††††E.R. Mumford invented a helicopter in 1905 which flew up to two metres in the air (it was fixed to the ground). Paul Cornu developed a version which tended to fall to pieces as it landed.
Igor Sikorsky, a Russian-American, built the VS-3000 in 1939. It was the first single-rotor helicopter and it set the style for modern machines.
Today helicopters, some with two rotors, are used for both civilian and military purposes.
