Childrens Illustrated Encyclopedia

253

Development

The

Italian

artist

and

scientist

Leonardo

da Vinci

sketched a

simple helicopter

about 500 years ago, but it was

never built. It was not until 1907

that a helicopter carried a person. It

was built by a French mechanic

named Paul Cornu.

Helicopters

ALL-PurPose

heLICoPTer

The eh101 can

transport

30 passengers

or troops, carry

16 stretcher patients

as an air ambulance,

or lift a load of more

than 5 tons. It flies at

170 mph (280 km/h).

oF ALL FLyI ng machines,

the helicopter is the

most versatile.

It can fly forward,

backward, or sideways.

It can go straight up and down,

and even hover in the air without

moving. Because helicopters can take

off vertically, they do not need to use

airport runways and can fly almost

anywhere. They can rescue people from

mountains, fly to oil rigs out at sea, and

even land on the roofs of skyscrapers.

helicopters come in many shapes and

sizes. some are designed to carry only

one person; others are powerful

enough to lift a truck. All

helicopters have one or two large

rotors. The rotor blades are

shaped like long, thin wings.

When they spin around, they

lift the helicopter up and

drive it through the air.

TWIn-roTor heLICoPTer

Large helicopters, such as this Boeing Chinook,

may be twin-rotor machines. They have two main

rotors that spin in opposite directions, and no

tail rotor. The twin-rotor Boeing Ch-47 Chinook

(pictured) is widely used around the world for

transporting troops and equipment.

TAkIng oFF

The rotor blades produce a lifting

force that supports the helicopter.

Helicopter body,

made of light

metal alloys and

strong plastics

Rescue Man

lowered down

to life raft

Tail rotor turns the

helicopter’s nose to the left or

right and stops the helicopter

from spinning around.

Tail plane and fins keep the

helicopter stable as it flies.

Life raft

contains

survivors from

shipwreck.

The tail

rotor keeps the

helicopter from

spinning around. Pedals control the

tail rotor so the helicopter can be

turned to face any direction.

Another

control, the

cyclic-pitch stick,

makes the main rotor tilt

so that it can pull the helicopter in

any direction – backward, forward,

or sideways.

The collective-pitch stick adjusts

the rotors so the helicopter can

go up, hover, or go down.

Wheels fold

into pods on

sides of

helicopter.

Main

rotor

Rotor blades,

made of ultra-

strong plastic

Cockpit with automatic

flight control system

Radar dome contains

radar antenna.

Mission control console,

equipped with radar screens

and computers

russian-born Igor sikorsky built the

Vs-300 in the us in 1939. It was the

first single-rotor helicopter, and it

set the style for machines to come.

Main

rotor

Aircraft

Physics

Plastics

Transporation, history of

Gas turbine engine

(one of three)

Find out more

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