Skyhooks A Story of Helicopters Author:Charles Coombs Whirlybirds from the first flops to the front pages with a chance to take the controls -- a clearly written and illustrated up-to-the-next-minute report. A simple explanation of aerodynamic and mechanical principle presages the early attempts and the simulated flight; a survey of uses follows. Copters function as taxis for short-run transport, f... more »or police and rescue work; in industry and agriculture they set up and maintain power lines, serve as camera platforms, dust and spray crops (and warm frost-threatened fields); in the Vietnam war they are indispensable. Maybe there won't be one in every garage but heli-scooters are in the offing and hybrids of helicopter and fixed wing plane are in the air. The book is as practical as the subject with an extra lift of enthusiasm; it outdates some of its precursors in the age range, outclasses others.« less