Aviation has struck a delicately balanced world, a world where stability was already giving way to the pressure of new dynamic forces, a world dominated by a mechanical, materialist, Western European civilization.
The helicopter is probably the most versatile instrument ever invented by man. It approaches closer than any other to fulfillment of mankind's ancient dreams of the flying horse and the magic carpet.
I imagine a future aircraft, which will take off vertically, fly as usual, and land vertically. This flying machine should have no moving parts. This idea came from the huge power of cyclones.
It would be right to state that, with the successful flight of the XR-4 in the summer of 1942, the helicopter became a reality in the United States.
The aeroplane is an invention of the devil and will never play any part in such a serious business as the defence of the nation, my boy!
Ours is the commencement of a flying age, and I am happy to have popped into existence at a period so interesting.
In 1903 the Wright brothers invented airplanes, because in 1902 they took a road trip across the country with their family.
As the colonel and I sat swapping stories in the plane, a jet aircraft buzzed past our window. I asked the colonel what type of aircraft it was, and he said, "Don't worry about it, Bob. . . if you can see it, it's obsolete."
It is apparent to me that the possibilities of the aeroplane, which two or three years ago were thought to hold the solution to the [flying machine] problem, have been exhausted, and that we must turn elsewhere.
This aircraft tops everything. All the others look old as compared to this one.
I am of course thinking here about new planes such as the Sukhois. There is very little discussion about such developments but, for me, I am constantly astonished by the current developments within the Russian airforce.
