George F. Myers, a graduate of Worcester Polytechnic Institute (class of 1888), is credited with making one of the earliest attempts at vertical flight. A patent attorney and a prolific inventor, he held numerous aviation-related patents. His first application for a helicopter patent was denied, but the machine, dubbed the "Flying Doughnut," helped inspire later developments in vertical-horizontal flight. In 1904, Myers built a helicopter that rose six inches off the ground.
According to the book,
Helicopters Before Helicopters, Myers filed a patent for a helicopter in 1897, and a prototype was built in 1904. Specified by Aerofiles, it had three lifting screws (3'4" diameter) and two laterally-placed tractor propellers (6'0" diameter), each driven by a two-cylinder engine, and probably, all its propellers were driven by this one engine.
Again, according to Aerofiles, Myers built another aircraft in the 20's which shares some of the same features as the Challenge apparatus.
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Annular c.1927 = Circle-wing concept with two light engines on outriggers with tractor props that got this tricycle-gear, cart-mounted creation rolling along the ground, as seen on a Discovery tv program, "Strange Planes, Strange Shapes," but vertical conquest, if any, was not mentioned. Three doughnut-shaped wings on top, the fuselage was an open frame with pilot in an open chair up front. An angular rudder at the tail wore its number [691].
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Which corresponds with a machine mentioned by WPI.
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In 1926, two years after the first free flight of a helicopter, he built a machine that traveled 1,000 feet at an altitude of 10 feet. Myers also built and flew his own airplane six years after the Wright brothers' historic flight.
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George F. Myers died at the age of 96 on April 5, 1961 in Jackson Heights, N.Y.
Conclusion: Challenge #130 is the prototype helicopter, the
Myers Flying Doughnut of 1904.
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Cheers