French Helicopters

Extract

From the very beginnings of aviation, France has always been right in the forefront, and that is very true of the helicopter. As a matter of fact, the very first helicopter in the western hemisphere was shown in 1784 before the Academie des Sciences by Launoy and Bienvenue. That was so interesting that it inspired Sir George Caley, the father of British aviation, to do some work on helicopters. Then in 1904, for the first time, Col. Renard read papers, also before the Academie, in which he gave the correct design relationships for a lifting screw system, and he was the first man to describe the articulated blade system, which is today so common. In 1907, two Frenchmen built the first helicopters which lifted themselves off the ground, Paul Cornu and Louis Breguet, both in the same year, but Breguet is always looked on as being the first of the two, because his helicopter was the first in the world to lift itself and its pilot.