In 1908, hardly six years after the Wright brothers’ first flights at Kitty Hawk, Igor Sikorsky was already experimenting with a helicopter. Certain obvious advantages of a rotor plane that could ascend or descend vertically and hover motionless in mid-air have made helicopters a favorite subject for speculation and experiment ever since. The autogiro was a long step in the direction of a practical “windmill-plane,” but it is after all a compromise-model between the conventional type and the true helicopter.
German inventors were experimenting persistently through the thirties, but appropriately enough, the man who first envisioned this “flivver of tomorrow” has finally developed the first really practical helicopter. As far back as April, 1941, Sikorsky established a world’s record for this type of heavier-than-air craft by keeping his VS-300 in the air for 1 hour and 32 minutes. During this time he kept his ship hovering over an area less than a half acre in extent! And we have the inventor’s own testimony that considerable improvement in design and performance has been accomplished since.
On the other hand, what is definitely known gives us reason to believe that soon, perhaps in a matter of months, a very valuable new military auxiliary plane will be in action on the fighting fronts. The value of this type of aircraft in reconnaissance and artillery spotting is obvious, and has been emphasized by nearly everyone who has written about the subject.
What apparently is less obvious is the probable utility of the helicopter to the Navy. And yet, if the helicopter can be developed quickly enough (it will surely be capable of mass production), widespread use of it by the Navy offers one of the most promising solutions to that toughest of problems—the U-boat.
Imagine every merchant ship its own aircraft carrier! Yet we are just on the verge of that as a practical possibility. The helicopter already developed can take off and land in an area barely larger than the diameter of its rotor. Even the most heavily loaded freighter can afford to swap 25 feet of open deck space for the advantage of air protection from the lurking submarines.
Furthermore the efficiency of the yacht patrol and other auxiliary services would be enormously enhanced by having air eyes. Portable, collapsible flight decks are within the realm of possibility, for the helicopter can take off and land with no pressure on the boards whatever, beyond the actual weight of the machine and its load.
Sundry other possibilities—communications, and mail delivery at sea, coast guard work, etc.—will occur to everyone.
It may be objected that the most valuable characteristic of the helicopter—its ability to hover, and to make vertical ascents and descents—is already virtually available in the Navy blimp. But the helicopter has the tremendous advantage of compactness. Furthermore it takes a crew of but one man.
Bad weather work? The helicopter is much better suited to this than is the airplane of conventional design. Since its landing speed can be as little as one foot per minute, landing in a fog, for instance, would have none of the terrors of crack-up that the pilot faces in the ordinary plane. In case of motor failure, the helicopter pilot disconnects the rotor blades from the engine, and they serve as a swiftly rotating parachute for the whole plane.
Combat work and bombing? At present the helicopter does not begin to develop the speed or maneuverability necessary for a fighting plane. Furthermore, its practicable size seems to be rather limited. Its function, in this war at any rate, will be that of an auxiliary.
The helicopter is easily piloted; it can carry anti-submarine bombs or depth charges; above all, it can be flown from a postage-stamp-size flight deck. It is a highly specialized type of air power that promises to be able to do two or three jobs better than any other kind of plane.