What is Helicopter?
[[File:Bits & Pieces - BP374 - Test flight of Pescara's helicopter - 1922 - EYE FLM7760 - OB105716.ogv|thumb|Helicopter 1922]] [[File:Flight.rob.arp.750pix.jpg|thumb|A Robinson R22 Alpha helicopter flying just a little above the ground]] [[File:Adac.jpg|thumb|Rescue helicopter in Munich airport]] A '''helicopter''' (also often used: '''chopper''' or '''heli''') is a kind of flying machine or [[aircraft]]. A helicopter [[lift (force)|lifts]] up off of the ground and moves because of its [[helicopter rotor|rotors]]. A rotor is several small wings, called rotor blades, that spin together around a shaft. For that reason, helicopters are sometimes called ''rotary-wing aircraft''. A helicopter flies differently from an [[airplane]]. An airplane must move forward to stay in the air, but because the helicopter's rotor blades are always moving, the helicopter can stop and stay in one place above the ground. Not needing a [[runway]], they can land in places where an airplane cannot. Helicopters can move by tilting their rotor blades, which causes the aircraft to fly in the direction the blades are tilted. == History== Since around [[4th century BC|400 BC]], the [[China|Chinese]] had a [[flight|flying]] top that was used as a children's [[toy]]. The flying top was made from bamboo and used the same method of spinning wings to fly up in the air. Later flying tops were made of feathers tied to a stick. [[Leonardo da Vinci]] first thought of a helicopter flown by a man in [[1490]], and drew pictures of his ideas. It was hundreds of years later (in the early [[20th century]]) before anyone built one that could really fly. The first practical helicopters were built by [[French people|Frenchman]] Louis Breguet in 1935 and by [[Germans|German]] Henrich Focke in 1936. A Russian immigrant, [[Sikorsky|Igor Sikorsky]], built and perfected the first practical helicopter in America in 1939. [[File:Ukrainian Ka-27PS on USS Taylor (FFG 50), 2010.jpg|left|thumb|Armed helicopter for hunting [[submarine]]s]] ==Uses== Helicopters are espec