causing a drop in pressure, which almost sucks the aircraft upwards… drop in pressure due to speed, sounds like Bernoulli to me?

[@TheShuey1234]

My uncle Stanley Hiller used to talk about this all the time. he was instrumental in the development of modern helicopters back in the day, creating Hiller helicopters before merging with Fairchild industries. He turned into one of silicon valleys early investors and created the Hiller aviation museum. Definitely some cool stuff.

[@squalosus223]

Weird flex..... but okay.

[@fukhue8226]

A musician friend of mine lives in his Grandmas house 3 blocks from me. His uncle Bud Isaacs invented the Pedal Steel Guitar and was first to record one in Nashville Tennessee on a song called SLOWLY by Webb Pierce.

[@jasonbirch1182]

​@@squalosus223"weird flex" might have been perceived as a slightly clever little saying by the first 8,000,000,000 people that parroted it off Instagram or whatever, but it actually isn't. Let it go.

[@JAY1892]

An upload about the helicopter, narrated at the speed of a jet fighter. 😂

[@sydhenderson6753]

A fascinating video about a subject I knew very little about. I always was interested in autogyros and I'm glad their history was included.

[@ruk2023--]

I didn't think much of them until I spent a couple of hours in one as a tourist and now I think they are the best way to get around.

[@Rock33b]

I can’t say I agree but I’ve never been in a helicopter I also hate being off the ground so my opinion is skewed but they are fascinating machines

[@YaM0MsAh03]

Ask Kobe how he likes getting around in his helicopter

[@ruk2023--]

I imagine he would say that accidents happen and they shouldn't put the rest of humanity off something because of them.@@YaM0MsAh03

[@jeremytoms5163]

I had one of those ‘experience days’ where you get to fly a helicopter . 5 minutes into trying to control the damn thing I handed control back to the pilot stating I didn’t have the reflexes needed anymore. Always remember the pilot saying how many people just didn’t give up when it was obvious that they couldn’t do it. I then sat back for the next 20minutes as he showed me just what the craft could do. One of the best flights I’ve ever had. Best has to be a glider lesson with a lady pilot , who I later learned was the coach for the ladies national team. Doing acrobatics in a 2 seater glider is an experience I’ll never forget.

[@jgedutis]

Eww! A lady pilot? Did you get any helicopter cooties from her?

[@c1ph3rpunk]

Excellent video, this offers proof of two things: 1) All engineering triumphs rest on a bed of iterative innovation by many people. The “we stand on the shoulders of giants” mantra. 2) Don’t force your brightest, most innovative and creative people out to other countries for political reasons.

[@markieman64]

Whilst it's invention was gradual, I just find it amazing how relatively quickly the helicopter went from an entirely experimental concept to something very similar to what is in the air today.

[@Skinflaps_Meatslapper]

The strange thing is, once you take off all the panels and expose the underlying airframe and components, they still look very much experimental and thrown together.

[@markieman64]

@@Skinflaps_Meatslapper Very true.

[@Skinflaps_Meatslapper]

@@markieman64 But you're right, of course. It's only in appearance that they look thrown together, there's tons of hard earned engineering in them and a lot of lives were paid in the process for it. That kind of stuff isn't obvious or quantifiable with visual observation alone. Many of the smaller helis fly and feel like they could still use a lot of refinement though, like when you're spooling an R44 up and transition through some resonance that shakes everything off the dash and keeps cracking the main rotor fairings. Gotta pick your battles I suppose.

[@jeffc5474]

Having been a UH-60 mechanic and crew chief when in the US Army, helicopters are wonderful machines that take a lot of work and maintenance to keep running reliably.

[@wormyboot]

Anton Flettener is also the reason why we have trim tabs on airplanes. He also made a really cool ship propulsion idea with big spinning cylinders.

[@marc-andreservant201]

The physics of helicopter power also work in reverse (as in autorotation). If you're going to build a helicopter tethered to the ground, you might as well not attach an engine to the rotor, and tow the tether with a truck like a kite. This delivers the same amount of power to the helicopter while avoiding the power-to-weight ratio problems of the engines of that era.

[@ianrobertson3419]

Check out the gyro that was towed by a submarine.

