Photos: A century of helicopters

The fuselage here may look like it belongs to an airplane, but the wings are gone. Or rather, they've been relocated and set at right angles to each other to become a helicopter rotor, and each "wing" has its own propeller. This is the Curtiss-Bleecker helicopter, which made its debut in June 1930. A Time magazine story from that month reported that the aircraft was developed--in secret--over four years at a cost of $250,000. The aircraft got its name from 27-year-old designer Maitland Barkelew Bleecker and Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor, the company that helped him build it.

Apparently, not much came of the Curtiss-Bleecker creation. The aircraft considered to be the first successful helicopter was the Breguets' Gyroplane-Laboratoire, which flew in 1935, followed about a year later by the Fa-61 of Heinrich Focke and Gerd Achghelis.