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who invented helicopter?

During the mid 1500's, Italian inventor Leonardo Da Vinci made drawings of an ornithopter flying machine that some experts say inspired the modern day helicopter. In 1784, French inventor, Launoy and Bienvenue created a toy with a rotary-wing that could lift and fly and proved the principle of helicopter flight.

In 1863, the French writer Ponton D'Amecourt was the first person to coin the term "helicopter" from the two words "helico" for spiral and "pter" for wings.

The very first piloted helicopter was invented by Paul Cornu in 1907, however, this design was not successful. French inventor, Etienne Oehmichen built and flew a helicopter one kilometer in 1924. Another early helicopter that flew for a decent distance was the German Focke-Wulf Fw 61, invented by an unknown inventor.

Igor Sikorsky is considered to be the "father" of helicopters not because he invented the first. He is called that because he invented the first successful helicopter, upon which further designs were based.

One of aviation's greatest designers, Russian born Igor Sikorsky began work on helicopters as early as 1910. By 1940, Igor Sikorsky's successful VS-300 had become the model for all modern single-rotor helicopters. He also designed and built the first military helicopter, XR-4, which he delivered to Colonel Franklin Gregory of the U.S. Army.


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