This book clearly demonstrates the problems encountered by the personalities involved and their strengths in developing the helicopter for Coast Guard use. It shows how Erickson and his friend and mentor, Coast Guard captain William Kossler, undaunted by their lack of support, fought with single-minded intensity to establish the helicopter as a vital rescue tool in the service. Kossler died while the project was still in its infancy.

Examines, in text and labelled diagrams and illustrations, how various types of airplanes and other flying machines work and the kinds of functions they perform. Includes instructions for related projects and experiments. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

About the Author: Barrett Thomas “Tom” Beard entered the Navy as an enlisted man in 1953 and completed flight training as a Navcad in 1955. With a commission in the U.S. Naval Reserve, he flew operational missions—including carrier landings—in A-l Skyraiders and E-l Tracers. He qualified in more than a dozen other types of Navy aircraft, including F-9 Cougars. He served two tours as flight instructor in his ten years with the Navy. In 1965, following his return from a Vietnam tour at Yankee Station, Mr. Beard entered the Coast Guard. He flew in SAR operations in the HU-16E Albatross, the C-130 Hercules, and the HH-52A Seaguard. He qualified as a seaplane pilot, a shipboard helicopters pilot, and a Coast Guard standardization pilot, accumulating more than 6,000 military flight hours during his career. Mr. Beard holds an FAA airline transport pilot rating and a commercial helicopter rating, plus a Coast Guard master’s license for inspected vessels. After retiring in 1975, Mr. Beard returned to college, earning a master’s degree in history from Western Washington University in Bellingham. Following employment as a museum director, he turned back to the sea, in sailboats. Over the past twenty years, he and his wife, Carolyn, have sailed nearly 150,000 miles and visited about fifty countries as they’ve circled the world one and a half times. Mr. Beard takes vacations from these voyages to return home to research and write articles in his field of maritime history.

Have you ever wondered what made human beings think they could take to the skies? Starting with Icarus and his wax and feather wings and Leonardo Da Vinci's Flying Machine and primitive helicopter know as the Aerial Screw, It'll Never Work: Aeroplanes and Helicopters explores the history of flying machines, the successes and failures that have led to the comforts of modern passenger flight that we know today. Each title in this exciting, high-interest series looks at a different area of technology and engineering and reveals the pioneering ideas and scientific thinking that enabled its development, as well as exposing those that proved to be a dead end. Each spread examines a particular example in depth, bringing in other similar ideas where relevant, and revealing that experimentation and failure often pave the way to technology success. Beautifully designed and illustrated with infographic-style artwork, this series is an excellent technology resource for readers aged 9 and up.

This picture book makes learning about helicopters fun.