The recent proliferation and popularity of multi-rotors makes it easy to think that these are something new. And, while they are new, in the grand scheme of things, the idea of them has been around since about 1930.
To tell the story of this up-and-coming subset of model aviation, the museum has recently added several multi-rotors to the permanent collection. These include:
- A reproduction, currently in the bones, of the Curtiss-Bleecker helicopter built from plans that appeared in Model Airplane News, March 1931. This early attempt at a helicopter had four wings protruding from the central axle. Each wing had powered by its own rubber motor which caused the wings to rotate and generated lift.
A picture of the Curtiss-Bleecker model helicopter as scanned from the March 1931 issue of Model Airplane News.
- As far as we can determine, the Keyence Gyrosaucer E-170 was the first commercially available multi-rotor toy. It was first sold in July 1989 and was only available in Japan. A Japanese friend of the museum was kind enough to donate his original Gyrosaucer to the museum.
- The British Snelflight Hoverfly, produced in 1997, used a tether to provide power and was advertised as “a new spin on the rotary wing.” Watch a similar Hoverfly in flight here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApDgrYExw8M
- In 2001, Vectron put out their Flying Saucer (aka Blackhawk). It came with an infrared remote, but the craft was flown tethered to a launch pad. For fun, users could program a message on the scrolling LED screens around the other edge. See a Flying Saucer in flight here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ep7_Lsus0o
All of these are now on display in the museum’s helicopter exhibit. We hope to be adding more in the future. If you would suggest a historically significant multi-rotor to the museum, please get in touch with Maria at mariav@modelaircraft.org
Very cool stuff