Sikorskyi came up with the main rotor, tail rotor configuration that most helicopters use. You need the tail rotor to counteract the torque from the engine or the rotor will spin in one direction and the fuselage in the other. The alternative is to use two main rotors which turn in in opposite directions.
He also understood that the main rotor is a gyroscope which will react 90 degrees in advance of a force applied to it and designed a control system that could change the pitch of the blades in order to control the rotor. Up, down, forward, back, right, left. When I took helicopters in aircraft maintenance at BCIT, the first thing that went through my mind was that this guy was a friggin genious to figure this out. Thy really are fascinating machines.
You oughta see what happens when that tail rotor thingy leaves the rest of the aircraft in flight.
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