History of the Helicopter

A film made c.1951 by the Shell Film Unit. Reviews with the use of models the history of the evolution of the helicopter from the designs of Leonardo da Vinci and Sir George Cayley's flying top onwards.

Includes footage of the Wright Brothers Wright A followed by films of various early rotorcraft/helicopter / vertical take-off designs including the Sky Car, Breguet Gyroplane, Berliner 1908-1909, Oemichen 1920 and 1922, Lein Weber-Curtis 1921, De Bothezat 1922, Pescara 1924, Von Asboth 1928-1930, Cierva C-19 autogiro, Florine tandem-rotor, D'Ascanio, 1936 Louis Breguet flying in Breguet-Dorand machine setting duration record of 63 minutes using cyclic pitch control, 1937 German Focke-Wulf Achgelis Fa-61 twin-rotor flown inside the Berlin Deutschland-Halle by Hanna Reitsch, Igor Sikorsky flying VS-300 setting new World's Record, Bristol 171, Cierva Air Horse, Saunders-Roe Skeeter, Fairey Gyrodyne, Sud-Est Ariel II F-WFUF, McDonnell Model 38 (XH-20 Little Henry), Bell 47, Piasecki, the use of helicopters in Admiral Richard E. Byrd 1946 Antarctic expedition and the Westland-Sikorsky S-51 (G-AKCU, G-AJHW and G-ALIK).

Directed by Sarah Erulkar, photographed by Sidney Beadle, with music by Edward Williams, for which Captain R. N. Liptrot acted as technical advisor.

Liptrot, who at one time was the Deputy Director responsible for helicopter research and development in the Ministry of Supply and also held Helicopter Aviators Certificate No.3, amassed a major collection of historic rotorcraft films which was presented to the Royal Aeronautical Society c.1968 after his death which is part of the Library's film collection which has now been digitised.

The Royal Aeronautical Society has received the permissions for sharing these videos by Shell International Limited. For use of videos for non-commercial purposes credit the Royal Aeronautical Society with the respective company. For commercial use and for further information on each videos copyright, contact: nal@aerosociety.com