Word: hoppy
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Dates: during 1947-1947
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...your article [TIME, April 7] about Mr. Pentecost's Hoppi-copter, you say that gliders are "only half the ticket" in fulfilling man's desire to fly like birds. You may be right- but there are over 1,000 sailplane and glider pilots in America who, in order to forgive you this grave error, must assume that your Writer (poor man) probably has never experienced the thrill of "motorless flight." These pilots will tell you that there can never be a motor-powered craft that will replace the sailplane and glider as aids in achievement of the mortal...
Total weight (not counting Mr. Pentecost): 173 Ibs. The Hoppi-copter should "retail for little more than the better modern motorcycle." Helicopter experts would be more enthusiastic if they had seen it flying, but no performance records have been made available...
Last week the ancient dream showed headline-hitting signs of coming true. At a Philadelphia meeting of the American Helicopter Society, Horace T. Pentecost told about the "Hoppi-copter" (see cut), which he has been developing in Seattle. It is a helicopter* stripped to essentials: little more than a seat, landing wheels and two horizontal rotors revolving in opposite directions. The power source is a 35 h.p. engine with two opposed cylinders like an outboard motor. According to Mr. Pentecost, "the required blade adjustments to render typical three dimensional helicopter flight have been coordinated into a single control handle placed...
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