Notes
- Albert von Baumhauer, ‘Speurwerk voor de luchtvaart (Jaarvergadering van de Lilielthalgesellschaft für Luftfahrtforschung)’, Algemeen Handelsblad, 25 October 1938.
- Chermyuchin from Russia was probably earlier than von Baumhauer but his design was not made known to the international community of helicopter engineers. See below. This quotation relates to spacecraft but is particularly fitting for helicopter history as well.
- Asif A. Siddiqi, ‘American Space History: Legacies, Questions, and Opportunities for Future Research’, in Critical Issues in the History of Spaceflight, ed. by Steven J. Dick and Roger D. Launius (Washington, 2006), pp. 463–64.
- The European Patent Office was not set up until 7 October 1977, on the basis of the European Patent Convention signed in Munich in 1973. Extracted from <www.epo. org> on 9 March 2012.
- The period commonly refers to the years after the First World War up until the onset of the Second World War.
- Charles Gablehouse, Helicopters and Autogiros: A History of Rotating-Wing and V/STOL Aviation (New York, 1969), p. 71.
- Sikorsky takes centre stage in many American histories, including the one by Richard G. Hubler, Straight Up: The Story of Vertical Flight (New York, 1961) and the one by Charles Lester Morris, Pioneering the Helicopter (New York, 1945) where the dedication reads: ‘to Igor I. Sikorsky whose genius made possible this work’. The latter was Sikorsky’s test pilot but his intimate knowledge of Sikorsky’s enterprise was not used to reveal any contact with or exchange between Sikorsky and other helicopter pioneers preceding him, with the exception of Juan de la Cierva.
- Laurence Goldstein, The flying Machine and Modern Literature (London, 1986); Robert Wohl, A Passion for Wings: Aviation and the Western Imagination 1908–1918 (New Haven 1994); John Zukowksy, ed., Building for Air Travel: Architecture and Design for Commercial Aviation (Chicago, 1996); Bodo-Michael Baumunk, Die Kunst des Fliegens (Friedrichshafen, 1996).
- The term ‘ugly duckling’ was also used for the autogiro in Juan de la Cierva, Wings of Tomorrow (London, 1931), p. 85.
- Gablehouse; Paul Lambermont and Anthony Pirie, Helicopters and Autogyros of the World (London, 1970); Eugene K. Liberatore, Helicopter Before Helicopters (Malabar, Florida, 1998).
- Liberatore, p. 225.
- V. A. Kasianikov and G. I. Kusnetsov, ‘Ts AGI 1-EA — The First Russian Helicopter’, presented at the 33rd European Rotorcraft Forum in Kazan, Russia (2007).
- Note their absence from C. B. F. Macauley, The Helicopters are Coming (London/New York, 1944); Devon Earl Francis, The Story of the Helicopter (New York, 1946). One of the first to mention both Russian and German attempts is Lambermont and Pirie. Later studies on Russia include John Everett-Heath, Soviet Helicopters: Design, Development and Tactics (Coulsdon, 1983; 1988).
- Liberatore.
- Frank Delaer, Igor Sikorsky: His Three Careers in Aviation (New York, 1969).
- Anton Flettner, Mein Weg zum Rotor (Leipzig, 1926).
- Alberto Bassi and Marco Mulazzani, The Flying Machines of Corradino D’Ascanio (Milan, 1999).
- Guy Michelet, Breguet (Paris, 1963).
- Louise Karlskov Skyggebjerg, Multiopfinderen J.C.H. Ellehammer (Denmark, 2006).
- For examples, see Alex de Voogt, Helidrome architecture (Rotterdam, 2005), pp. 22–35.
- Two books by Jules Verne feature the Albatross: Robur-le-conquérant from 1886 and Maître du Monde from 1904. The first was translated into English in 1887 as Clipper of the Clouds. See de Voogt, pp. 20–21.
- The toy was developed by Alphonse Pénaud who developed several model aircraft but named one helicoptère. ‘When Wilbur Wright tried to build an improvement on that toy helicopter […] To the brothers’ astonishment, they discovered that the bigger the machine, the less it would fly’. Fred C. Kelly, The Wright Brothers: A Biography Authorized by Orville Wright (New York, 1940), p. 3.
- E.g., Deborah G. Douglas, ‘The Wright Brothers and the Invention of the Aerial Age’, Technology and Culture, 45·2 (2004), 363–67.
- Gablehouse; de la Cierva; Cyrus C. M. Mody, ‘A New Way of Flying: Différance, Rhetoric and the Autogiro in Interwar Aviation’, Social Studies of Science, 30·4 (2000), 513–43.
- Notably de la Cierva; Delaer; Henrich Focke, Mein Lebensweg (Köln, 1977).
- H. J. G. C. Vodegel and K. P. Jessurun, ‘A Historical Review of Two Helicopters Designed in the Netherlands’, Proceedings of the 21st European Rotorcraft Forum (1995), pp. 1–16; Alex de Voogt, ‘Helicopter History: The Implications of the Von Baumhauer Archive’, Proceedings of the 33rd European Rotorcraft Forum, Kazan, Russia (2007).
