Paul Cornu’s “flying bicycle”: the 110th anniversary of the first helicopter flight
On 13 November 1907, French engineer and bicycle maker Paul Cornu made history by becoming the first man to fly in a rotary wing aircraft.
The primitive helicopter – a twin-rotor craft powered by a 24-horsepower engine – only lifted Cornu about 1.5m off the ground, holding him there for 20 seconds at Coquainvilliers, near Lisieux in France.
But that was enough for Cornu to take his place in the history books as the first man to successfully fly a rotary wing aircraft.
