Toothpick helicopter

Description:	This toothpick sculpture is a model of the Huey Hog helicopter used during the Vietnam War. Terry Woodling used over 8,500 toothpicks in 1991 to finish his model. As a teenager, Terry taught himself to build airplanes. Few people build toothpick models, so he creates the plans himself instead of following directions from a kit. When working on a project this big, he says “you must work everyday to get it done!” Helicopters had been dreamed about by Galileo in the 1500s, and around 1910 some failed attempts were made to build them. They didnt fly. In the 1930s the autogiro--built by experimenters such as Juan DeCierva of Spain and Harold Pitcairn, who lived near Philadelphia--enjoyed a short lived popularity. But the autogiro was not a true helicopter because it required forward movement like an airplane to go up. The top rotor was powered by the movement of the wind rather than an engine. By the end of World War II (1939-45) the first true helicopters were in use. In the late 1940s and early 1950s they were first used as rescue helicopters, then as a way of transporting soldiers and marines injured in combat. This was portrayed in the popular TV series MAS*H.
Source:	http://www.digitalindy.org/cdm/ref/collection/tcm/id/160
Collection:	The Children's Museum of Indianapolis
Rights:	https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/;
Copyright:	Creative Commons (CC By-SA 3.0);
Subjects:	Helicopters Handicraft Models and modelmaking Toothpicks Toothpick models Vietnamese Conflict, 1961-1975

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