- For an overview of American patents, see Liberatore; and for German patents, see Kyrill von Gersdorff and Kurt Knobling, Hubschrauber und Tragschrauber: Entwicklungsgeschichte der deutschen Drehflügler von den Anfängen bis zu den internationalen Gemeinschaftsentwicklungen (Koblenz, 1982); Heinz J. Nowarra, Die deutschen Hubschrauber 1928–1945 (Friedberg, 1980).
- This situation continues today. For instance, patents can be registered in Dutch if they cover the Netherlands and are registered with the Dutch Patent Office. The European Patent Office accepts patent applications in French, German and English.
- Patent research supports this vision in the case of early patents unknown to an inventor: ‘Though Cierva discovered the hinge empirically, the idea was not new. There is a 1913 patent […] showing this hinge. The idea was even advanced earlier (1904) by Renard’. Liberatore, p. 68.
- Joseph Henrich, ‘Cultural Transmission and the Diffusion of Innovations: Adoption Dynamics Indicate that Biased Cultural Transmission is the Predominate Force in Behavioral Change’, American Anthropologist, 103 (2001), 992–1013; Joseph Henrich and Robert Boyd, ‘The Evolution of Conformist Transmission and the Emergence of Between-Group Differences’, Evolution and Human Behavior, 19 (1998), 215–42.
- O. A. van Nierop, A. C. M. Blankendaal and C. J. Overbeeke, ‘The Evolution of the Bicycle: A Dynamic Systems Approach’, Journal of Design History, 10·3 (1997), 253–67; John Ziman, ed., Technological Innovation as an Evolutionary Process (Cambridge, 2000).
- The most extreme example is D’Ascanio, who produced three helicopters with three different rotor configurations. Today, even the Sikorsky Company is considering a configuration that is different from the successful tail-rotor design. The co-axial design is thought to make advances in forward speed. See Kerry Lynch, ‘Sikorsky X2 files with engaged propeller’, Aviation Week, 13 July 2009.
- Seymour L. Chapin, ‘Patent Interferences and the History of Technology: A High-Flying Example’ Technology and Culture, 12 (1971), 414–46; Derek J. DeSolla Price, ‘Is technology Historically Independent of Science? A Study in Statistical Historiography’, Technology and Culture, 6 (1965), 553–68; Nathan Reingold, ‘US Patent Office Records as Sources for the History of Invention and Technological Property’, Technology and Culture, 1 (1960), 156–67.
- See also: Alex de Voogt, ‘Helicopter History: The Implications of the Von Baumhauer Archive’, Paper presented at the European Rotorcraft Forum (Kazan, Russia, 11–13 September 2007).
- The many other inventions by Ellehammer, d’Ascanio, Flettner and even Asbóth already suggest that their time was not exclusively spent on the development of the helicopter.
- In 1917, von Baumhauer entered a correspondence with Prof. dr L. A. van Royen and Mr Kapteyn concerning the need for a Dutch laboratory for aviation experiments (A25:84, No.15, I65). At this time, he had gathered information on the Laboratoria della Brigatta Specialista in Rome as well as the ones in Göttingen, Teddington and Paris. He created a complete proposal for such an institution with purpose, organizational structure, number and kind of departments, size and layout, but also its relation to education, research questions, financial estimates and its ultimate location.
- Oszkár Asbóth, Az Elsó Helikopter (Budapest, 1956); de la Cierva; Igino Mencarelli, Gaetano Arturo Crocco [26-10-1877–19-1-1968] (Rome, 1970); Anton Flettner, Mein Weg zum Rotor (Leipzig, 1926); Henrich Focke, Mein Lebensweg (Köln, 1977); Alphonse Dumoulin, Les hélicoptères Florine 1920–1950: la Belgique à l’avant-garde de gyraviation (Brussels, 1999); Delaer; Michael H. Gorn, The Universal Man: Theodore von Kármán’s Life in Aeronautics (Washington, 1992); A. Bassi Alberto and Marco Mulazzani, The Flying Machines of Corradino D’Ascanio (Milan, 1999); Guy Michelet, Breguet (Paris, 1963); Vadeem R. Musheev, Georgy Alexandrovich Debothezat 1882–1940 (Moscow, 2000); Louise Karlskov Skyggebjerg, Multiopfinderen J.C.H. Ellehammer (Denmark, 2006).
- The study of any of their archives will require the understanding of a series of languages. The von Baumhauer archive already required a thorough understanding of Dutch, English, French and German. It is curious in itself that pioneers from so many different countries and speaking so many different languages were active in helicopter pioneering.
- NLR archive: A26, pp. 31, 34.
- A. G. von Baumhauer, ‘Some Notes on Helicopters’, Proceedings of the International Congress for Applied Mechanics (held 22–28 April 1924), (Delft, 1925), pp. 1–8; NLR archive I43.