[@alastairmellor966]

The Cierva autogyros never had cyclic and collective control. Whilst later models could change pitch from fully fine to flight pitch it was a one way system to allow a jump take off, it could only be reset after landing, it cannot be described as collective control. Instead of cyclic control Cierva aircraft tilted the whole rotor, again that's not cyclic control. You also fail to mention the pioneer work of Raoul Hafner although you do mention Igor Bensen as the originator of the modern autogyro, ignoring the fact that Bensen had evaluated and then copied Hafner's Rotachute. Hafner had been working on helicopters with both cyclic and collective control in the 20s before designing an autogyro with both controls as a way of ignoring the torque issue. Hafner's Revoplane from 1928 still exists in the helicopter museum at Weston super Mere and as such is the world's oldest surviving helicopter.

[@Ben-Dixey]

I think tilting the rotor is cyclic control, there is a cyclic change in angle of attack as the rotor rotates. All gyrocopters are considered to be cyclic control, but the blades don't feather.

[@almac2598]

William Denny & Brothers, shipbuilders of Dumbarton, Scotland, were way ahead of their time in the 1900's in having an experimental staff who ran a large hydraulic test tank (which still exists as part of the Scottish Maritime Museum) to test ship hull designs. In 1905 Edwin Mumford and J Pollock Brown started to experiment on hovering flight in helicopters. Test flights started in 1908.It first flew under its own power in 1912, and is thought to have been the first helicopter in the world to do so. Development was abandoned with the onset of the first world war to concentrate on building ships for the Govt and the War effort.

[@TheCoveta]

I fly the Sikorsky S92 to and from work and I really appreciate the engineering that has gone into it, but it's not smooth like an airplane. It shakes and vibrates a lot.

[@cpear760]

"I'd rather you become an alcoholic than build airplanes ✈️. " Me: "Can I get that in writing?"

[@giwilreker]

I've flown in a helicopter once and it's an incredible experience! I would totally do it again given the oppotunity. This documentary was awesome!

[@fastinradfordable]

Everyone wants to fly helicopter again until they dead 💀

[@borysnijinski331]

The helicopter did not become practical until gas turbines were used as power sources. Helicopters during Korean war were not able to carry much. By Vietnam with use of gas turbines, the helicopter became much more useful.

[@Demonslayer20111]

Depends on what you mean by practical. I'd say being a medivac was pretty damn practical.

[@tmutant]

I've heard flying one described as being like balancing a cup and saucer on your head while juggling, and riding a unicycle.

[@jenniferbuynitzky412]

LoL, indeed it can be very much like that!

[@ItsDaJax]

I feel like they'd be easier to fly than planes. Always wanted to learn.

[@FireAngelOfLondon]

@@ItsDaJax It is much, _much_ harder to control a helicopter than a plane. I learned to fly as a young man but my only experience of a helicopter simulator was crashing it on take-off over and over before finally managing one take-off and transition to horizontal flight. On attempting to transition to the hover to land I crashed the simulator again. I think if we had been using real helicopters I would have totalled eleven of them that day, and we were only in the simulator for about ninety minutes. I managed take-off and landing of a plane the first time I tried it.

[@iteerrex8166]

I have watched many videos about the invention of the airplane, but this was the first about helicopters, and very nicely done. Thank you Simon 👍

[@davidlogansr8007]

You missed the rescue flights of Wehrmacht Soldier’ssaved from the Fokke-Akgelis in 1941 rescues 4 badly wounded soldiers and retuning then to a reward. Based field and gamely repeating the triumph again and again. Testimony of these flights were on KZbin by one of the rescued who later became a conventional pilot in the USAAC AND USAF . I can’t recoall his name but it’s an hour long interview giving much more detail of the ACHELIS-GEHLIS (224?)

[@ianyoung1106]

Not to mention the alpine rescue in 1944, the recovery of its sister prototype from the same spot and the 1945 flight to Konigsberg, aborted due to the Soviet army overrunning the intended location of the rescue, followed by the return to Berlin.

[@davidlogansr8007]

@@ianyoung1106Germany and it’s 2 companies that Simon mentioned were truly in the lead of helicopter design but some of what they did was superseded by Igor Sikorsky’s designs. It would have been interesting to see the two German designs versus the Sikorsky designs. I re-read what I wrote and realized I made several errors confusing the Fletner and Fokke_Achgelis designs. I can only say I must have been tired when I wrote that, and usually only proofread after I post! Oh well.

