The problem of the helicopter is one which has intrigued inventors for centuries, and which has perhaps attracted more attention and effort than any other phase of design of heavier-than-air craft.

Even as far back as the fifteenth century we find Leonardo da Vinci devoting several years of his life to studying- bird and mechanical flight, and he has left many sketches showing- flying machines. Of particular interest to us is a design showing- an aircraft consisting of a sustaining screw driven about a vertical axis.

The first helicopter actually to fly was a small model, little more than a toy, which was shown before the French Academie des Sciences in 1784 by Launay and Bienvenue, and since that time literally thousands of schemes have been proposed by inventors all over the world. The patent files of all countries are full of helicopter specifications, the greater part of them being based on faulty physical principles, and obviously impracticable.