The author provides a complete and readable introduction to the helicopter and to its half-forgotten older first cousin, the Autogiro. This 1969 revised and updated edition keeps pace with the phenomenal growth of rotating-wing and V/STOL aviation at the time. Here are true accounts of dramatic rescues in peace and war, of the helicopter airlines, of gunships and transports in Vietnam, and of revolutionary developments in the new V/STOL (vertical and short take off and landing) aircraft.