The Aerospace General Mini-Copter was a miniature helicopter designed to be air-dropped to U.S. military pilots stranded behind enemy lines or in otherwise inaccessible areas.
At its most basic, the Mini-Copter was simply made up of fuel tanks and a rotor unit strapped to the pilot. A slightly more conventional configuration was also developed, with these units attached to a steel framework that also provided a seat for the pilot. In both these versions, power was provided by rocket motors on the rotor tips.
A third variation added a piston engine and pusher propeller to the design, allowing it to fly as an autogyro without the tip rockets once sufficient forward speed had been achieved.
Famous quotes containing the word general:
“The conclusion suggested by these arguments might be called the paradox of theorizing. It asserts that if the terms and the general principles of a scientific theory serve their purpose, i. e., if they establish the definite connections among observable phenomena, then they can be dispensed with since any chain of laws and interpretive statements establishing such a connection should then be replaceable by a law which directly links observational antecedents to observational consequents.”
—C.G. (Carl Gustav)