Charles Knotek: First Helicopter Flight

Artist: Charles Knotek
1933 -
Nationality: American
Artwork Year: 1983
Image Size: 16.25 by 12.75 inches
Overall Size: 19.75 by 14.75 inches
Medium: Mixed Media on Cold Press Illustration Board

Shortly after the Wright Brothers' famous first-flight in America, two wealthy industrialists in France spurred on the development of aviation in Europe. They offered a fifty thousand franc prize ... known as the Deutsch-Archdeacon prize after the two sponsors ... to the first pilot who could fly his plane around a specified course, one kilometer in length. With the exception of the Wright Brothers, no airplane experimenter in the world had yet stayed in the air for even half a minute of flown even a quarter of the distance required for the coveted award. Thus, a fierce competition ensued, and many innovative forms of aircraft emerged. Among the most unusual was a vertically rising aircraft known as a helicopter<.em>. Designed by Frenchman, Paul Cornu, this aircraft was delicate in construction. The skeletal frame consisted of a single twenty foot steel tube bent to form a long, wide U shape. Paddle-driven rotors were mounted at either end of the frame, and were connected to a twenty-four horsepower engine by means of several large drive belts and pulleys. On November 13, 1907, Cornu seated himself behind the controls of his aircraft and started the engine. He engaged the drive belts and his aircraft gently lifted about a foot off the ground and hovered there for several minutes -- making an excited Paul Cornu the first human to ever successfully fly a helicopter.

This painting was originally published on the Fleetwood® Commemorative Cover for the Man's Conquest of the Heavens series issued in 1983.

Artwork Copyright © 1983 Unicover Corporation. All Rights Reserved under United States and international copyright laws. You may not reproduce, distribute, transmit, or otherwise exploit the Artwork in any way. Images of the Artwork may be watermarked and/or digitally watermarked. Any sale of the physical original does not include or convey the Copyright or any right comprised in the copyright.

Our Stock Number (SKU): XB08220

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