- In later notes dating to 1930, he states that it is possible to use two oppositely turning lifting screws as long as they move as freely as those designed by de la Cierva (NLR archive: A27, p. 16).
- Albert von Baumhauer, ‘Beitrag zur Frage der Hubschrauber’, Congress Inssbruck (1922).
- See Liberatore, p. 66.
- NLR Archive: A11 C. Albert von Baumhauer, ‘Luchtvaartcongres te Brussel’, Algemeen Handelsblad, 13 October 1925.
- His studies on wing-structure and vibrations became a central part of airworthiness tests at the Amsterdam laboratory. See Albert von Baumhauer and C. Koning, Onstabiele trillingen van een draagvlak-klapsysteem (Amsterdam, 1923); Albert von Baumhauer, ‘Note on a Photographic Method of Measuring the Deflection of a Wing-Structure under Static Load’, International Air-Congress (London, 1923).
- NLR archive: A13 A.
- He would meet Theodore von Kármán on several occasions but the latter’s helicopter exploits had already finished in 1920.
- Albert von Baumhauer, ‘Speurwerk voor de luchtvaart (Jaarvergadering van de Lilielthalgesellschaft für Luftfahrtforschung)’, Algemeen Handelsblad, 25 October 1938.
- NLR Archive: I17.
- NLR Archive: A8 K.
- NLR Archive: A10 A.
- Anton Flettner, Mein Weg zum Rotor (Leipzig, 1926), p. 59.
- Contacts within the Netherlands are not always recorded. For instance, there is only one note from Antony Fokker in his records while they were on several committees together and interacted frequently when von Baumhauer was in charge of airworthiness tests of Fokker aircraft. Furthermore, von Baumhauer owned a car and this facilitated frequent visits to his colleagues in the Netherlands.
- The letter requested information about von Baumhauer’s patents and was signed ‘Sieg Heil!’. There was no reply.
- Translation: ‘The Flight of the Birds’.
- Translation: ‘The Miracle of the Flight of the Seagull’.
- Translation: ‘Work on the rotor-system when it is in a state of autorotation’.
- NLR Archive: A15 I/J, A66J. The book by Izakson is most probably Alexander M. Isakson, Helikopteri (Moscow, 1931).
- NLR Archive: A11 C.
- Liberatore, p. 73.
- Ibid.
- NLR Archive: A8 and A11.
- NLR Archive: A15 A.
- NLR Archive: A16 B. Asbóth claimed that the Hungarians had incorrectly repaired the propeller of the plane used by the long-distance pilot Georg Endres. The pilot had been killed in a crash near Rome, which resulted in an international enquiry. The public accusation in the newspaper by Asbóth, although probably correct, embarrassed the Hungarian government and aviation authorities. Asbóth was put in jail for his invention of the Aeromobil, a machine that had crashed the previous year.
- NLR Archive: A15 F.
- NLR Archive: A15 F.
- The issue of Flight magazine was from 1933. See also, C. N. Colson, ‘Flying the Autogiro. What it Entails; its Special Technique; its Scope and its Advantages’, Flight, 9 (1934), 813, 816.
- de la Cierva, p. 107.
- Bruce H. Charnov, From Autogiro to Gyroplane: The Amazing Survival of an Aviation Technology (Santa Barbara, CA, 2003), pp. 40–41.
- Anton Flettner, Mein Weg zum Rotor (Leipzig, 1926), pp. 65, 74.
- Vadeem Musheev, personal communication.
- Strizehevsky, Nikolai Zhukovsky: Founder of Aeronautics (Honolulu, Hawaii, 2003), p. 23.
- John Everett-Heath, Soviet Helicopters: Design, Development and Tactics (Coulsdon, 1983; 1988), p. 193.
- Note the infamous lawsuit between the American autogiro and helicopter pioneer Harold Pitcairn and the US government that lasted from 1951 to 1977. See Frank Kingston Smith, Legacy of Wings: The Harold F. Pitcairn Story (New York, 1981).
- The inconclusive data from the individual failed helicopter experiments and the subsequent subjective decisions on which parts of the practical solutions to keep and which to throw out make an almost ideal fit with the descriptive part of the ethnographic study of Bruno Latour and Steve Woolgar, Laboratory Life: The Social Construction of Scientific Facts (Princeton, New Jersey, 1986). In contrast, the social construction of scientific helicopter knowledge among the different pioneers from multiple countries proves particularly difficult to illustrate.
- E.g., J. Gordon Leishman, ‘Engineering Analysis of Nicolas Florine’s Helicopters (1926–1938)’, Proceedings of the 66th American Helicopter Society International Annual Forum 2010 (Phoenix, Arizona, 2010), pp. 1064–78; Antonio Filippino, Bradley Johnson & J. Gordon Leishman ‘From helicopters to vespas: the aeronautical engineering of Corradino D’Ascanio’ Proceedings of the 65th American Helicopter Society International Annual Forum 2009 (Grapevine, Texas, 2009), pp. 2649–69.
- Tom D. Crouch, Dream of Wings: Americans and the Airplane 1875–1905 (New York, 2002).