"The Confederacy Almost Developed a Helicopter in 1862" Topic

"It's the third day of the Battle of Gettysburg in July 1863 and Union forces on Cemetery Ridge await the final Confederate assault. But instead of witnessing serried ranks of Rebels marching across a mile of open ground into the maws of Yankee cannons, the bluecoat regiments are shocked to hear the thud of rotor blades.

It is the the sound of Confederate general George Pickett's 13,000-strong division landing behind Union lines.

Is this a neo-Confederate dream? The Red Badge of Courage meets Apocalypse Now?

No, it turns out that a Confederate engineer actually did design a helicopter back in 1862…"
Full article here.
link

Amicalement
Armand

Lots of folks throughout history had designed flying machines. A steam engine would not have had the power to weight ratio to make flight possible as the article clearly states. A model and a mock up are a long way from "almost developing" a flying machine.

"If you build it, it will fly" is one of the major tenets of G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. gaming.
Real life, not so much.
In G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. we tend to ignore such frivolous trivialities as the LAWS of thermodynamics, strength to weight ratios, etc.

The 'John' murmurs words of truth ;), I can attest to a few of my various armies contraptions that can and do take to the skys in my G.A.S.L.I.G.H.T. world but for the Confeds to even dream of such, darn they should have won me thinks.

A helo's only as good as its door gunners…were they developing M60's too?