Helicopters fascinate me. By now anyone who has read some of my articles will find a love of helicopters. There is no argument they are one of my passions. From the very first time I felt one (yes felt) fly over me when I was in the army I knew I had to get a ride on one and if possible work from them. I just love what they can do and never stop being amazed at how useful they are. It is just the way they go straight up. They really are true mechanical "sky hooks"

When we think helicopter we think vertical flight. That is after all what initially separates them from their flying cousins the airplane. Airplanes need a run way and space to get up speed to make the wings work up lift and take off. Helicopters just go straight up.

Vertical flight is not where it ends, the helicopter is an amazing flying machine, and they can take off and land vertically within very small areas. They can hover in mid air, rotate in circles, and fly forward, backwards, and sideways. This versatility gives the pilot complete access to three dimensional spaces in a way that no airplane ever could. If you have ever flown in a helicopter you know that its abilities are exhilarating. To me there is no doubt that helicopters are the most versatile flying machines in existence today.

As it turns out I was lucky enough to get my first ride on a Huey at the age of 18 and was later using them in my work within the military. I am retired from the forces now and do not have the opportunity to ride these wonderful machines in my work anymore. These days I look to them to rescue me should I get into trouble in any of the number of sports I enjoy out in nature. Of course if anyone reading has some spare flying time on the clock of their machine drop me a line and I will be there in a flash.

Helicopters have been around for quite some time. They first appeared on the scene in the early 1900s but nobody really could figure them out till that famous day back on the 13th November 1907 when a Frenchman named Paul Cornu flew a helicopter independent of any ground support (true flight) for just few seconds. But that was it, they worked. The dye was cast and the helicopter came to life. From there I would like to say that the machine needed a manufacturer to really take off (sorry) and if I were to say when the thing really took off (sorry again) commercially I would hazard a guess and say that the Bell company in America is responsible for getting the helicopter into mass production. Bell is today one of the most famous manufactures and back in 1941 became inspired by the design of Arthur Middleton. Bell went on to build and fly its first helicopter in 1942.

I guess as far as I am concerned if I close my eyes and imagine a helicopter I see a Huey. Sad to say but it is war that made the helicopter famous and when we think war and helicopter we must see HUEY. The Huey is the helicopter that changed the way troops worked in the Vietnam War. The images I have in my mind as a young man are of people being lifted off rooftops in the evacuation of Saigon in 1975, Hueys being pushed overboard from American aircraft carriers, and of course Lt. Col. Hal Moore (Mel Gibson), leading his air cavalry into battle in 1965. In the movie, "we were soldiers then" This helicopter started to appear in Vietnam around 1963 and almost 5000 machines served in that conflict. They were used to move wounded soldiers to the backlines, to carry supplies and personnel wherever they needed to go, to carry troops into HOT (gun fights) LZ (Landing Zones) and for any number of missions that may best be left unsaid. You may notice that I didn't mention anything about the Huey taking the battle to the enemy directly. It wasn't until they decided to bolt some M60 machine guns into the doors that the huey even had a means of defense and many missions were flown by many very brave pilots who had no way to throw anything back at attacking ground fire. The most widely used military helicopter in the Vietnam War, the Bell UH-1 series Iroquois, better known as the Huey has changed as Bell has updated her over the years and if you have an interest you can see how she looks these days by following the link below. These days as well as looking pretty the Huey is flown in just under 40 countries around the world and I hazard a guess to say that anyone who has been underneath one will never forget the feeling. Note I say feeling and not noise. Get under one and you will know what I mean, right in the chest, voomp. voomp, voomp

I mentioned that they did manage to bolt some defensive guns onto the Huey and that gave her the capacity to shoot back. But after years of being shot at the helicopter finally said, "that is enough" and started to fire back with incredible results. The bell AH-1 Cobra attack helicopter took the fight back to the enemy. The AH-64 Apache has become another well known silloet to many of us and we have all seen it blasting or rocketing away on movies. Armed helicopters came into widespread use in Vietnam in the early Sixties as the limitations of the raggedy modifications of the Huey became very obvious. These attack helicopters were devastating to the enemy who could only have imagined they had died and gone to hell if one opened up on them.

I think that is enough about war. These days many companies are making helicopters for civilian use and you can be sure that they pretty much have a chopper to suit any job of lifting and carrying you would care to imagine. Medical evacuation from accidents, sea rescue, mountain rescue, carrying bridge parts to the middle of wide river projects, ferrying workers to oil rigs positioned in the middle of oceans, firefighting, cattle herding, carrying new masts to yachts that have lost their masts at sea and the list goes on and on.

There are so many variations on helicopters it is hard to chose a favorite. I want to write about them all and maybe I will but as a meat and potatoes kind of guy I look for a work horse that can do many jobs and do those jobs quickly and efficiently. As such in closing this article let me ask you to take a look at the BK-117. This aircraft is built under a joint venture between Eurocopter and Kawasaki. It was designed from the outset as a multi-tasking machine. It is in the medium weight category, has twin Turbomeca Arriel 1E2 engines, a spacious cargo area that doubles as cabin. It has doors everywhere. Two normal hinged doors up front, two big sliding doors in back and huge clam shell doors lifting up to expose the aft area. It can be changed from firefighting mode to passenger carrying mode to sea rescue in minutes. It is very easy to maneuver and can fly in hot and very high (for a chopper) conditions. In the army we were issued an F1 sub machine gun. Its description is still engrained in my mind, "The F1 is a simple light and robust weapon", and I think this description fits the BK-117 as well. It is simple to use, robust and fits many purposes.

Did I say I was going to close on that? You know what; no article on helicopters would be finished if we didn't mention the ever growing trend to flying model, RC Helicopters Every time I go to the net I see more web sites dedicated to the incredible little machines. Min helicopters are all the rage. Go out and get one.