When Igor Sikorsky of the United States and Dr. Focke of Germany devised workable techniques for controlling a powerful engine harnessed to gyrating rotors, their separate but related efforts had at last brought to practical fruition the efforts of man to fly like a bird. For the first time man could fly from a perch. And like the hummingbird, he could fly backwards.
This interesting aircraft has, in the space of little more than a decade, come into wide acceptance and proved an invaluable tool and tactical weapon. Yet it is in its infancy. A great potential is yet untapped, and the next decade has much more to offer. The decade of turbine power and all-weather instrumentation lies ahead, bringing with it a potential refinement of control and navigation, of payload, of multi-engine reliability usable around the clock and around the globe.