The Washington times., 1923-07-03
U.S.HEL|COP
ECL|PSESA ALL
OTHERS
De aothezat's Machine Excells
Any Produced in Germany
France, England or Austria.
downright, 1928. by Cosmopolitan
News SerVice.)

fCOOYfiRhk, 1873, Dy COSHlOpOhSoA
News Service.)
In view Of the hitch which has
arisen In carrying forward develop
ment of the DeBothezat hellcopter
by the army air service, folloWlng
successful specification flights ano
tests for the machine which lies
without recourse to planes, an au.
thoritative survey made today OF
other nations efforts to solve the
helicopter riddle Is OF interest.
Failure is the chief word that can
be written, according to aviation
authorities on the efforts OF Eng
land, France and Austria to invent
a helicopter. A successful helicOp-
ter is recognized as being Of dis
tinct military advantage to the ma
ton which produces one first.
England has been working on the
idea for seven years, but without
luck. Brennan, inventor Of the
monorail, who has friends In the
British air ministry, was given the
assignment in 1916 at 1000 pounds
q year to develop at Marlborough
a helicopter. The performances OF
this Brennan helicopter never
amounted to anything worth men.
tioning. Brennan had a gyroscope
in the machine to give stability, but
since the machine never flew this
precaution was superfluous.
Austria's Attempts.
Austria's attempt to build hell
copter came during the war, when
an officer, who did not wish to go
60 the front, got the Austro-Hun-
garian war office interested in
backing his idea for helicopter. A
large staff was assembled, a factory
obtained and some SIS, zoe, 900 was
spent. The mehod of starting
about this experiment was to de.
ternine, by committee, what ap-
planes and equipment should be
needed by two men who would fly
the proposed machine, which was
to be used to make observations
upon nemy lines. The load deter.
mined, the committee next set about
determining how much power an
load given height.
The engine was produced. Then
elaborate tests were made on pro-
pellers to determine their lift. Hun.
dreds of propellers were built. Two
were finally fixed over the engine,
horizontally, one about the other,
and above the propellers; an iron
barrel, quarters for two operators
or the machine, was placed. Final
ly assembled, the machine was
found to have no stability, and
could move in only one direction,
upward.
So guy-ropes were attached.
scores Of men holding on to them,
and the machine-more accurately
lRIIed captive helicopter-was
Seady for business. It was able Id
go up 400 feet The two men in
the iron barrel Eventually were
dumped over and killed. This
was called the Zurovek- Petrotsky.
Karman Helicopter, these being the
names OF three men out of the regi.
ment OF people who monkeyed with
this machine.
Berliner's Try.
1t is to Berliner that goes the
honor of the first attempt to build
. helicopter in America. Berliner
has been trying to build helicopters
Tor the past ten or fifteen years
and has produced a good dozen OF
different types of helicopters. ONLY
the last of this collection of hell.
copters was able to perform a few
hop-offs of very small duration and
very low altitude. This helicopter
was said to get badly damaged at
almost every landing and the ma.
chine did not appear to have any
stability whatsoever. Berliner him.
SELF has abandoned this type of ma.
chine and is now building a new
type
france has had somewhat better
luck. although she has not nro.