[@briantimmons4615]

I work with heli's everyday, they are complex and intriguing machines. Love them.

[@ItZWaffleS420]

8:00 The savagery by his supervisor. He HAD to build that helicopter after that.

[@taddybear4244]

It kinda cracks me up that Simon had backed two different VPN services in the last two videos of his I've watched. Neither of which is the best for privacy or security.

[@fukkitful]

Whatever pays the bills...

[@Sirdoolan]

@@fukkitfulI’m amazed anyone watches them, I just have to FF for those sweet facts.

[@rafaelwilks]

5:54 GE now makes some of the best helicopter engines 😍😍😍

[@aarontiffany9101]

Great video Simon helicopters are awesome and deserving of recognition

[@lorensims4846]

An autogyro is featured (as a plaything for the rich) in the very first movie to ever win the Academy Award for Best Picture of the year, "It Happened One Night" starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert.

[@sydhenderson6753]

Actually it was about the seventh. But I'd completely forgotten it was an autogyro the pilot/asshole was flying. If I remember. he was showing off by landing on the lawn.

[@lorensims4846]

@@sydhenderson6753 OK, the first romcom to win for best picture. It was the first movie to win both the the Academy award and the National Board of Review award for best picture, and also the first movie to win a clean sweep of all the major Academy awards, quite surprising the studio.

[@SpiritmanProductions]

Great video. And confirmation that 'helicopter' should be split "helico- pter" when across two lines. ;-)

[@Jayjay-qe6um]

In July 1754, Russian Mikhail Lomonosov had developed a small coaxial modeled after the Chinese top but powered by a wound-up spring device and deminstrated it to the Russian Academy of Sciences. It was powered by a spring, and was suggested as a method to lift meteorological instruments.

[@JohnHoranzy]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikhail_Lomonosov#/media/File:Lomonosov-aerodromic-machine-(reconstruction).jpg

[@lookingforwookiecopilot]

The guy who saw an airplane fly overhead and "yawned" invented the helicopter.

[@tsbulmer]

If I were a transformer, I would *totally* turn into a helicopter.

[@crawford323]

Juan de La Cierva, a Spanish inventor in 1921 invented the Autogiro with a production model in 1923. Cierva invented the lead lag hinge which solved the problem of asymmetric lift. Harold Pitcairn under license in the United States continued to improve the rotor head design to include jump start. From 1929 to 1939 the autogyro as it was then called dominated the sky's with no deaths occurring from crashes during that time. Igor Sikorsky havimg difficulty controlling his attempts at a flying machine was urged to be come a licensee under Harold picarin. Basically Sikorsky stole Pitcairn's rotor-head design enabling his craft to fly in 1941. After Sikorsky successfully helicopter the demand for the autogyro fell off.

[@greggv8]

In the late 80's to early 90's there was a documentary series on Discovery Channel about helicopters. The title of it was "Straight up", with each episode focused on one person involved in early helicopters or on a company or even a specific helicopter. IIRC there was also an episode on the Harrier jet. But I've never been able to find anything about the show online! It was contemporaneous with "Wings", also on Discovery Channel. When TDC had enough aircraft content they created Discovery Wings Channel, I don't know if they put "Straight Up" on it or if the show was never seen again.

[@loraweems8712]

"Helicopters don't fly; the Earth rejects them" - From a fixed-wing pilot friend of mine

[@steveskouson9620]

Haven't seen this yet, (I'm on the advert.) Juan De La Cierva. Igor Sikorsky. (From memory.) steve

[@adiuntesserande6893]

When he mentioned that aluminium was expensive at that time, he was understating things by an order of magnitude. The furnace necessary to allow for industrial-scale processing of boxite ore was still in the future at the time, which meant that aluminium was considerably more valuable than *gold*.

[@AndyRRR0791]

Not exactly related to helicopterage, but Sergei Rachmaninov was (one of?) the first investors in Sikorsky Aviation.

[@kevinrouse141]

We used to have a sign in our hangar that said "Helicopter Aerodynamics isn't rocket science. It's much harder than that!".

