The History of the Helicopter (1952)

Beginning with some early artistic impressions - trying to copy bird and bugs, some of the early illustrations of human attempts at flight look precarious to say the least. Not being able to emulate these creatures, flying became the thing of the devil - evil and malevolent. Luckily, science was not to be held back for ever, and when scientists in Paris were shown the effects of two rotor blades being rotated - generating lift, then the concept of the "aerial carriage" was born. Along the way this entertaining documentary illustrates some of the dafter contraptions that were tried out with some fun actuality of everything from a glorified lawnmower, powered dirigibles and other feats of engineering which were so heavy as to render any serious attempt at flight impossible. By 1924, though, ...