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History. First recorded experiments with helicopters were made by Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) who made four models equipped with paper propellers. Many later efforts undoubtedly are lost to history, but in 1871 a helicopter of obscure fate was built in France by M. A. Penaud. Experiments were made with slight success in 1905 by the Dane, Ellehammer; in 1906 in France by the Brazilian, Santos-Dumont, in 1907 by M. Bréguet. By 1923 Austria had its Petroczy; Great Britain its Brennan; France its Damblanc, Oemichen and Pescara; Spain its la Cierva. In the U. S., meanwhile, Henry Berliner, Baltimore aircraft builder, had spent a fortune in a decade's experiment, and Rumanian Professor Georges de Bothezat was conducting researches at McCook Field, Dayton, Ohio for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics. For all of that labor, no helicopter was born.
Autogiro. Not to be confused with the helicopter is the Cierva Autogiro which, while capable of vertical descent, cannot take off without a short run and cannot hover indefinitely (TIME, Sept. 2). Officials of Pitcairn-Cierva Autogiro Co. of America declared last week that commercial production would be begun at Willow Grove, Pa., in August or September.
*From the Greek: "helico" meaning spiral; "pteron" meaning wing.