[@miketaylor3947]

Great history , much of which I didn't know until now. I was expecting some discussion of Hiller.

[@matttrafton2725]

Motorcycle of the sky. Especially a small one with the doors off. Anyone who loves roller coasters should experience a hammerhead stall maneuver.

[@string_fellow_hawk]

👏 Great script Gilles .

[@Idrinklight44]

Flew on Sikorsky helos about 10yrs, just learned a couple things, Thanks!

[@blueflamingo6307]

Dear Colin, Can you PLEASE build Mr Tom Lamb a Aliens Power Loader for your next project, he could do with one on his farm!!!!

[@bertruttan129]

That would be Juan de la Cierva the inventor of the autogyro which begat the helicopter by Igor Sikorsky. luv both fly both, mostly the gyroplane though.

[@kennethmartin1300]

Great, thorough Vid! A good watch at 40min, even with that runtime, I didn't think Simon could wrap the whole thing near the end - he did. 👍

[@TheForcesofDarkness]

This was great. I had thought the gyrocopter was like the ultralight aircraft. A small, lightweight, easy to pilot craft. And airpower in the road warrior.

[@TheElnots]

This video stands out amoung the others for most informative, in my honest opinion. Great make guys

[@ScottRobsco]

Thank you. enjoyed immensely.

[@davidvwilliamson]

a real winner simon, thank you

[@KingCobbones]

Please stop adding the flashing screen edge (on the left) to your videos, it's very distracting.

[@grayfool]

Fascinating video. Thank you very much for your work.

[@bradbrandon2506]

Wow that just blew me away. I didn't know it ended up being American or expected it at all, really.

[@claywest9528]

Interesting life story on Sikorski.

[@jplacido9999]

Imagine the big effort on researching all this information....👍

[@LetsLearnAboutIt]

10,000 parts moving in concert trying to kill the pilot...

[@elmartell5724]

My dad was an avionic technician and made me promise never to get in a helicopter 😂

[@montecorbit8280]

At 5:16 Types of rotors.... I'm not a helicopter expert, but I do know the picture you're showing is a coaxial rotor not a contra-rotating rotor....please make a pinned comment about that. At 11:13 Rotor types again.... Again, that is a picture of a coaxial rotor not the Contra rotating.... At 26:28 Rotor types.... Again, coaxial....

[@michaelmoorrees3585]

I'll cut Simon some slack. All of Simon Whistler's channels are aimed at the general public, so abbreviated. This is similar to criticism leveled against Wikipedia. Wikipedia and other encyclopedias are not primary sources. They are the "Reader's Digest" of general knowledge. If I want more accurate minutia, I'll go to Military Aviation History, or Greg's Airplane's and Automobiles. Or If you are doing REAL research, go to the primary sources. I'm an EE and this reminds me of the statement, "you should never use an op amp as a voltage comparator". You're usually in trouble, when you make an absolute assertion. The real answer, is that IT DEPENDS on the application. Sometimes, the worst excuse of an op-amp (the LM358) is more than adequate. Sometimes the fastest voltage comparator is a waste of money, and you're better off with a dedicated device, like a purpose built class-D amplifier chip instead of rolling your own.

[@ianrobertson3419]

Coaxial rotors are contra rotating. Intermeshing(eggbeater) rotors are contra rotating. Counter rotating or contra rotating, it just means that 2 rotors spin in opposite directions.

[@milantrcka121]

What was alluded to but not amplified is the fact that a spinning main rotor generates a counter-rotating torque (much more detail behind it). Thus this torque needs to be countered by counter-rotating rotor of the same characteristics, or by counter-torque generated by a tail rotor on a boom. And yes, the two rotors are coaxial AND counter-rotating (for the above reasons). Google Kamov KA-50 / 52 as an example.

[@montecorbit8280]

@@ianrobertson3419 You are correct, but they are generally not referred to like that.... Contra-rotating is left to refer to something like the CH-47 or the MI-12....not the KA-52 or the, I can't think of a western helo using that system, though I remember seeing them.

[@ianrobertson3419]

@@montecorbit8280 the newest sikorsky test bed for high speed uses a coax rotor.

[@Ben-Dixey]

Brilliant video

[@mrclassic2284]

Helicopter: A hurling mass of aluminum and steel around an oil leak

[@emilysmith6897]

Given how much engine oil I've added to R22 helicopters, this tracks. 🤣

[@thoreberlin]

My old thingpad has a turnable touchscreen and a trackpoint. This makes couch use so much more comfortable and beats a tablet. But by now my phone has a faster processor...

[@bradlevantis913]

There is something so unique when you fly in a helicopter.

[@jerrywinsler6190]

There were actually no wright brothers of helicopters because there was no one that sued everyone and stifled innovation as they did for helicopters

[@nightwishlover8913]

Request to the Editor(s): Please put graphics of the names that Simon mutilates on the screen - it's completely impossible to understand the identities of the people about whom he is talking. Some of us MIGHT want to explore these topics more deeply, but we can't if we can't understand the names. Thanks.

[@Dan-jx7xl]

Request to the Loser(s) in the comments: I understood everything Simon said and if you didn’t, perhaps it’s your comprehension over his pronunciation. Some of us MIGHT have a better understanding than you and therefore don’t have the need to cry.

[@olinzuercher6344]

Check the transcript

[@nightwishlover8913]

@@olinzuercher6344 Did. Thanks. Helpful. But shouldn't have to if he did his homework first...

[@nightwishlover8913]

@@Dan-jx7xlUnlikely - Seriously?? You understood all the names? Oh and by the way, you know nothing of my upbringing/education/experience so please don't judge.

[@hopelessnerd6677]

Helicopters are like bumblebees. They can't fly, but they do.

[@ItsDaJax]

Bwahahahaha! They use sheer will power and probably rage, looking at some of the comments.

[@richknives9114]

hmm that prototype(7:23) looks like a drone with a flipped orientation

[@aerotube7291]

Hang on ...I've a hunch this is ' hosted by a sneaky impersonator'😂

[@Intabih]

"Under nearly complete control."

[@nicholasmartin6480]

They're also helpful in profession fighting wildland fires.

[@Tarumarugan]

Why am I having Deja Vu while watching this? I feel like I’ve seen this episode before

[@PinkPixie019]

I have rode in all kinds of helicopters. Terrified each time. So. Much. Can. Go. Wrong. Soooooo much.

[@raymondmartin6737]

Funny, Sikorsky, from Kyiv, now Ukraine shoots down the Russian helocopters. I have seen the Sikorsky plant in CT, near a CT Parkway too. 😊

[@rebokfleetfoot]

when was the first one to have a vertical prop in the back? it's not really a helicopter without that :)

[@allangibson8494]

Except a lot of single rotor helicopters neither have or need them… Twin (or more) rotor helicopters have never needed them.

[@sydhenderson6753]

I don't know. It doesn't seem like a difficult concept. From the video, Sikorsky was the probably the first to master them.

[@MarkkuS]

And here I'm wondering what shaking like a bag of walnuts feels like 😂

[@DtWolfwood]

Still waiting for the day we have the ornithopters from dune!

[@AndyPate72]

A million metal parts rotating rapidly around an oil leak waiting for metal fatigue to set in.

[@CrankyQuokka]

Anyone else get a chuckle that Sikorsky started his air empire on a chicken farm?

[@SunblokAnsand]

I just glanced through here to see how people could turn helicopters into an argument with a stranger. Theres a few ways apparently.

[@ridethetalk]

Helicopters are an example of brute force over aerodynamics...

[@bigsmiler5101]

OMG! I thought I knew it all and I was wrong. I'd always been taught, "Americans invented the helicopter. End of discussion. No questions allowed." Just like we're taught the Wright brothers were the first in flight--refusing to acknowledge the Brazilian living in Paris [Alberto Santos-Dumont]. (The Wright brothers' only serious invention was the AIRCRAFT CONTROL SYSTEM.)

[@retepeyahaled2961]

Very very good video! You could have mentioned two more configurations, namely two rotors behind each other - and two counter rotating rotors on top of each other. The first one is used succesfully until this day with the Chinook, the second is frequently used the Kaman helicopters in Russia.

[@kweidhaas57]

No mention of Piasecki Helicopter Corporation!

[@willowmoon7]

Ingenuity is stored in the mustache.

[@MichaelGalt]

Wow. No exaggeration when the answer is, "It's complicated."